article_snippet: Kelly attorneys had recently launched a final attempt to persuade the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Kelly death sentence to life without parole.
article_snippet: the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles said the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles had voted to abide by the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles earlier decision after 'careful consideration' of Kelly case.
article_snippet: Gissendaner had been denied clemency at a hearing last week, but Gissendaner lawyers had argued that extra witnesses from within the prison system could help persuade the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles to change extra witnesses from within the prison system minds.
article_snippet: In their motion, Gissendaner's lawyers noted that the parole board had already heard from many people testifying about Gissendaner faith and remorse at a hearing last week before denying Gissendaner clemency.
article_snippet: But, Gissendaner's lawyers argued, the parole board did not hear from many Department of Corrections employees whose perspective 'would have left no doubt that a grant of clemency is supported in this case.'
article_snippet: Seabolt could testify that former parole board chair James Donald promised Gissendaner would receive clemency, her wrote.
article_snippet: Each time the topic came up in conversations between former parole board chair James Donald and Seabolt, 'former parole board chair James Donald reiterated former parole board chair James Donald statement that Gissendaner did not need to worry about clemency as it was a foregone conclusion,' Gissendaner's lawyers wrote.
article_snippet: Gissendaner's lawyers also urged the parole board to subpoena some other corrections employees so Gissendaner's lawyers can testify without fear of retaliation.
article_snippet: Although department rules allow employees to speak to lawyers for capital clemency proceedings, the reality is less clear, Gissendaner's lawyers wrote.
article_snippet: Gissendaner's lawyers also urged this Board to consider that before trial, Kathleen Kennedy had been offered the same plea deal as Owen - life in prison with an agreement not to seek parole for 25 years. '
article_snippet: At one time, therefore, all the parties involved in the case thought a sentence less than death was appropriate for Gissendaner,' Gissendaner's lawyers wrote.
article_snippet: this Board has granted clemency before in cases involving disproportionate sentences for co-defendants, Gissendaner's lawyers wrote. '
article_snippet: In fact, this Board has on at least four occasions in the past commuted a death sentence of a co-defendant who was not the actual killer of the victim,' Gissendaner's lawyers wrote.
article_snippet: Gissendaner parents and sisters wanted Gissendaner to be executed, but two of Kelly and Douglas' three children asked this Board to spare Gissendaner life, Gissendaner's lawyers wrote.