Governor Eliot Spitzer today granted a full and unconditional pardon to prevent the deportation of Frederick Lake, a native of Jamaica who served a six-year sentence after a 1991 conviction for first-degree robbery. Mr. Lake has been living in Brooklyn with his wife and sons since 1997.

Mr. Lake, who entered the United States legally in 1987, faces deportation under a federal statute that mandates the removal of a lawful resident alien who has been convicted of an aggravated felony. However, the federal statute explicitly allows a Governor to prevent the deportation by granting the alien a full and unconditional pardon.

“Mr. Lake has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his robbery conviction,” Governor Spitzer said. “He had a perfect disciplinary record while in prison, he has had no other arrests or convictions during his lifetime, and he has been living safely and without incident in the community for the last 10 years. No purpose would be served by separating Mr. Lake from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his wife and two young sons.”

Mr. Lake was convicted of committing an armed robbery of $103,000 from a payroll delivery car in May 1989, and was sentenced to a term of six to 18 years in prison. Mr. Lake was released to parole on July 15, 1997, after his first appearance before the Parole Board. Three years later, he was granted an early discharge from parole supervision. Since his release from state custody, Mr. Lake has been living in Brooklyn with his wife and sons.

Mr. Lake was gainfully employed until shortly before his arrest for this robbery. Since 2003, he has suffered from significant health problems that prevent him from working, but allow him to be the primary caregiver for his sons while his wife works as a home care attendant.

Mr. Lake was born to a Jamaican mother and a United States citizen father. In a September 2000 decision, a federal appeals court deemed Mr. Lake to have been a United States citizen at birth, as a result of his father’s citizenship. The United States Supreme Court subsequently vacated that determination, but Mr. Lake has continued to challenge of his possible removal from this country.

At his trial, Mr. Lake presented evidence – an airline ticket and a passport stamp – which showed that he had traveled to Jamaica four days before the robbery and did not return until many months later. The prosecutor called a Jamaican immigration officer who challenged the reliability of that evidence. After an investigation into that immigration official’s testimony, the Jamaican Ministry of National Security concluded that the testimony was “faulty” and that Mr. Lake may have suffered a serious miscarriage of justice if the jury relied on it.

Although Mr. Lake has continuously asserted his innocence of this crime, and has passed a lie detector test, the Governor declined to grant a pardon on grounds of innocence, stating: “Mr. Lake has presented his arguments to the courts, and the courts have upheld his conviction, but whether or not Mr. Lake committed this crime, he now has two young sons who depend on him for emotional support and physical supervision, and who would be devastated by his deportation.”