But Mr. Davidson’s case is complex, and he was long championed by lawyers and relatives as a candidate for clemency. As the leader of a drug ring who helped plan the robbery of a rival, he was convicted of murder though he was not at the scene of the robbery that turned deadly; the man who fired the shot that killed Wallie Howard Jr., a Syracuse police investigator who was working undercover, has already been released.
And amid a national push to reduce incarceration rates that disproportionately affect Black men, some experts and advocates said the case was remarkable only because such decisions have been too rare.
“It’s not the grant itself that strikes me as inappropriate,” said Rachel E. Barkow, an expert on executive clemency and a law professor at New York University. “There are thousands of people like him and the real question is why him — as opposed to all of the people who are similarly situated.”
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Because Mr. Howard was killed during the commission of the robbery and in service of the drug ring, Mr. Davidson was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Mr. Davidson, who was not accused of being present at the scene of the shooting, has maintained his innocence.
Mr. Howard’s family could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. But in 2014, when a judge reduced the sentence of Robert Lawrence, the man who shot Mr. Howard, the officer’s mother and sister pleaded in court that it be reconsidered.
