Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has sponsored a parole and clemency application for Norman Smith, who killed Tinesha Adams, a pregnant woman, during a 2015 altercation. The decision has prompted criticism, particularly because Smith has served about seven years for the killing and Ford is seeking re-election, although Ford’s office says he did not promise to support clemency.

Smith was sentenced to 10–39 years for an armed robbery and later received a sentence for Adams’s death, with both terms running concurrently. Ford said he acted after Smith’s mother, who has cancer, asked him to help place the case before the parole board, while a prosecutor’s letter supported consideration of the application; Smith admitted shooting Adams but said it was accidental.