RICKIE CHHOEUN: I made a mistake 25 years ago.

I want to put it past me.

DENNIS HORTON: Being in prison is a rough journey.

TINA MCDUFFIE: For many, the journey after prison is also a struggle.

DENNIS HORTON: We should never throw anybody in prison and say that they can't change.

That they shouldn't be given a second chance.

That's not who we are.

MCDUFFIE: A production of the WNET Group's Chasing the Dream initiative, "The Power of a Pardon," on Local, U.S.A. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ BRANDON FLOOD: You learn something new about someone, your perception of them changes.

When you see someone dressed to the nines, bow tie, the assumption was that I was some Ivy League guy or some attorney.

I was still keeping this close to my vest, and folks just kind of presumed that I had a whole different other background than what I did.

♪ ♪ NAZGOL GHANDNOOSH: A lot of people really struggle with getting back on their feet with criminal records.

These records haunt them.

We don't want to make it harder for people to find employment, to find housing.

You know, if we want to lower recidivism rates, these are the kinds of reforms that we need to be looking at.

♪ ♪ JOHN FETTERMAN: The more you drill down and you look at the nuts and bolts of these individual cases, I was horrified at how arbitrary and random some of these sentencings are.

(birds chirping) ♪ ♪ FLOOD: When I ended up getting pulled over during a traffic stop, they found that firearm and half-ounce of crack cocaine, and that netted me a five- to ten-year sentence.

My five years at Chester were very productive.

What's appealing about politics to me was the power of it.

When I thought I was out in the streets and I was a tough guy with the guns and stuff, at the end of the day, the person who had the most power and dominion over me was the guy or the woman who had the black robe on.

So for me, realizing that, that's what I wanted to do.

Constitutionally, in Pennsylvania, if you're convicted of a felony or any misdemeanor that is classified as a crime of falsification, you can't legally hold office.

So I have that impairment against me because of my two felony convictions.

My sole intent for the pardon was to be able to lawfully hold office, but in particular, the office of mayor of Harrisburg.

♪ ♪ FETTERMAN: I am here to celebrate the appointment of our new pardons secretary.

This is an important process available for all Pennsylvanians, in order to allow them to participate more fully in our society with a chance, a second chance.

It gives me an enormous honor to introduce to you the secretary of the Board of Pardons, Brandon Flood.

(applauding) - Let me tell you why this appointment is huge.

In me, not only do you have an advocate who intimately understands the clemency process, you have someone who understands what it's like to bear that scarlet letter of a conviction on your sleeve.

FETTERMAN: Brandon was the only individual that I ever considered for this role.

Brandon is the very best embodiment of the power of a second chance.

I felt like this was a once-in-a-lifetime position, and kind of put my selfish aspirations to the side.

If you're not eligible for Clean Slate or expungement, your only form of recourse is a pardon.

Being a successful pardon applicant myself, I'll give you some of those insider tips of how you can put forth the most compelling application.

You have these systems in place where folks are being criminalized for relatively menial offenses.

The lieutenant governor likes to point out about marijuana, right?

Folks being charged with small possession.

If you have prior convictions, that ultimately leads to someone being incarcerated for a subsequent offense.

The lack of diversionary program, especially when it comes to juveniles.

Certainly a lot of folks are caught in that vicious cycle as a result of those two things, hyper-policing and mandatory minimums.

MAN: We want to thank our guest, Brandon J.

Flood, secretary of the State of Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and probably one of the best- dressed people in Harrisburg.

- Even in the pandemic, I'm still in it.

I'm still all right.

(both laughing) We're in the business of executive clemency.

Pardons usually extends to individuals who have been convicted of a crime, they were released, or they're off supervision, they've been able to demonstrate for some period of time that they've rehabilitated themselves, and they want to be relieved of that conviction altogether.

All right, Governor, we're going to start with case number one, Kelly (muted).

HARRIS GUBERNICK: Can you tell me a little bit about what's changed with you that these kinds of behaviors won't occur again?

Commutations is the modification or the reduction of one's sentence.

So think of someone who's been sentenced to life without parole, who wants to be released and serve life on parole, or think of someone who's been excessively sentenced or wrongfully convicted, right?

You know, the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

So that's the relief that we provide.

FETTERMAN: Every major religion has redemption and forgiveness at its core, and our criminal justice system should emulate that.

FLOOD: First case, Bettina Carter.

Ms. Grayson?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Mr. Gubernick?

- No.

FLOOD: General Shapiro?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Governor?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Application recommended.

FETTERMAN: Brandon and I share a common goal, that we want to leave the best-performing revolutionized pardons and commutation process behind, and we are well on our way to doing that, even if we stop today.

