Posted on 01/09/2012 6:18:11 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNN) -- In his last days in office, outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour pardoned four men convicted of murder, a state official said Monday.
David Gatlin, Joseph Ozment, Charles Hooker and Anthony McCray received full pardons and were released at 1 p.m. Sunday, said Suzanne Singletary, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. All four were serving life sentences and worked as trusties at the governor's mansion, she said.
"It is at any governor's discretion," said Singletary.
Gatlin was convicted of murder, aggravated assault and burglary of a residence, she said. Ozment was convicted of murder, conspiracy and armed robbery in a separate case. Both inmates were at minimum security level, she said.
Hooker was convicted in a 1991 murder, while McCray was convicted in a 2001 murder, Singletary said. The governor also recently pardoned Nathan Kern, who was serving a life sentence for burglary, she said.
Families of the men's victims told CNN affiliates WAPT and WLBT they are outraged by Barbour's decision.
Attempts by CNN on Monday to reach Barbour's office for comment on the pardons were unsuccessful.
In 1993, WLBT reported, Gatlin walked into the trailer where his estranged wife, Tammy Ellis Gatlin, lived and shot her in the head. The woman's friend, Randy Walker, survived a gunshot to the head.
"Is Gov. Barbour going to pardon us from our aches and pains and heartache that we have to suffer?" the victim's mother, Betty Ellis, asked WLBT. "Is he going to pardon a child that had to grow up without a mother? Is he going to pardon me from never being able to feel her arms around my neck again? What is Barbour going to do about that?"
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Are there any mitigating circumstances? So far, I don’t see any.
Guess he does not want to be Willard’s vp.
The families might consider dealing with problems the government is unable to comprehend. I doubt a jury would convict.
After this insanity, I personally think all pardons should be done away with and no pardons allowed at the state or federal level...ever again!!!
The “compassion” disease. He “knew” these guys because they worked at the governors mansion. They seemed “okay” so he pardoned them.
In any case, I guess he’s not planning to run for any higher offices.
What an idiot! Being from Mississippi just makes the insult greater. I can’t begin to believe the pain this causes the victims’ families. “Governor, I never knew you!”
There doesn’t seem to be much question about why he did this, or what the common factor was: “All four were serving life sentences and worked as trusties at the governor’s mansion, she said.”
Looks like the little fat man has burned his political bridges.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/report-ms-gov-barbour-pardons-convicted-murderer-15318921#.TwuhH4Hkq3p
“The inmates are David Gatlin, convicted of killing his estranged wife in 1993; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after at least two prior convictions.”
They turned their lives around.
One of them only served ten or eleven years, the others not quite twenty. Two wife-killers, a robber.
Barbour must really be done with any elected or appointed office.
One has to wonder if these four trustees were witness to some goings-on at the Govenor's Mansion that Mr. Barbor would rather not become public...
haley is a corporatist that despises Private Property Rights and his last suggestion as his squeezed his fat ass out of the Governors Mansion in Jackson was to TAX THE INTERNET! I will not miss him... I hope Phil Bryant lives up to his promises.
LLS
I’m convinced that ALL the elites in this country have gone stark raving mad. There’s not one “leader” in this country worth much more than a bucket of spit.
Mississippians may be running his a$$ back to his DC Lobbying
Job, with Pitch Forks.
Ping
I think that Governor Barbour has no future political ambitions after this move.
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