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Here’s the list of all of the nearly 200 people former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardoned in his eight-year term (2004-2012), with each crime that each person committed.

Here’s what is striking about this list:

  1. One of the people that Haley Barbour pardoned: the brother of former Atlanta Falcons/Green Bay Packers/New York Jets/Minnesota Vikings NFL player Brett Favre, Scott Favre: Earnest Scott Favre had his record cleared in the 1996 death of his best friend, Mark Haverty. Favre had driven in front of a train in Pass Christian while drunk, pleaded guilty in 1997, and was sentenced to a year of house arrest followed by two years’ probation.
  2. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has called the pardons that Barbour signed on his last day in office are unconstitutional, citing a law in Mississippi that requires any inmates seeking a pardon from a governor to post their intentions in a newspaper for 30 days in the place they were convicted. Due to the laser-fast actions of Barbour, that most definitely did not happen. Also, the families of each and every victim of the crimes perpetuated by the perpetrator have to be notified per Mississippi law before a pardon is signed. Therefore, each and every pardon that occurred on Barbour’s last day in office should be declared null and void and the pardons reversed.
  3. Barbour issued a statement defending the massive amount of pardons:

    Barbour’s office has said only a minority of those convicts who received clemency were incarcerated at the time of the move, with 90 percent of them no longer in prison when the pardons were granted.

    Barbour had said that the pardons were intended to allow the inmates “to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote,” and that his decisions were typically based on the recommendation of the Parole Board.

As one would expect, the families of the victims of crimes committed by the newly pardoned were livid. Frankly, I would be livid and ballistic.

I sincerely hope that Haley Barbour never again has a government position. He managed to piss more people off in one day than throughout his entire eight-year-term. And rightfully so!

Haley Barbour's Last-Minute Pardons Go Before Mississippi Supreme Court

JACKSON, Miss. — Feuding attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday to determine the validity of pardons that Haley Barbour gave to convicted killers and other convicts during his final days as governor.

Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the court would not rule Thursday, but he didn’t say when a decision would come.

“We want them to take enough time to do it right,” said Randy Walker, who objects to the pardons. Walker was shot in the head in 1993 by one of the men Barbour set free last month. That former inmate, David Gatlin, also fatally shot his own estranged wife as she held the couple’s baby.

At the heart of the dispute is 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.

Justices could uphold the pardons, as requested by a private attorney representing Republican Barbour. Or they could declare the pardons invalid, as requested by Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood. If they agree with Hood that the 30-day publication is a must, they could send the pardons back to a lower court, where a circuit judge could hold a trial to determine whether the pardons met those requirements.

Hood contends that if ads weren’t run in daily papers every day for 30 days, or weekly newspapers once a week for five weeks, the pardons aren’t valid.

“It’s a constitutional right of the people to have that notice,” Hood told the nine justices Thursday during more than three hours of oral arguments.

Barbour, who once considered a 2012 White House run, was limited to two terms as governor. He pardoned 198 people before finishing his second term Jan. 10, including four convicted murderers and a robber who worked as trusties at the Governor’s Mansion. His actions outraged victims’ families.

Most of the people he pardoned were already out of prison, and some had finished serving their sentences decades ago. The five trusties were released from custody before Hood filed a lawsuit challenging the pardons. A circuit judge granted Hood’s request for a temporary restraining order that blocked the release of five other convicted felons who received pardons, and they remain in prison pending the outcome of the legal battle.

Barbour was not in the courtroom during Thursday’s arguments, nor were the five former trusties, one of whom has gone to Wyoming.

Several relatives of people killed by the pardoned trusties were in the courtroom. Mary McAbee, whose brother was slain, said afterward that she’s praying that the justices “will listen and have their hearts open” to God.

Waller admonished attorneys at the beginning of the hearing to focus their arguments narrowly on the legal questions at hand.

“I don’t want any political sound bites. I don’t want any jury arguments. No grandstanding. No sniping. Everybody understand?” Waller said. The nine justices are elected in nonpartisan contests.

Attorney Thomas Fortner, who represents four of the former trusties, said past cases suggest pardons are not reviewable by the courts.

“The governor, as the chief executive, is granted the power to pardon and is the judge of the propriety of the publication,” Fortner said. “The constitution does not give the power to anybody to review that.”

Charles Griffin, an attorney for Barbour, also said the pardons are not reviewable.

“This case is not about Haley Barbour. This case is not about General Hood. And this case is not about the individuals who have received pardons. This case is about the separation of powers under the Mississippi Constitution,” Griffin said.

By intervening, the court would be “getting into the deliberative process that the constitution gives to the governor,” Griffin said.

