Should Robin Farris, convicted murderer, get to start her second chance early?
Clemency and parole for Robin Farris must strike a balance between justice and mercy
Laws change. People change. New information comes to light. That’s the reason presidents and governors can grant pardons and commutations. According to Kermit Roosevelt, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, “The pardon was historically a royal prerogative, but it was carried over into American practice to allow for mercy, the correction of miscarriages of justice, or to help society move forward without the divisive spectacle of prosecution and punishment in politically charged cases.”
Clemency is controversial, however, because it involves two conflicting values: justice, the principle that we get what we deserve, and its opposite, mercy, a reprieve from the burden of that debt.
Late last year, Gov. Jared Polis granted some form of clemency to 24 people incarcerated in Colorado. Among them, Robin Farris became eligible for parole eight years early on a 40- year sentence. A commutation reduces the sentence but unlike a pardon does not remove the criminal conviction. In 1990, Farris shot to death her girlfriend Beatrice King during an argument.
Attorneys took her case for clemency pro bono because Farris has changed and so have sentencing laws. Farris is deeply remorseful and has been a model prisoner. While in prison, she earned a college degree, completed 2,000 hours of counseling instruction, and earned accreditation in that field. Farris has mentored hundreds of women many of whom wrote letters on her behalf to the governor.
Since her conviction in 1991, the Colorado General Assembly has changed sentencing guidelines for felony murder. Prosecutors charged Farris with first- degree felony murder because she was also accused of burglary. Under the law, murder in the commission of another crime automatically resulted in a first- degree felony change.
During the 2021 session, the legislature passed Senate Bill 124 to allow second- degree murder charges in situations like Farris’. Farris did not enter King’s home with the intent to assault or kill King. She typically carried a gun for protection because she had been a victim of a violent sexual assault. Farris killed King in the heat of the argument without premeditation.
If the charge of second- degree murder had been an option, a judge would have likely given a shorter sentence and she would have been eligible for parole more than a decade ago.
Because the law changed, it is fair to reassess the prison sentences of those convicted under the old law. Prison sentences serve several important purposes: the removal of a dangerous person from the public, deterrence for those tempted to break the law, and rehabilitation. Farris is not a danger to society, is not at risk of reoffending, and has been rehabilitated.
Lengthy prison sentences reflect our desire for justice. Convicts who have served their sentence are said to have paid their debt to society because lawbreaking doesn’t just harm the victim of the crime, it injures the community. Judges, guided by the sentencing laws, attempt to make prison sentences proportional to the gravity of the crime. Those convicted of premeditated murder get longer sentences than those convicted of a crime of passion. Farris’ offense is the latter and the sentence should be proportional. Has the debt been paid?
King’s three sisters oppose clemency for Farris. “I understand she wants to get out, but do you understand what you have done or what you’ve taken away?” Deborah King told Colorado Public Radio reporter Elaine Tassy, “It’s been all that time and I understand that, but can you bring my sister back?”
No amount of time served can do that. In that sense, the debt can never be repaid. Mercy, on the other hand, can relieve the burden of that debt and allow a rehabilitated person an opportunity to live as one redeemed.
“I received help from individuals and I think it’s important to always create that perfect circle and that cycle and to give back. And so that’s what I want to do when I’m released,” Farris told Tassy, “I have authored devastation and been responsible for causing trauma. So I think it’s important that I also be the person that is instrumental in helping others.”