Spitzer grants clemency to Jamaican immigrant
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has pardoned a Jamaican immigrant wrongly convicted of armed robbery, allowing him to remain in the country. Frederick Lake was convicted of armed robbery in 1991 and spent six years
News 12 Staff
•
Jan 5, 2008, 1:44 AM
•
Updated 5,954 days ago
Share:
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has pardoned a Jamaican immigrant wrongly convicted of armed robbery, allowing him to remain in the country.
Frederick Lake was convicted of armed robbery in 1991 and spent six years in prison for a crime he says he didn?t commit. In fact, he says he wasn?t even in the country when the crime occurred.
With help from his lawyers, Claudia Slovinsky and John Lewis, Lake will now be able to stay in the United States and continue to raise his family.
?It was a very compelling case and I agreed to work for him immediately,? says Slovinsky.
She argued that a discriminatory stipulation in immigration laws almost caused the legal immigrant to be deported back to his native Jamaica.
Lake?s pardon is the first reprieve issued by Spitzer since taking office last year.
Lake says that he will now be able to focus on his family and his health problems.
