"Miss. Judge Blocks Release of Convicts Granted Pardons, Clemency by Outgoing Governor," is the latest AP report, via the Washington Post.
A Mississippi judge has temporarily blocked the release of 21 inmates who’d been given pardons or medical release by Republican Haley Barbour in one of his final acts as governor.
Circuit Judge Tomie Green issued an injunction late Wednesday at the request of Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood.
Hood said he believes Barbour might’ve violated the state constitution by pardoning some inmates who failed to give sufficient public notice that they were seeking to have their records cleared.
Barbour said in a statement Wednesday, a day after leaving office, that he believes people have misunderstood why he gave reprieves to more than 200 inmates. Most received full pardons, while others received suspended sentences because of medical conditions. Barbour said 189 of the inmates had already completed their incarceration.
Barbour was limited to two terms and issued the list of pardons and early releases Tuesday about the time his successor, Republican Phil Bryant, was being inaugurated. Barbour wouldn’t answer repeated questions about the pardons Tuesday.
In Wednesday’s statement, Barbour said: “The pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote. My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the Parole Board in more than 90 percent of the cases.”
The ABA Journal reports, "Judge Blocks Release of 21 Inmates Granted Clemency by Outgoing Mississippi Governor." It's by Debra Cassens Weiss.
A judge in Jackson, Miss., has issued a temporary injunction blocking the release of 21 inmates pardoned or given medical release by outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour.
Attorney General Jim Hood had sought the injunction on the ground that Barbour may have failed to give 30 days’ published notice as required by the state constitution, report the Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times. Judge Tomie Green issued the injunction late Wednesday.
And:
Barbour is joining the law firm Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens and Canada and its lobbying arm, the Sun Herald reports.
Let's look at yesterday's coverage, before the judicial action, starting with, "Mississippi Governor, Already Criticized on Pardons, Rides a Wave of Them Out of Office," by Campbell Robertson for the New York Times.
On Tuesday, his last day in office, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi granted full and unconditional pardons to 193 criminals — an unusually high number for the state, and one that is likely to inflame controversy about Mr. Barbour’s pardon practices.
The governor’s outgoing pardons had attracted an outcry when it was revealed that he had pardoned five people last week who had been convicted of murder and had worked at the governor’s mansion while in custody, performing odd jobs.
Other Mississippi governors have issued full pardons to people convicted of murder — Kirk Fordice, for example, issued two such pardons before he left office in 2000 after two terms — but none have issued so many pardons to so many criminals.
Governor Fordice issued only 13 full pardons; Gov. Ray Mabus (1988-92) issued four; and Mr. Barbour’s immediate predecessor, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (2000-4) issued only one, to a man convicted of marijuana possession. They also granted lesser degrees of clemency, like suspended sentences and commutations, but even counting all of those, they did not come close to Mr. Barbour.
Altogether, Mr. Barbour granted 203 full pardons over his two terms, including 17 to convicted murderers. He also granted 19 other criminals lesser degrees of clemency, like conditional suspensions of their sentences.
“It is really inexplicable,” said Brandon Jones, a former Democratic state representative who had tried to pass legislation that would have added some oversight to the pardoning process. “I think that in some ways he has broken the mold.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Barbour declined to comment.
Before the list became public, an outcry had grown about the pardons or other grants of clemency that were known. They numbered only 13 as of last weekend. Eight of them had been convicted of murder and had spent some time at the governor’s mansion.
Having inmates perform tasks, like waiting on tables, at the governor’s mansion is a long-held custom and not unique to Mississippi. Suzanne Singletary, director of communications for the state’s Department of Corrections, said only certain inmates are eligible to work in the governor’s mansion, and are reviewed by correctional staff as well as by the governor’s staff for security concerns. They remain in custody while living on the mansion grounds.
It is also common in Mississippi for such workers to eventually be pardoned by the governor, who is entrusted with that ability by the state’s Constitution.
"Did Haley Barbour's pardon spree go too far?" by Patrik Jonsson for the Christian Science Monitor.
More broadly, the pardons have scrambled traditional political roles in the state, with the Republican Barbour going easy on scores of convicted criminals and Democrats clamoring to bolster law and order. Toward that end, they reintroduced a bill to curb gubernatorial pardon power.
“It seems to kind of fly in the face of the Haley Barbour politician that we all know, because he is a strong law-and-order guy,” says Curtis Wilkie, a journalism professor at Ole Miss in Oxford.
Barbour has refused to comment on the pardons. Several are high-profile convicts, including Jackson socialite Karen Irby, convicted of manslaughter in 2010 for the DUI-related deaths of two doctors; Earnest Scott Favre, older brother of retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who was convicted for the DUI-related death of his friend; and Azikiwe Kambule, a South African expat convicted in a 1996 carjacking and murder case.
"Miss. Governor Pardons Nearly 200," by Josh Voorhees for Slate.
Barbour has sent somewhat mixed messages on crime and punishment. He has previously taken a tough public stance on crime, but he also signed legislation while in office that made thousands of nonviolent inmates eligible for parole. He has been much more consistent when it comes to the death penalty, however: The AP reports that nine men were executed during Barbour’s time in office and that he did not grant a reprieve to anyone on death row during his eight years in office.
Related posts are in the clemency index.
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