Image Credit: Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook & TNInnocence.com.
Article by The Tennessee Conservative News Staff –
A man convicted of a 2005 murder was released from prison after serving nearly 20 years of a life sentence following Governor Bill Lee’s decision to commute his sentence.
Thomas Clardy was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 after being convicted of the 2005 murder of Kirk Clouatre at a Madison auto body shop.
In June 2023, that conviction was overturned by federal district Judge Aleta Trauger. Clardy was released in October 2023.
That freedom was short-lived, however. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District reversed that ruling after the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office appealed. Clardy was sent back to prison in 2024 after the U.S. Supreme Court denied to hear the case.
Governor Lee commuted Clardy’s sentence on September 2, 2026. He was released on Tuesday, September 15.
A commuted sentence does not mean that Clardy’s conviction is erased. Instead, it means his sentence was adjusted to allow him to be released on supervised parole.
Throughout his imprisonment, Clardy maintained his innocence, stating in 2023, “I spent 17 years in prison for a crime I did not commit.”
Sources:
WSMV.
