Giants kicker hopes to use fame to shorten drug-dealing sibling's jail term (wants Bush's pardon)

From the archives: Tynes kicks up cause for jailed brother

Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes wants one more unlikely victory in this Super Bowl year - and he's hoping the Bush administration can make it happen. Tynes, the hero of the NFC title game, seeks a White House order freeing his jailed brother Mark, a convicted drug trafficker doing 27 years. Lawrence Tynes acknowledges his older brother's guilt but believes the sentence is overly harsh. "The situation that Mark found himself in was partly due to his own mistakes," says newly hired lawyer Robert Ortiz, point man for the effort. "We have to make sure that what we submit is accurate and explains Mark's position and why we believe the sentence is excessive."

Ortiz, the finance chairman for the New Jersey Republican State Committee, donated $2,000 to President Bush's reelection campaign in 2004, public finance records show. And it can't hurt that Bush singled Lawrence Tynes out when he hosted the world champions on the White House lawn, citing the clutch kick to beat Green Bay and send the Giants to the Super Bowl. "Lawrence Tynes, who's with us here, came through with a 47-yard field goal in overtime," Bush said. "You know, I knew you were going to make it." "I did," Tynes replied.

Lawyers for his 31-year-old brother exhausted all their appeals, leaving the Justice Department's pardon attorney office as the last legal Hail Mary to free Mark Tynes. The pardon office helps the President sift through clemency applications. Mark Tynes hopes for an early release or a sentence reduction. Two factors are working against him: Bush has granted very few pardons or commutations. "This President has virtually ignored this power," said Prof. Dan Kobil, a pardon process expert at Capital University Law School in Columbus. "He's by far the stingiest pardoner." Second - and more problematic - is Mark Tynes' criminal history.

He was saddled with a prior felony drug charge before his 2004 conviction as kingpin of a syndicate that transported 3,600 pounds of marijuana between Texas and Florida. Mark Tynes refused to cooperate with prosecutors - and his sentence was extended from 151 months to 324 months over allegations of witness intimidation. Without presidential help, Tynes isn't scheduled to leave prison until November 2026. Ortiz, who plans to submit the paperwork for a commutation next week, said he doesn't think Mark Tynes will benefit from the President's well-documented sports mania. But he's hopeful Lawrence Tynes' notoriety can help.

"Because Lawrence is high-profile, this will get people to look at the story and take a look at what happened to Mark," Ortiz said. Mark Tynes, inmate No. 05559-017 at the Forrest City Federal Correctional Complex in Arkansas, is doing more time than some convicted killers. As Lawrence Tynes noted in an interview with Daily News columnist Mike Lupica in January: "Is my brother guilty?" Yes? But 27 years? ... My brother being in prison isn't the injustice. The sentence was the injustice." Four co-conspirators, who turned against Mark Tynes and cooperated with authorities, are out of jail.

Lawrence Tynes, 30, declined to comment about the situation. A source close to the family called it a "shot in the dark" attempt to spring his brother. The conviction strained the Tynes family and ultimately led to the divorce of the brothers' parents, Larry and Maggie-Ann, after 28 years of marriage. Lawrence Tynes became an instant celebrity in January after kicking the Giants into the Super Bowl in the NFC Championship Game. He has actively campaigned get his brother moved to a prison in upstate Otisville, about 90 minutes from Giants Stadium, and foots most of his brother's legal bills. There was a glimmer of hope when Bush pardoned 14 people and commuted the sentences of two others Monday. Lawrence Tynes' lawyer acknowledges their campaign is a long shot, but anything seems possible in the year of the Giants' long-shot title. "We're hoping to hear back from [the Justice Department] before the end of the term," Ortiz said.

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