Science Christopher Havens was approved for release by the Washington State Clemency Board. All he needed was the governor’s signature. Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Kwangmoozaa/Getty Images Plus and Pressmaster/Getty Images Plus.  Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Christopher Havens has a part-time position as research staff at the University of California at Los Angeles. And he’s had a prolific few years. In June 2020, Havens published an article in the journal Research in Number Theory with co-authors from the University of Torino in Italy. Soon after, he published another article on the proceedings of a math conference held in Bratislava , Slovakia, with a co-author from Rome. Another five publications followed, including a 2025 textbook on continued fractions published by Springer. Havens has never visited Italy or Slovakia. He hasn’t, despite his UCLA appointment, been in L.A. for a long time.…