Under his leadership, we will have digitized the process for the first time in ever.

We have cleared a backlog that has existed since its inception.

We have freed and gotten more people to the governor's desk than any administration prior, and our pardons applications are up.

FLOOD: Yeah, that's right, about 400.

FETTERMAN: 400%.

Everyone deserves justice.

FLOOD: We use the phrase "second chance" kind of liberally.

Even in my case, I needed, what?

Four chances, really.

We'll finish this year with more than 2,000 folks applying.

There should be tens of thousands of deserving folks applying.

I'm definitely about paying it forward.

What's the point of living on this planet if you're not making an impact?

CHHOEUN: I made a mistake 25 years ago.

Did I do anything else?

No.

I want to put it past me.

This is opportunity for me to just be free.

I moved to Philadelphia and I hung out with some people that are regular people.

Um, some are gang member, but I was never in the gang.

I was guilty by association, and that's, that's a mistake that I made.

Some guy picked me out of a lineup in a whole different city.

I really don't even know what this was all about.

That was the best decision that I had to make at that time, because I already spent a couple years waiting for trial already; I wasn't advised about signing this plea deal, that this may have immigration consequences.

STEPHANIE COHEN: Being convicted of a crime that you did not do because you were not presented with your options is a failure of the criminal justice system, and it's something that we see too often.

I'm set.

The new lieutenant governor of, in Pennsylvania and the attorney general have expressed interest and started programming around immigration reform.

So we worked to get approval for an expedited process for folks who are facing deportation in the pardons process.

Everyone deserves justice, and we are not the sum total of the decisions that, that we have made.

And when somebody is starting over and rebuilding, why wouldn't we want to be there to say, "Go!

Go!"

There is a path to forgiveness, there is a path to redemption, and that makes them better citizens.

We are the first administration in the entire history of the commonwealth to embrace this.

CHHOEUN: When I moved back to California in 2004, I started working with my brother-in-law in the same company that I've been working for the past 17 years.

I love my job, I love going to customer house and fixing the issue and seeing a smile on their face.

Sometimes, you know, nobody even came and talked to them for years, so they happy to see you.

It makes me feel good when I help those people out.

They went on the stand and said that I was a gang member, where they have no evidence of me being a gang member, so the higher court looked over the case and said, "Wait, that was wrong when you did that.

"You, you put things in the jury mind that it wasn't true."

So that's why they vacated my sentence.

Rickie's case was the first case that we accelerated that had to do with immigration issues, because it's usually the, the criminal conviction that activates the deportation orders.

In the case of Rickie, he's been crime-free for, I believe, almost going on 20 years.

So basically, I'm being deported for a misdemeanor and a firearm possession for a crime that I didn't commit.

Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records ordered deported from our country are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.

CHHOEUN: In 2017, I got a letter in the mail saying, "Hey, we need to see you."

When I got there, two ICE officer came and say, "Hey, I need you to put all your stuff down.

"Put your hand behind your back.

We're gonna go ahead and detain you."

And, like, my heart just dropped.

♪ ♪ So with this lawsuit, they can't come to snatch you out of your liberty while you're sleeping or while you're taking your kid to school.

They would have to give you a two-week notice to say goodbye to all your friends and family.

FLOOD: So we're gonna move to case number three, Rickie Chhoeun.

CHHOEUN: I just dedicate my life to just walking a straight line, being a good person, and just work hard.

GUBERNICK: How much time did you actually do in, in the prison?

CHHOEUN: Roughly three years-- the conspiracy case, sir, I helped a friend pick up some money where he worked at.

Once we got there, we was attacked by a group of people.

Me being the driver, I, I wanted to get out quickly, and when I took off, the passenger shot out and hit a parked car, and it happened so fast.

GUBERNICK: You never fired a shot-- it was a passenger in the car.

CHHOEUN: That's correct, sir.

FLOOD: Case number three, Kim Chhoeun.

Ms. Grayson?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Mr. Gubernick.

- Yes.

FLOOD: General Shapiro?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Governor?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Application recommended.

(gavel bangs) Number four, Robert Jones-- Ms. Grayson?

- That was all four, right?

FLOOD: General Shapiro?

- (whimpers) - Congratulations, Rickie.

FLOOD: Application recommended.

Number five... - (cheers) - Oh, my God!

- Congratulations!

That was... FETTERMAN: If I'm ever in a position or a place to display compassion or to deliver a second chance, I'm always gonna say yes to that.

I'm glad things worked out for him.

I think he's a good test case all across the board, and with his own advocacy, that other people take advantage of it.

(laughing) Oh, my God.

I feel like a new person.

FLOOD: We're gonna move on to case number four, Gerri Chambers.