Barbour has said he’s at peace with the pardons because his Christian faith teaches about redemption. He has accused Hood of challenging the pardons for partisan political reasons.

Although the arguments Thursday were only about the 10 inmates who were in custody when pardoned, those who received pardons after being out for years could lose their chance to have their rights restored, including their rights to vote and to buy firearms.

Hood has said the proper public notice was provided in the cases of only about two dozen of those pardoned. None of the former Governor’s Mansion trusties met the requirement, he said.

Barbour also granted medical release and conditional clemency to some inmates, but they weren’t required to give public notice of their release.

Waller asked Hood whether people pardoned by past governors had met the 30 days’ publication requirement. Hood said he didn’t know the history of every governor, but he had a document showing the actions of Bill Waller Sr., the chief justice’s father, who served as governor from 1972 to 1976.

A document provided by Hood’s office shows Gov. Waller on May 28, 1974, issued a document to correct the paperwork on a pardon originally issued by his predecessor, Gov. John Bell Williams, in 1967. The document from Gov. Waller notes that under Williams, the person seeking the pardon did not give 30 days’ notice. It says that by May 1974: “Subject has complied with the provisions of Section 124, Article 5, Mississippi Constitution of 1890 by publishing his petition for the pardon for the time and manner provided thereby.”

The justices questioned Hood about the role that one of his staff attorneys had in advising Barbour’s staff about the pardons. The question is whether that role disqualifies Hood from arguing against the pardons.

Hood said Barbour’s legal filings are “trying to mislead the court” about the role of assistant attorney general David Scott, who is assigned to do legal work for the state Department of Corrections. Barbour has included text messages in court records between Scott and a Barbour assistant in which they discuss the publication statute.

“The governor can’t shirk the duty and blame it on someone else no matter who it is,” Hood said.

Mississippi Supreme Court Says Barbour's Pardons Were Valid

The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled former Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons that freed several convicted killers are valid.

Unlike governors before him, Barbour pardoned a record 198 people before the Republican finished his second term Jan. 10. Of those pardoned, 10 were in jail at the time.

Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood challenged the pardons. Hood argued before the Supreme Court last month 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.

In their 6-3 opinion, the justices wrote that the governor alone can decide whether the Constitution’s publication requirement was met.

Watching Anderson Cooper 360, and Anderson is interviewing the mother of a victim killed by one of the people pardoned by former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour! It is despicable what Barbour did! Families are still grieving, still hurting, still reeling over the shocking actions that he took. And, to rub salt into the wound, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the pardons!

Mississippi is no stranger to controversy. In a large majority of the nation’s history, Mississippi has been an embarrassment. Whether it has been in race relations, or in womens’ rights, or in this case, it has been on the wrong side of the issue.

Law-wise, the pardons are legal, but moral-wise, things like this shouldn’t have even happened. The plague of politics permeates into each and every state of our country.

In too many areas of politics, favors are performed to satisfy a person’s wants. In Georgia, my home state, the Speaker of the House is taking legislative leave to basically go and party, while the family of a man killed by a habitual drunk driver is left waiting for justice to be served and for closure to occur. Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal appointed a family friend to the position of Adjudicant General, even though the man he appointed has no experience as an Army General (all the other 49 state Adjudicant General are Army Generals).

Barbour’s pardons were favors, favors that overlooked the emotional toil that would occur on families and friends of people affected by the men and women that Barbour pardoned. He pardoned murderers, rapists, habitual DUI drivers, pedophiles, people that had repeatedly shown society that they needed to be locked away.

Haley Barbour, and others like him, exhibit an utter lack of concern for others, a lack of empathy or sympathy for victims of crime, victims of unspeakable act of horror.

To understand the gravity of the situation, a comparison is needed. Barbour’s pardons would be about like a state releasing John Wayne Gacy back into society to commit murder. In some pardons that Barbour signed off on, the people in jail were murderers of more than one person. They weren’t murderers on the scale of Gacy, but they did murder one or more people.

Although it is likely that the pardons will not be overturned, the families and the friends of victims of the people pardoned can rest knowing that Barbour will be held accountable for his actions. He will be forced to explain his actions on his last day as Governor of Mississippi, when his final judgment occurs.

I think that Sen. Rubio’s version of the DREAM Act would create a second class status for folks.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa • During an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation this weekend, during which he also predicted that Mitt Romney’s stance on the DREAM Act will damage his reputation with Hispanic voters. Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican, agreed with some of what Villaraigosa had to say, specifically the fact that Republicans needed to do more for their Hispanic constituents. “The fact that people come and serve in our military certainly ought to give them some status in the United States,” said Barbour, adding, “as long as they pay taxes, as long as they don’t break the law, now maybe there should be a different path to citizenship.” source (via • follow)

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