Polis pardons 29 Colorado residents in Aug. 26 clemency release
The orders restore specified citizenship rights and remove conviction-related civil disabilities, but public records do not explain how the recipients were selected or document the pardons’ practical effects.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted full and unconditional pardons to 29 people Aug. 26, according to the governor’s executive-order records. The orders say the pardons restore specified citizenship rights and remove conviction-related civil disabilities.
The pardons were issued as 29 separate executive orders, numbered C 2026 045 through C 2026 073. The governor’s 2026 executive-order index lists each order on Aug. 26. The orders cite Article IV, Section 7 of the Colorado Constitution and say each recipient completed their sentence, met the legal conditions for clemency and merited a pardon in the interest of justice.
The underlying convictions range from older drug and marijuana cases to theft, fraud, trespass, criminal mischief and assault. The order for Aidan C. Kehoe, for example, covers 2016 Jefferson County convictions involving marijuana concentrate and cultivation. The order for James E. Bruntz Jr. covers a 1975 Weld County robbery conviction.
The orders generally say the pardons restore voting, jury-service, officeholding and firearms privileges, subject to the qualifications and restrictions that apply to each right. They also say civil disabilities and public sufferings associated with the convictions are removed. The order for Steven Holzwarth uses that language.
The public records do not identify when the petitions were filed, who reviewed them, what recommendations were made or how the governor selected these 29 cases from other applications. In a governor’s office announcement, the office said the process considers input from victims and their families, law enforcement and others involved in the cases. The announcement said Polis receives hundreds of pardon applications and quoted him telling recipients that theirs were among the few he was granting.
The Aug. 26 action follows a May 15 release that included 35 pardons and nine commutations, according to the executive-order index. The 2024 index lists 22 pardons and four commutations; the 2023 index lists 21 pardons and seven commutations.
The orders establish that the pardons were issued and describe the relief granted. They do not show whether any recipient has since voted, served on a jury, sought office, obtained a firearm or used a pardon to address employment, licensing or other practical barriers.