Mississippi Gov. Halle Barbour Pardons 4 Killers

[flo]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

The article said the five men already released have been ordered to appear in court later in January. It will be interesting to see if they all show up. I really hope there are laws in place to rescind these pardons even with these men having been freed already.

We've seen how difficult it's been for truly innocent men to get out of prison and even then some haven't received full pardons, it's like they are free but still considered guilty of the crime. They have to "make a deal" in order to be free. The case of the West Memphis Three in Arkansas comes to mind (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/us...pagewanted=all). So to see a governor, with no thought for the victims or their families, just hand out full pardons to truly guilty men such as these just because they served as trusties in his mansion...because it's "tradition", it's beyond comprehension!

And I don't believe for a minute that he consulted with or considered recommendations from the parole board. One of the murderers had just been denied parole two weeks prior to this.

Yeah, I saw that news late last night about the judge intervening but heard later that the 5 murderers mentioned in your original article have already been released. The good news is that FNC is running with this story and it's getting a lot of airtime now.

There is a technicality about notification of the pardons that might give a judge grounds to "undo" the pardons. I still think Barbour must be mentally incompetent to have done this. Imagine how the families of the victims feel?

[Bonnie]

Authorities haven't been able to locate those four killers that were released to serve them the judge's order requiring them to check in once a day every day until they appear in court for a hearing on January 23.

Haley Barbour hightailed it out of the state to Washington D.C. where he has his lobbying firm. His firm, Barbour Griffith & Rogers (BGR) was named the second-most-powerful Washington lobbying firm by Fortune Magazine in 1998.

I guess everyone was in a hurry to get out of town!

Some of the crimes prisoners received pardons for included murder, manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping and rape.

[flo]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

Authorities haven't been able to locate those four killers that were released to serve them the judge's order requiring them to check in once a day every day until they appear in court for a hearing on January 23.

Haley Barbour hightailed it out of the state to Washington D.C. where he has his lobbying firm. His firm, Barbour Griffith & Rogers (BGR) was named the second-most-powerful Washington lobbying firm by Fortune Magazine in 1998.

I guess everyone was in a hurry to get out of town!

Some of the crimes prisoners received pardons for included murder, manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping and rape.

Bonnie, it's just sickening, isn't it?

The good thing is that it appears this story has legs. O'Reilly spent a segment of his show on it tonight and said he was going to be keeping track of what happens with the parolees as well as that schmuck Barbour.

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by flo

Bonnie, it's just sickening, isn't it?

The good thing is that it appears this story has legs. O'Reilly spent a segment of his show on it tonight and said he was going to be keeping track of what happens with the parolees as well as that schmuck Barbour.

I hope they do keep the spotlight on this, Flo. He pardoned over 200 people before he left office! I read out of the 214 pardons, 198 of those were full pardons. I don't think the people of Mississippi are very happy with their former governor; even people in his own party are baffled by what he did.

Like you mentioned before in your previous post, it looks like he didn't dot all the i's and cross all the t's in issuing these pardons so maybe some of these rapists and murderers will be back where they belong. If not, I'm afraid some of these men will rape and kill again.

I really feel for the victims' families and what Barbour is putting them through all over again.

[TexasRN]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

I hope they do keep the spotlight on this, Flo. He pardoned over 200 people before he left office! I read out of the 214 pardons, 198 of those were full pardons. I don't think the people of Mississippi are very happy with their former governor; even people in his own party are baffled by what he did.

Like you mentioned before in your previous post, it looks like he didn't dot all the i's and cross all the t's in issuing these pardons so maybe some of these rapists and murderers will be back where they belong. If not, I'm afraid some of these men will rape and kill again.

I really feel for the victims' families and what Barbour is putting them through all over again.

That's a worry I have as well. If one of them does commit another crime like that then the victim's family needs to sue the pants off Barbour. I'd bankrupt that guy and ruin his life to the very best of my ability if it were my family member.


~Amy

[Play The Man]

Originally Posted by TexasRN

That's a worry I have as well. If one of them does commit another crime like that then the victim's family needs to sue the pants off Barbour. I'd bankrupt that guy and ruin his life to the very best of my ability if it were my family member.


~Amy

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think that they could do that. As best I know, there is not "malpractice" for government officials.

[TexasRN]

Originally Posted by Play The Man

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think that they could do that. As best I know, there is not "malpractice" for government officials.

I might still try to sue. It would at least bring attention to it again and maybe, just maybe weigh on his conscience. Also, I'd have to talk myself out of physically attacking the man myself if one of my family members was harmed as a result of his actions.


~Amy

[adamt]

with a guy who has such a good record, i find it hard to believe that he would do something stupid, so i doubt this is as cut and dry as it appears to all of us who have absolutely no idea what is happening except for what the press tells us.... i guess i would put more faith in barbour as opposed to the press, barbour has a better track record, and after all, doesn't he have personal experience with those guys?

[NateR]

I personally think there should be a limitation on these kinds of pardons. They should never be allowed to pardon anyone convicted of crimes like 1st degree murder, rape or child molestation. Anyone serving a life sentence or on death row (who had not committed one of those three crimes), could only be pardoned after the pardon had been approved by a majority vote in the state senate.

The senate vote should also apply to repeat offenders, who had already served at least one prison sentence prior to their current sentence.

Just giving the governor, or President, blanket pardons to give out to whomever he choses is ridiculous.

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by adamt

with a guy who has such a good record, i find it hard to believe that he would do something stupid, so i doubt this is as cut and dry as it appears to all of us who have absolutely no idea what is happening except for what the press tells us.... i guess i would put more faith in barbour as opposed to the press, barbour has a better track record, and after all, doesn't he have personal experience with those guys?

I understand why you would say that about the press and normally I would agree with you, they've certainly earned our disdain with their lack of objective and unbiased reporting, but, I don't think that's the case here.

From what he's said himself, he fully defends it. Talking about it being rooted in Christian values, something to that effect, and giving 2nd chances. The victims and their families don't get a 2nd chance. They can't wipe away what was done to them like the governor so easily wiped clean these men's records with full pardons. These murderers took away their victims' civil liberties forever, but theirs are restored with a few strokes of a pen. If this stands, the man who shot his wife in the head and killed her while she held her baby in her arms will be able to go buy a gun. This same man was refused parole just two weeks before Barbour pardoned him. These rapists that were released could move right next door to their victims because, "Rape, what rape?". If any of these rapists are pedophiles, they can now freely be near children.

I don't think Gov. Barbour gave any thought at all to the victims or their families, or that his actions could cause possible future victims.

He's earned my doubt, but no benefit of...

Originally Posted by NateR

I personally think there should be a limitation on these kinds of pardons. They should never be allowed to pardon anyone convicted of crimes like 1st degree murder, rape or child molestation. Anyone serving a life sentence or on death row (who had not committed one of those three crimes), could only be pardoned after the pardon had been approved by a majority vote in the state senate.

The senate vote should also apply to repeat offenders, who had already served at least one prison sentence prior to their current sentence.

Just giving the governor, or President, blanket pardons to give out to whomever he choses is ridiculous.

I really think Barbour abused this power. Pardons should not be in the hands of one sole authority. I'm not sure about a majority vote in the state senate (might be possibility of some abuse there too), but definitely (hopefully) there should be an impartial, objective panel.

The trusties are obviously easy picks, but who exactly picks out/decides which "lucky Joes" are to be blessed with a governor's pardon? Anyone know?