The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area Pardon or commutation For federal death-row inmates, the president alone has the power to grant clemency. A petition for commutation of sentence should be filed no later than 30 days after the petitioner has received notification from the Bureau of Prisons of the scheduled date of execution. New guidelines also require that an inmate be given 120 days of notice of an execution date. The clemency process varies from state to state, usually involving the governor or a board of advisors, or both. In all cases, a formal petition for clemency must be filed. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, only the president has the power to commute a death sentence. Furthermore, no service member can be executed unless the president confirms the death penalty. Since 2004, 10 inmates have had their death sentences overturned and were acquitted on re-trial or all charges were dropped, including two in 2005, one in 2006, and one in the first half of 2007. Since 2004, an additional eight people sentenced to death have had their sentences commuted on humanitarian grounds. 39