After 45 years in prison and seven failed attempts to appeal his 1981 first-degree murder conviction, James Rodwell thought that the clemency hearing he’d been granted last April might mean a chance to be free.

According to Gov. Maura Healey’s clemency guidelines, hearings should be held and recommendations should be issued within six months of filing a petition under most circumstances.

But ten months after learning he would get a chance to plead his case, and more than a year after filing the original petition, Rodwell, now a 70-year-old man with a heart condition, has not received a hearing date.

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