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Parole board recommends clemency for two serving life sentences Saturday, Feb 23, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Two inmates serving life sentences, one of whom was sentenced at age 17, were recommended for executive clemency Friday by the state Parole Board. Both recommendations were made despite opposition by the prosecutors in the counties where the crimes occurred. The Parole Board recommended four executive clemency requests to the governor Friday, along with 14 parole requests. Among the inmates the board recommended for clemency were 43-year-old Terrance Proctor, who was 17 when he began serving a life sentence in November 1982. Proctor was found guilty of 10 counts of aggravated robbery and one count of robbery in Pulaski County, and one count of attempt to commit murder and two counts of second-degree battery in Jefferson County. On his application for clemency, Proctor wrote that he was sentenced for several robberies involving a weapon. He claimed he was not guilty but "was misled and by incompetent counsel to openly plea to the court, which led to the judge venting his displeasure at petitioner's charges and buried petitioner alive in prison at age 17." Proctor also wrote that his sentence of life plus 200 year was "cruel and unusual punishment" and that no one was "killed, raped or hurt." Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, Jefferson County Prosecutor Steve Dalrymple and Jefferson County Sheriff Gerald Robinson all objected to the board's recommendation. "I will not approve any request when violent crimes have been committed," Robinson wrote. Proctor's mother and aunt attended the clemency hearing. The board's recommendation was unanimous. Also recommended for clemency Friday was Ruth Sumlin, who in 1997 stole a car, entered the Columbia County jail with a gun and knife and freed her husband, who was fighting extradition to California on a murder charge. Four other inmates escaped. In 1978, she was convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of J.Y. Cooper, the owner of the vehicle she stole and used as the getaway car. Columbia County Prosecutor Robin Carroll, along with Sheriff Calvin L. Knighton, opposed the board's 4-1 recommendation. Parole Board Commissioner John Belkin voted against the recommendation. The board's recommendations will go to the governor after a 30-day public-notice period. |
