Miss. Supreme Court rules Barbour pardons valid

[RandySF]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that some pardons issued by former Gov. Haley Barbour are valid.

In their 6-3 opinion, the justices wrote "we are compelled to hold that - in each of the cases before us - it fell to the governor alone to decide whether the Constitution's publication requirement was met."

Republican Barbour pardoned 198 people before finishing his second term Jan. 10, including four convicted murderers and a robber who worked as inmate trusties at the Governor's Mansion. Of those pardoned, 10 were in jail at the time.

Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood challenged the pardons. Hood argued before the Supreme Court on Feb. 9 that some pardons didn't meet the requirements of the Mississippi Constitution, which says people seeking pardons must publish notices for 30 days in a newspaper.


http://www.wdam.com/story/17113374/miss-supreme-court-rules-barbour-pardons-valid

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Good. The politics around this was ugly.

Governors (and the president) have the power to pardon (after the fact) and commute sentences (still being served). In a country that has the highest imprisonment rates in the world, it is a power that is used too rarely.

The politics around this was all outrage about the pardons, and it was a chance for the Democratic attorney general to try to make hay against the outgoing Republican governor, and maybe burnish his own election credentials. Now, I don't like Haley Barbour, or Republican governors in general, but pardoning some prisoners is within his power and shows some mercy from the state.

What could have been an opportunity for a discussion of our sentencing practices became a partisan bash-fest.

The question shouldn't be why is Barbour pardoning so many prisoners, but why aren't other governors and Obama pardoning more? I think it was this last Christmas that Obama issued his first commutation of one of those outrageous crack sentences. He had pardoned people before, but the commutation actually got someone out of prison who didn't need to be there.

And of the 208 people whose sentences he pardoned or commuted, 198 were already done serving their sentences.

[Politicalboi]

2. Good to let murderers out of jail?

I hope they don't forget where Babaar lives, and give him a visit in the middle of the night. Just for old time sake of course.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Many murderers do get out of jail. They don't all get life without parole.

These particular ones got out a little sooner

As I said above, the executive has the power to exercise mercy. It should be exercised more often, in my opinion.

And no, I don't think that if someone has killed someone else, they can necessarily never be rehabilitated.

[atreides1]

4. So there should be no rules?

Like this:

"At the heart of the pardon dispute was Section 124 of the Mississippi Constitution, which says "no pardon shall be granted" by the governor until the convicted felon applying for the pardon publishes notice of that application for 30 days in a newspaper in or near the county where the crime was committed."

What good is this if one man can make the decision without following a Constitutional requirement? And I didn't notice any consideration on your part regarding the families of the victims, and how they might feel!

I don't have a problem with the 198 that he pardoned, seeing as they were already done serving their sentences...those inmates who committed murder and were working at the governor's mansion...that's where I think that the requirements under the State Constitution should have been followed.

But, what the hell...the victims and their families don't matter...besides Barbour couldn't get out of Mississippi fast enough to get to K Street up here in DC!

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. It looks like the state Supreme Court has decided he followed the rules.

I don't know how the families of the victims feel. How the families of the victims feel should be a factor in such decisions, but not the sole factor.

The executive has the power to pardon and to commute. Pardons are nice--a sort of retroactive "we forgive you"--but commutations have a real effect: somebody gets out of jail.

I can't claim to be an expert on Mississippi pardon law, but I didn't like the ugly anti-pardon and -commutation politics that emerged around this. Probably Barber is in part to blame if he skirted the law, but it seems to be okay with the state high court.

[mnmoderatedem]

6. while that may be true

it certainly doesn't square with republican's "we're tough on crime and democrats are softies" mantra they're endlessly espousing. Maybe they can now say, "we're tough on crime unless you wash the governor's socks".

And I certainly don't need to tell you how conservatives would be howling if this governor were a democrat.