Brewer in final year continues pattern on clemency

PHOENIX (AP) - Departing Gov. Jan Brewer has concluded her last full year in office by continuing her pattern of granting few clemency petitions other than those for inmates on the verge of death.

The Arizona Capitol Times reports that Brewer in 2014 granted six commutations for shortened sentences. Of those, five of them were for prisoners released to die with their families.

The sixth commutation which she granted in 2014 was a three-year sentence reduction for a man convicted of participating in an arson in which the alleged ringleader died while setting the fire.

Brewer averaged about seven commutations per year since she took office in 2009. An average of two of those were for reasons other than imminent death.