CHAMBERS: This is Sixth Street-- Black-owned bars.

I used to hang out in this area right here.

PORTIA BOLEN-GETER: Gerri needed to look in the mirror and have a affirmation every day that, "I am somebody; I am a child of God.

I'm a woman who has made mistakes, and look at me now."

CHAMBERS: She kept telling me that I needed to go get a pardon.

She would help me with the paperwork, but I kept being scared.

FLOOD: Folks shouldn't be looking forward to rubber stamps of their applications.

That's, the same review process that's in place for our board will continue, even with this expedited program.

FETTERMAN: Governor Wolf believes in a second chance for Pennsylvanians.

This path already currently existed.

We're widening that road, if you will, and we're cranking up the speed limit a little bit.

The only thing you have to lose is your record.

CHAMBERS: When I was about 19, I started using crack cocaine.

Our crimes started in 1992.

This was a prostitution.

The first five were prostitution charges.

And then I got this last one, which was the burglary in 2000.

I went to Dauphin County Prison.

It wasn't new to me.

That's where I'd always go to do my time.

BOLEN-GETER: She got arrested.

I'm reading about it in the paper and I'm going, "This is not the Gerri I know.

"What are you doing breaking into a laundromat?

"What are you doing robbing people?

What are you doing?"

FLOOD: Substance abuse is usually the lead cause for a lot of criminal convictions, whether it be a property crime, whether it be prostitution, et cetera.

FETTERMAN: We in Pennsylvania spend billions of dollars on incarceration, but we spend so precious little, maybe a million dollars or so, on redemption.

And, and I think that is a grossly mismatched unaligned priority, quite frankly.

There are people that, for whatever reason, the circumstances they were immersed in or they lost their way.

If you don't facilitate redemption and forgiveness, then you really are in a situation of perpetual punishment.

So I'm always gonna err on the side of compassion.

CHAMBERS: It was a fear that I had, that I would be rejected.

So I never tried to get another job for 19 years.

Portia believing in me more than I believed in myself gave me a lot of hope that I could do more than what I was seeing myself as doing.

I had seen Brandon Flood, and he was telling me that I would have to get a pardon because my record wasn't expungeable.

FLOOD: All right, Governor, we're gonna move on to case number four, Gerri Chambers.

GUBERNICK: You've been drug-free since 2000?

CHAMBERS: Yes, sir, I have.

GUBERNICK: How have you been doing that?

CHAMBERS: With faith in God-- I have a small support system that if I need any, anybody to talk to if I think about drugs, I call them up.

FETTERMAN: What would this pardon mean to you if you got it today?

CHAMBERS: I'm going to try to further my education to get my bachelor's degree in social services, and it would enable me to help other drug addicts try to live drug-free and let them know that there is a better way of life.

FETTERMAN: This would finally allow you to put all of that, the past behind you and really pay it forward and begin to lead your best life-- is that accurate?

CHAMBERS: Yes, and I'm in the process of starting another business, a home, home healthcare agency.

FETTERMAN: Wonderful.

CHAMBERS: So it would help me in that field-- thank you.

FETTERMAN: Objections?

Uh, moving on.

Thank you, Ms.

Chambers, for joining us.

CHAMBERS: Thank you.

I waited 19 years for two minutes and ten seconds.

I'm sure with my faith in my higher power that I will be pardoned.

FLOOD: Number four, Gerri Chambers.

Ms. Grayson?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Mr. Gubernick?

- Yes.

FLOOD: General Shapiro?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Governor?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Application recommended.

CHAMBERS: They said, "Yes, yes, yes, and yes."

And I jumped up and down, my aunt cried.

I'm, I'm really happy here.

It was amazing.

My passion is people.

So in order to work with people, I had to get my record cleaned.

From all the fields that I tried to go in, if they see that burglary on there, it's a high-grade felony.

Now I have a professional license that I have to get.

I have to do a fingerprint and I guess a background check.

Here's my office that I'm gonna use for my scheduler.

When I walk in here, it just makes me feel as though my dreams are coming true.

I'm gonna be a real business owner.

This is my official license for my home health business.

Made out to Momma Nan's Home Care Services.

This is to certify that Momma Nan's Home Care Services is now official.

She's glowing right now, and she's gonna do it.

CHAMBERS: Turn your life around-- don't give up.

And if you are in a situation, you can always get out of that situation.

Everything's possible.

And you don't have to live that way.

You don't have to live that way.

DENNIS HORTON: Being in prison is a rough journey.

Every day I had to hold on-- I was slipping away.

And my brother, thank goodness he was there, although I wish he wasn't there.

LEE HORTON: We wound up in prison for 28 years for something somebody else did.

