This made it impossible to grant a pardon posthumously.

For the board to grant a pardon, the innocence of the subject must be shown conclusively.

Many warn, in any case, that granting a pardon would set a bad precedent.

In 1996 a motorist who had been convicted of a speeding offence was granted a pardon because the speed camera was found to have been faulty.

Some accounts hold that the governor immediately resigned upon granting the pardon, but the official records reflect no such action.