'Thrill killer' and desert executioner - meet the dozens of criminals Dem AG backed for parole: 'No brainer'

Ford is running to be Nevada's next governor, seeking to oust incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. His race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive gubernatorial elections of the cycle.

Unlike governors in most states, Nevada's governor cannot unilaterally grant pardons or commute prison sentences, with those decisions instead resting with the state's Board of Pardons Commissioners, made up of the governor, attorney general and Nevada Supreme Court justices.

Since becoming the state's attorney general, Ford has voted to pardon or significantly reduce the sentences of 30 people convicted of murder, Fox News Digital found. 

Ford, for example, supported a convicted kidnapper and murderer eligible for parole when Lombardo voted against him.

Michael Cu, the convict in question, kidnapped a 16-year-old in 1996, forced him to drive out to the desert, then killed him execution-style - all to steal the rims off his car. The victim was shot seven times with a rifle, with the fatal shot being fired at nearly point-blank range into his head.

"Mr. Judge I would like to tell you these people, I don't want them to be free," the deceased's mother pleaded with the judge at Cu's sentencing in March 2000. "There's a lot of people outside, a lot of mothers outside ... I'm afraid because I have more children."

Cu could eventually make it back onto the streets after the board commuted his sentence, making him eligible for parole in 2035 - though his release would still require approval from the state's parole board.

"As Attorney General, Ford has worked with federal and local law enforcement to prosecute criminals and protect our communities," his campaign website reads. "He's gone after corporate landlords who are illegally jacking up prices, taken on big drug companies, prioritized putting child predators in jail, battled fentanyl being trafficked across our borders, and fought to keep dangerous untraceable ghost guns off of our streets. He ended a decades-long rape kit back log and has prosecuted human traffickers who threaten the safety of our communities."

While Ford offered no substantive remarks in most of the pardon hearings, he occasionally had something to add.

"I gleefully vote yes for this motion," he said, explaining his June 2022 support to make a man who killed someone in an armed robbery when he was 15 eligible for parole. Ford talked to the man, Shaquille Hazelwood, on the importance of the moment and advised him to live up to the faith the state was placing in him.

He called his decision to grant parole eligibility to an individual who stabbed a 17-year-old to death a "no-brainer" in September 2025. Ford sponsored the hearing where witnesses spoke to the character of the murderer, Bobby Thomas.

Ford also supported a commutation for Anthony Amati, whom police and prosecutors described as a "thrill killer," in a June 2025 decision that allowed the convicted murderer to become immediately eligible for parole.

Amati was convicted of ambushing a 22-year-old Pizza Hut worker as he walked a co-worker home. The co-worker, who was at the trial, testified that Amati and his friends "cackled ... laughed like it was a big joke" and jumped around while firing multiple bullets into the victim.

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli argued at the time that Amati should never be eligible to walk free because his crime was a "thrill killing ... for the mere pleasure of it."

Amati became immediately eligible for parole following the board's decision, although his release was not guaranteed.

Ford also supported clemency for Arlander Givens, who beat his victim to death with a cinder block and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms, but the board ultimately denied his application, Fox News Digital found. 

Other convicted killers Ford voted to grant clemency included a murderer involved in a carjacking, a man who stabbed a 17-year-old to death over a basketball game and another who lured his victim into his home with the promise of a drug deal before shooting him dead, Fox News Digital found.

Ford's office and his gubernatorial campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.