DENNIS HORTON: Most people who know me call me Freedom.

Well, I've been pretty busy over the last 27-plus years.

Living on the inside.

Um, in, in a prison.

You know, in a cell.

LEE HORTON: This is, like, my Samson locks.

God gave him his strength to be able to overcome, to be able to fight against injustice.

I had an epiphany that I wasn't gonna cut my hair anymore until I got out of prison.

Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped in between the lines of a run-on sentence.

(voiceover): And we would just basically joy ride, ride through the neighborhoods, and decided to stop at his house.

A prisoner of a misconceived parable.

(voiceover): When he got into my car, the cops was actually following him.

The cops pulled us over.

They just took it, like, "Okay, y'all are the guys."

The words of my life spoken in past tense; dream, nightmare, sleep.

We always professed our innocence.

We made some bad decisions and poor choices in the people that we allowed in our company.

And so here we are today.

We didn't murder anybody, and we were offered deals, but that would've meant going into court and lying.

FLOOD: Horton brothers had no previous criminal history.

You had a statement from the principal in the case, who, while he didn't outright say they weren't there, he didn't say that they were.

LYNN PATRONE-MILLER: In any situation, I would trust both of them with my life.

When they started going to the facility, they started to see a decrease in people needing to go into restrictive housing.

Anytime that it was needed for them to go and talk to somebody, sit with somebody, cry with somebody.

We're starting to see them talk people out of suicide.

I believe that they have the ability to reach so many others that I'm not able to help.

FETTERMAN: Could you gentlemen describe their misconduct history in prison?

MARK WAHL: Zero.

KENNETH EASON: Zero.

FETTERMAN: Zero-- zero misconducts in well over 50 years of collective incarceration.

Zero misconducts-- the file indicates that they have a score of zero when it comes to the re-offending assessment.

In my time as lieutenant governor and board chair, I have actually never seen a score of a zero.

EASON: It's unheard of, correct.

LEE HORTON: The bumblebee bears witness to what the mockingbird could never forget.

FLOOD: Miss Grayson?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Mr. Gubernick?

- Yes.

LEE HORTON: Shaky souls pull triggers laying axioms of history.

FLOOD: General Shapiro?

- Yes.

FLOOD: Governor?

- I am also a yes.

FLOOD: Duly noted-- application recommended.

And I was screaming and hollering at first, and then I said, "Hold it, they didn't vote for me yet."

(laughs): So we, everybody calmed down and sat back down.

I said, "Oh, yeah, that's right."

FLOOD: Miss Grayson.

- Yes.

FLOOD: Mr. Gubernick?

- Yes.

FLOOD: General Shapiro?

SHAPIRO: I'm a yes, and I, I think the lieutenant governor is a yes, as well, so I'll vote for him, if that's okay.

FLOOD: Duly noted.

Governor, with... FETTERMAN (crying): Thank you.

- ...the attorney general as your proxy?

- (crying): Yes.

- Application recommended.

My legs got wobbly and, you know, it felt like a building was taken off my shoulders.

I was elated.

Only until Lieutenant Governor Fetterman started voicing his opinion-- that made the difference.

- Lynn.

- Lynn, how you doing?

PATRONE-MILLER: Oh, hey, hey, guys!

I'm just happy to see you guys here.

- Right, right, so... - Yes.

PATRONE-MILLER: Instead of behind the walls.

LEE HORTON: That's the main thing.

I think we'll be helping to train people to help people.

The Fetterman campaign reached out to us and asked, would we like to come on board to organize support for his Senate bid?

It's gonna be a part-time position.

FLOOD: They're not innocent.

They've, simply have had their sentences commuted, and they will be under parole supervision, at least as of right now, for the remainder of their life.

LEE HORTON: Every time I come out the halfway house I spend my time with her.

JOANNA HORTON: I'm standing right with him from the moment he got out of prison.

Our future is going to be bright.

LEE HORTON: Let the dreamers keep their eyes on the prize while the guerrillas grab full clips.

Freedom is not free; it's the price of.

DENNIS HORTON: I want to see reform of, you know, of life without parole.

You know, we should never throw anybody in prison and say that they can't change, that they shouldn't be given a second chance.

That's not who we are.

At least that's not who we're supposed to be as Americans.

LEE HORTON: Been striving all our life to make an impact on society and, to some degree, to prove the system wrong.

To prove that you got it wrong.

Look at us.

We're not the guys who you said we were.

We are two men who found our purpose in life.

♪ ♪ - Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped in between the lines of a run-on sentence.

A prisoner of a misconceived parable.

The words of my life spoken in past tense.

Dream, nightmare, sleep.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