The Village of Maywood, in collaboration with Congressman Danny K.
Davis, State
Representative
Karen Yarbrough
and Journey To
Empowerment,
will hold an
executive
clemency
workshop on
Saturday, August
29 at Second Baptist Church, 436 S. 13th Avenue in Maywood. Registration
starts at 8
a.m., the
workshop will be
from 9 a.m. to 1
p.m.
Executive
clemency is the
only legal way
to remove a
felony
conviction from
a criminal
background.
Individuals must
apply to the
Illinois Prison
Review Board for
a hearing. That
board will hold
the official
hearing and then
recommend to the
governor either
a pardon or a
denial of the
pardon request.
Felonies can
neither be
expunged nor
sealed except
for a couple of
exceptions.
At the August 29
workshop,
members of the
Illinois Prison
Review Board
will be on hand
to counsel
attendees. Also
participating
will be the
Illinois State
Appellate
Defender,
lawyers from the
Cook County Bar
Association and
representatives
from the Cook
County Public
Defenders
office. Valencia E. Ross
from Journey to
Empowerment will
coordinate the
workshop.
Attendees are
asked to bring
their “rap
sheets”, which
can be obtained
at Chicago
Police
Department
Headquarters,
3510 S. Michigan
Avenue,
or certified
disposition
documents from
the Cook County
Clerk of the
Circuit Court’s
offices at any
Circuit
Courthouse
including
Maybrook Court
in Maywood.
“Many of our
citizens have
suffered for
decades because
of some felony
they committed
in their youth,”
Maywood Mayor
Henderson
Yarbrough Sr.
exclaimed. “If
they have worked
hard and not
violated the law
in all that
time, we must
give people a
second chance,”
he stated. The
mayor encouraged
all whose lives
have been
impacted by some
past felony to
attend the
workshop on
August 29.
For further
information,
please contact
the Office of
the Mayor at
708: 450-4492.
