Gov. Jared Polis granted clemency to 24 people in Colorado’s criminal justice system Thursday, including a former state trooper who pointed a gun at a motorist, the co-defendant in a case where a prisoner was accidentally released early and a woman convicted of murder.
He commuted the sentences of Michael Clifton, Sidney Cooley, Robin Farris and Sean Marshall to grant or allow for early parole.
Clifton is serving a 98-year sentence for charges related to two 1998 Aurora video store robberies. His co-defendant in that case, Rene Lima-Marin, was given the same sentence but mistakenly released decades early. Lima-Marin was free for six years, during which time he married and stayed out of the criminal justice system — until the court discovered its error and re-incarcerated him. He was pardoned in 2017 while Clifton remained in prison.
Clifton will be granted parole on Jan. 31. Lima-Marin called Clifton’s imminent release “wonderful” and “awesome.”
Marshall is serving a 45-year sentence for four counts of aggravated robbery while in possession of a real or simulated weapon. He will also be granted parole on Jan. 31.
