Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has voted to ease sentences for 30 convicted murderers, including a thrill killer and a desert shooter, while running to unseat Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Fox News Digital reviewed Board of Pardons Commissioners hearings from Ford’s nearly eight years as attorney general and found he supported pardons or major sentence cuts for dozens of people convicted of murder.
Ford, a Democrat, is now seeking the governor’s office against Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo. The race is tightening as Election Day nears, and Ford’s clemency record has become a public-safety flashpoint.
Nevada does not let a governor hand out mercy alone. Pardons and commutations go through the Board of Pardons Commissioners, the governor, the attorney general, and the state Supreme Court justices. Ford’s yes votes carried real weight.
Ford called one parole vote a “no-brainer”
In September 2025, Ford backed parole eligibility for Bobby Thomas, who stabbed a 17-year-old to death. Ford sponsored the hearing, brought character witnesses, and labeled the choice a “no-brainer.”
Aaron Ford put it this way during the proceeding:
"no-brainer"
That was not an isolated vote. In June 2022, Ford supported making Shaquille Hazelwood eligible for parole. Hazelwood killed someone during an armed robbery when he was 15. Ford spoke to him about living up to the state’s faith and then cast his vote with open enthusiasm.
Ford told the board:
"I gleefully vote yes for this motion,"
Cases like these keep landing on state boards nationwide, including when Illinois sets a rare pardon hearing for a long-held killer. Voters notice who pushes for earlier freedom.
Thrill killer gained immediate parole eligibility
In June 2025, Ford supported a commutation for Anthony Amati. Police and prosecutors called Amati a “thrill killer.” He ambushed a 22-year-old Pizza Hut worker who was walking a co-worker home. The board action made Amati immediately eligible for parole, though release still required a separate parole board green light.
Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli argued Amati should never walk free and described the crime in blunt terms:
"thrill killing... for the mere pleasure of it."
A co-worker’s testimony, as reported, said Amati “cackled” and “laughed like it was a big joke.” Ford still backed the break.
Families left behind by violent crime often carry the weight for decades, much as an ex-Knoxville police chief still describes one murder haunting investigators more than 30 years later. Clemency votes reopen those wounds.
Desert shooting for car rims ended in a reduced sentence
Michael Cu kidnapped a 16-year-old in 1996, forced the teen to drive into the desert, and killed him to steal car rims. Cu shot the victim seven times with a rifle. The fatal shot came nearly point-blank into the head.
At the March 2000 sentencing, the victim’s mother begged the court to keep the killers locked away:
"Mr. Judge I would like to tell you these people, I don't want them to be free,"
She added she feared for her other children because “there's a lot of people outside, a lot of mothers outside.” The board later commuted Cu’s sentence, making him parole-eligible in 2035 if the parole board agrees. Ford supported the change. Lombardo voted against it.
Ford also backed clemency for Arlander Givens, who beat his victim to death with a cinder block and drew two consecutive life terms. The board denied that application. Other killers Ford supported included one tied to a carjacking, one who stabbed a 17-year-old over a basketball game, and one who lured a victim with a promised drug deal before shooting him.
Crime stories that drag on without clear accountability stay with the public, the same way an ex-FBI expert has watched the Nancy Guthrie case stretch past eight months with leads collapsing. Early release decisions raise the same trust questions.
Campaign sells a tough-on-crime brand while the record shows mercy votes
Ford kicked off his governor bid on Monday, July 28, 2025, at the East Las Vegas Community Center. His campaign website paints him as a partner to law enforcement who prosecutes criminals and protects communities. It cites work against corporate landlords, drug companies, child predators, fentanyl trafficking, ghost guns, a rape-kit backlog, and human traffickers.
The site states:
"As Attorney General, Ford has worked with federal and local law enforcement to prosecute criminals and protect our communities,"
It continues that he has “prioritized putting child predators in jail” and “fought to keep dangerous untraceable ghost guns off of our streets.” Ford’s office and campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment on the clemency votes.
Lombardo has criticized Ford’s pattern of support for leniency. The governor’s own predecessor sometimes joined Ford on softer votes, including a pardon after DNA exoneration in a contract-killing case. But the current contrast is sharp: Lombardo opposed Cu’s parole track while Ford backed it.
Public safety failures cut both ways when officials excuse lawbreaking or soft-pedal consequences, whether in a state capital or when an Army veteran faces arson charges after firebombing an ICE entrance at a federal building. Voters judge the full ledger.
Ford has spent nearly eight years as attorney general casting votes that shortened hard time for people convicted of murder. He now asks Nevadans to make him governor on a promise to keep them safe. The hearing record shows what “gleefully” and “no-brainer” looked like when the killers sat across the table.
Mercy without memory is not justice, and Nevadans heading to the polls can see exactly whose side the votes were on.
