Haley Barbour's pardons put Southern redemption on trial
Last edited Sat Jan 14, 2012, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour defended his mass pardon of over 200 current and former convicts, quoting the Christian principle of redemption enshrined in Southern law and tradition.
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / January 14, 2012
Given the disproportionate number of executions in the South, it's safe to argue that the region leads the nation when it comes to tough justice. But as former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour showed this week by pardoning over 200 current and former convicts, including 41 convicted of violent crimes like murder and rape, the region also stands out for its Christian trust in the idea of redemption.
The breadth of the pardons, which included a number of notable convicts like Brett Favre's brother, Ernest Favre, and convicted Jackson socialite Karen Irby, shocked and angered many Mississippians, including its chief prosecutor, Attorney General Jim Hood, who believes many of the pardons were unlawful and is seeking to have many of them revoked.
President Bill Clinton, who pardoned 140 people, including the convicted financier Mark Rich, upon leaving the White House in 2001, embodied that principle, gleaned from his days as the governor of Arkansas. Combined with enduring “trusty” systems that allow rehabilitated convicts to work at state governors' mansions, Southern states, perhaps in part because they tend to have larger per capita prison populations than states in other regions, also rely more heavily on executive clemencies and pardons.
But in defending the pardons this week, Mr. Barbour, a popular two-term governor and one-time presidential aspirant, also cited his Christian upbringing and early life experience watching a rehabilitated convict care for his disabled grandfather as the reasons why he remained “totally at peace” with his decision, noting that he would allow any of those he pardoned to play with his grandchildren.
more:http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0114/Haley-Barbour-s-pardons-put-Southern-redemption-on-trial
Barbour ‘At Peace’ with Pardons, but Scandal Rages On
By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | January 14, 2012 | 47inShare3
Jackson, Mississippi
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“Mississippians are mostly Christians,” Barbour said in a lengthy statement, which he read at a Jackson press conference on Friday. “Christianity teaches us forgiveness and second chances. I believe in second chances, and I try hard to be forgiving. The historic power of gubernatorial clemency by the Governor to pardon felons is rooted in the Christian idea of giving second chances. I’m not saying I’ll be perfect, that no one who received clemency will ever do anything wrong. I’m not infallible, and no one else is. But I’m very comfortable and totally at peace with these pardons, especially of the Mansion inmates.”
Barbour went on to say that he would be perfectly comfortable allowing any of the pardoned “trusties” – prisoners who worked in the governor’s mansion, some of whom were murderers – to play with his grandchildren unsupervised. “Historically the trusties sent to work at the Mansion have been murderers, convicted of crimes of passion, as experts say they are the least likely to commit another crime,” he said. Barbour, a Republican, added that 90% of his pardons were recommended by the Mississippi Parole Board and that the clemencies would save the state millions in medical bills because many of the inmates he pardoned were suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Barbour pardoned 203 convicts two days before leaving office earlier this week. In the ensuing uproar, a judge blocked the release of most of those granted clemency who were still in prison – some 21 inmates – until a review could be performed on the legality of the pardons. The vast majority of those pardoned had already completed their terms. Under Mississippi law, a public notice must run in a newspaper 30 days prior to the pardon. “Our Mississippi constitution provides strict requirements that must be met before a Governor can even issue a pardon,” Judge Jay Westfaul, president-elect of the State Association of Mississippi Municipal Judges, told TIME. “There is no doubt in my mind that Attorney General Jim Hood will prevail and that the pardons will be declared null and void.”
Less than an hour before Barbour released his statement, Hood, a Democrat, released the preliminary findings of his investigation into the pardons. Of the 181 files Hood’s office has investigated, he says 140 had no public notice prior to Barbour’s pardon. Of the 41 cases that did, 27 were insufficient the notices were published less than 30 days before the pardons. Only seven cases fully met the rule of law, while seven more cases were still under review. But even if Hood could void Barbour’s pardons – a move that would set a new legal precedent in Mississippi – it’s not clear if it’s possible to reincarcerate the five inmates who’ve already been let out, four of them convicted murderers. Of the five, four have checked in as ordered by the Mississippi judge who stayed the release orders. But one is in Alabama and another at large. And unless the law changes, it’s impossible to issue arrest warrants for men bearing papers that deem them pardoned for their crimes. “There are some tough legal issues we are trying to address,” Hood told CNN on Thursday. “This is such a unique problem that no law has ever had to address yet. We’re having to make new law here.” That process could take months.
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/14/barbour-at-peace-with-pardons-but-scandal-rages-on/#ixzz1jSAnW3Ic
link to Press Release
http://www.ago.state.ms.us/index.php/press/releases/judge_grants_ags_request_for_injunction_on_governors_pardons/
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