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Matt Bevin is no longer the governor of Kentucky, but his decisions continued to send shock waves through the state’s legal system this week after he issued pardons for hundreds of people, some of whom committed violent offenses.
Bevin issued 428 pardons since his defeat to Democrat Andy Beshear in a close election in November, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. His list includes a man convicted of reckless homicide, a convicted child rapist, a man who murdered his parents at age 16 and a woman who threw her newborn in the trash after giving birth in a flea market outhouse.
He also pardoned Dayton Jones, who was convicted in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy at a party, Kentucky New Era reported.
It is not unusual for governors to issue pardons as they leave office, but Bevin’s actions boggled some of the state’s attorneys, who questioned his judgment.
[...] Steele said he was particularly disturbed by the pardon of Patrick Brian Baker, whose brother hosted a fundraiser for Bevin and donated to him over the years, the Courier Journal reported.
[...] Not all of Bevin’s pardons stirred controversy. He spared death row inmate Gregory Wilson by commuting his sentence to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years, the Courier Journal reported. Wilson’s 1988 murder trial had been plagued by legal and ethical issues.
Bevin also pardoned Louisville community activist Christopher IIX, who was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 1990 and theft by failure to make disposition in 1997, according to local reports. In the pardon, Bevin said the activist “has turned his life around after a rocky start many years ago and has paid his debt to society.”
On His Way Out, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin Pardons Murderers, Rapists, Hundreds More
Matt Bevin defends his controversial pardons in twenty-tweet-long Twitter thread
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @03:30AM (3 children)
Presidential immunity for the Proud Boys and Incelabteilung.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:06AM (2 children)
Trump doesn't care about those people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_granted_clemency_by_the_president_of_the_United_States#Donald_Trump [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Donald_Trump [wikipedia.org]
His very few pardons appear strategic, useful for bandying at campaign rallies. Only a few are necessary to make his point. If he loses in 2020, he should shift focus to pardon family members and business associates instead of pandering to any subset of voters.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @05:04AM (1 child)
Don't forget the ones that were tied to various celebrity campaigns.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:06PM
You mean like Marc Rich?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 14 2019, @05:12AM (4 children)
It would be awesome to see a governor use his pardons to clear the prisons of people convicted of non-violent crimes. Relatively minor drug possession, first and foremost. I don't mean the guy caught with 20 kilos of weed, or the meth lab losers. I want to see other petty criminals out of prison as well, but pardons aren't exactly the way to go about that.
Prisons should only hold dangerous people. If some loser poses no real threat to members of society, he should be in some other program, not prison. I thought that's why counties all have their own jails, after all. Lock up the dumb drunk for a day or so. Someplace to keep petty criminals and the stupid until they can be arraigned, and punished with community service and fines and other corrective action.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @08:06AM (1 child)
"Your Honor, the witness has rights."
Runaway: "You fucked with the wrong not-a-marine! I will rip off your pants and bugger you for America! You need me up your anus! You want me up your anus! I would prefer if you just said 'thank you' and went on your way!"
"He can't handle the truth."
Presiding Judge Advocate General: "MPs, take swabie Runaway to the Brig. Court adjourned."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @08:17AM
Awww, it looks like someone has a crush on the sailor.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NickM on Sunday December 15 2019, @11:48PM (1 child)
Why not pardon the dude with 20kg of weed ? Why do you want to punish bulk buying ? It is way more economical that way: 1oz of black market very high quality weed cost 240cad (8.57/g), 8oz cost 925cad (4.07/g) and 1 lb cost 1800cad (3.96/g).
Okay, 20kg is a bit more than 1lb but the same principle should apply !
I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday December 16 2019, @12:39AM
Bulk savings is the Slick way.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @06:19PM
Matt Bevin pardoned this school shooter in 2019.
(add your own)
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday December 15 2019, @03:25PM
That is a valid outlook.
from NPR [npr.org].
From the Lexington Herald Leader [kentucky.com].