Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted clemency to six people and denied another 150 requests; he also granted one commutation. Rauner's office says the 157 clemency petitions were part of dockets going back to January 2012. It says a backlog of around 500 petitions remains from previous administrations.
Rauner's office says each person granted clemency has recently undergone a criminal background check through the state police's Law Enforcement Agencies Data System.
It is the tenth set of petitions the Republican has reviewed as governor. A granted clemency request for a pardon with expungement allows petitioners to seek expungement of their conviction.
