Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last Thursday signed off on pardons and commutations for six people, including an Albanian refugee whose decades-old Detroit murder conviction had put his future in the United States on the line. The move clears the record of Deda Malota Margilaj, who has lived in the country since 1970 and was convicted in the late 1970s of second-degree murder in a Detroit gas-station shooting. Advocates say the governor’s decision removes a key legal obstacle that had left him vulnerable to federal removal proceedings.
According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, the state Parole Board held a public hearing earlier this year to weigh Margilaj’s request for a pardon. State records show he was sentenced in Wayne County on May 15, 1978, to a 7-to-15-year term for second-degree murder. That public notice is the formal step required before a governor can act on a pardon recommendation.
As reported by The Detroit News, Whitmer’s July 2 clemency decisions covered Margilaj and five others: Jamor James, Jamil Lewis, Amari Seals, Demel Dukes and Barbara Davis. Joshua Dubin said, “Now more than ever, this case demonstrates the power of executive clemency to correct the lifelong collateral consequences of decades-old convictions.” Margilaj told reporters, “All I ever wanted was to stay with my family in the country I love,” and said the pardon brought long-sought relief.
Background
State records show Margilaj arrived in the United States in 1970 as an Albanian refugee and was later implicated in a 1975 shooting at a Detroit gas station, a case that resulted in his 1978 second-degree murder conviction. The Michigan Department of Corrections’ public notice on his petition detailed his sentencing and outlined the Parole Board hearing that took place before the case reached the governor for review.
Legal implications
The pardon wipes away Margilaj’s 50-year-old Michigan conviction and, according to advocates cited by The Detroit News, could open the door for immigration officials to end removal proceedings that had resurfaced in recent years. A governor’s pardon does not automatically clear every record or amount to a court finding of innocence, but it does remove a legal basis that federal immigration authorities frequently rely on when seeking deportation.
Where this fits
Whitmer has periodically used her clemency power to commute sentences and issue pardons, and this round arrives as her administration winds down. In December 2024, her office approved another clemency case that followed the same Parole Board review process, illustrating how petitions move from a public hearing to the governor’s desk.
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