The prosecutor's letter Ford's office pointed to doesn't say what they claimed.
Attorney General Aaron Ford is running for governor. He is also one of nine people on Nevada's Board of Pardons. State records show Ford was listed as the sole sponsor for Norman Smith's commutation application at a Sept. 16 Nevada Board of Pardons Commissioners meeting. A commutation means cutting a prison sentence short.
Here is how the board works. An inmate's clemency application sits in a queue until one of the board's nine members chooses to officially sponsor it. Based on a Fox News Digital review of official meeting agendas from 2026, Smith's application was the only commutation request sponsored by Ford all year. The board ultimately denied the clemency bid.
Read our prior coverage:
Aaron Ford Backed Clemency for a Man Who Killed a Pregnant Woman, and He Won't Say Why
Who Is Norman Smith?
This story starts on the Las Vegas Strip in September 2015. He and six others were charged in a robbery scheme that targeted tourists. Women in the group would approach men, ask for help or offer sex, and lead them somewhere to be robbed. Smith, then 19, was charged with 14 counts, including attempted murder and armed robbery.
A judge set his bail at $160,000. Smith paid it and walked out of jail to wait for trial.
Three months later, on December 13, he was in a North Las Vegas parking lot with a friend. That friend was the father of Tineshea Adams' unborn baby. Adams, 20 and five months pregnant, showed up and confronted him, reportedly because he was out with another woman. There is no record that Smith and Adams knew each other.
The argument turned into a scuffle between Adams and Smith.
A witness testified that Smith, who had a gun, said, “I'm about to blow.”
Her friends yelled, “She's pregnant.”
Smith fired a single shot into her chest with a .40-caliber handgun. Adams and her unborn baby boy died at University Medical Center.
Smith told police:
“I wasn't trying to shoot her. She was fighting everybody and I got pushed, so the gun went off.”
Smith later pleaded guilty to three armed robberies and got 10 to 39 years in prison.
At his trial for the killing, his lawyer said Smith had been pepper-sprayed and fired out of fear. The jury found him not guilty of killing the baby. But it convicted him of voluntary manslaughter for killing Adams, a crime that carried up to 20 more years behind bars.
The prosecutor's letter says Smith was a member of the YNIC street gang, which grew out of the Delmonico Crips.
Adams left behind a 2-year-old son. Her mother had already lost her 12-year-old son to a shooting about 10 years earlier.
The prosecutor's letter says Smith was a member of the YNIC street gang, which grew out of the Delmonico Crips.
The Story That Doesn't Add Up
For days, Ford said very little. On the day of the hearing, a tracker at the Las Vegas airport asked him about sponsoring Smith. Ford replied:
“Uhh, don't know which one you're talking about.”
Then he walked away.
WATCH
Democrat Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has no answer when asked why he is supporting a pardon for an armed robber who killed a pregnant woman.
“Uhh, don't know which one you're talking about, but anyway, good to see you.” pic.twitter.com/UhbuGdyC9K
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 22, 2026
8 News Now asked Ford's office why he sponsored Smith. A spokesperson said Smith's mother, a schoolteacher with cancer, asked Ford for help.
Then the spokesperson added this:
“After receiving a letter of support from the prosecutor in the case who thought there were disparities in the sentence for Mr. Smith, AG Ford agreed to put the case on the agenda but informed Mr. Smith's mother that he would not guarantee her that he would vote in favor of clemency or a sentence modification.”
The station got that letter. It was written by Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Schwartzer.
According to 8 News Now, it does not appear to express support for Smith's request. Instead, it lays out the crime in hard detail. It even describes how Adams' family and friends “filled the gallery each and every day of the trial.”
After the story ran, Ford's office changed its explanation. It said the spokesperson actually meant a different letter, one written a year earlier for the parole board.
That letter has not been made public. That is a completely different board.
Ford has sat on the Pardons Board since he became attorney general in 2019. He doesn't sit on the Parole Board at all. So why would a letter written for the Parole Board be his reason to act? And how did it reach his desk? Ford's office hasn't said.
There is one more wrinkle. Court records show Smith himself once asked a judge to modify his sentence, and in 2024 a Nevada appeals court ruled the lower court did not err by denying that motion. So, the courts already said no.
What Ford's Side Says
Ford's campaign says sponsoring a case does not mean he supports it.
Campaign spokeswoman Prerna Jagadeesh told Fox News:
“Pardon board members sponsoring clemency applications to check on the progress of an inmate is standard operating procedure and doesn't mean a member will vote in favor of said application.”
The campaign also said Ford missed the hearing due to an out-of-state family medical emergency.
Critics aren't buying it. Better Nevada PAC spokesman John Burke said:
“If he can't be honest about something as serious as his support for the clemency bid of a gang member who killed a pregnant woman, what else is he lying about?”
What Comes Next
This story isn't going away. Ford is running for governor against Joe Lombardo, and voters will hear about Norman Smith again before Election Day.
You can help get answers. Ask the Attorney General's office to release the parole board letter it now says it meant.
Have questions for Ford's office? Ask them to release the letter they say he relied on. You can reach his communications director at JSadler@ag.nv.gov.
Tineshea Adams was 20 years old. She never got to hold her son. The man who took both of their lives was out on bail when he pulled the trigger. Of all the cases waiting in line, Nevada's top law enforcement officer chose his to move forward.
Nevadans deserve to know why. And they deserve the truth the first time they ask.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI.
