What is a Governor’s pardon?

A governor’s pardon is an official forgiveness for your conviction, granted by the Governor of California. A pardon restores all of the rights you lost due to your conviction—including your gun rights and your right to serve on a jury—and if you qualify, eliminates your requirement to register as a sex offender under California Penal Code section 290. It is the best thing you can do to reduce the impact of your criminal record on your life, but it is still not a complete remedy because it does completely erase the conviction from your record. (For more information on what a pardon does and does not do for you, see PG. 985.)

A California Governor’s pardon is an honor granted only to individuals who have demonstrated exemplary behavior following conviction for a felony.[3172] It is official acknowledgement of your rehabilitation from the state’s highest elected official. A pardon removes most of the consequences of a criminal conviction. Both the California Penal Code and the California Constitution give the Governor the authority to grant pardons, and that authority is entirely discretionary.[3173]

Unfortunately, Governor’s pardons are difficult to get and are NOT granted very often, so you should try to clean up your record using other remedies first—such as an expungement or a Certificate of Rehabilitation.

Governor’s Pardons vs.
Felony Reductions, Reclassifications & Resentencing

In most cases, you are NOT eligible for a Governor’s pardon if you ONLY have misdemeanor convictions on your criminal record. (In other words, you must have a felony conviction to get a pardon.) If you reduce your felony conviction to a misdemeanor under California Penal Code section 17(b) (see PG. 968), or have it reclassified or resentenced as a misdemeanor under Prop. 47 (see PG. 970), you could become ineligible for a Governor’s pardon (unless you also have other felony convictions on your record). HOWEVER, in most cases it’s still better to have your felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor—even if that makes you ineligible for a Governor’s pardon—for these reasons:

    It is MUCH easier to get your felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor than it is to get a Governor’s pardon. Governor’s pardons are very rare, and you should not count on getting one.Getting your felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor removes the felony from your criminal record and allows you to say that you were never convicted of a felony for that offense. But a Governor’s pardon does NOT remove, erase, or seal the conviction on your record, so you will still have to disclose that you have a felony conviction even if you have been pardoned.

IMPORTANT: If your conviction is eligible for a Certificate of Rehabilitation (COR), you should absolutely apply for a COR first, BEFORE seeking a pardon. Getting a COR improves chance of getting a pardon AND automatically sends in your application for a pardon (so you do not have to do anything else to apply!).

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  1. 3172

    State of Cal., Office of Governor, Office of Gov. Edmund G. Brown Junior, How to Apply for a Pardon at 3 (rev’d Sept. 5, 2013), http://gov.ca.gov/docs/How_To_Apply_for_a_Pardon.pdf.

  2. 3173

    Cal. Penal Code § 4800; Cal. Const., art. V, § 8; compare Cal. Penal Code § 4852.17 (governor’s pardon based on certificate of rehabilitation does restore right to vote); How to Apply for a Pardon, State of Cal. Office of the Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., (rev’d Sep. 5, 2015), http://gov.ca.gov/docs/How_To_Apply_for_a_Pardon.pdf.