Matt Bevin's pardonpalooza--rapist and murders galore

[DINGO Joe]

After losing the election and before leaving office, Bevin issued more than 400 pardons and commutations many of them for minor crimes but he also chose to wade into a raft of violent crimes and has raised the ire of judges, prosecutors and victim's families across the state.

In NKY, a man convicted of raping a child just last year was pardoned because Bevin said he thought it was a sloppy prosecution and Bevin didn't think the charges were true

Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney's Rob Sanders says it has been a bad day for Kentucky.

"Rape cases, child molester cases, murder cases where the victims have all been done a grave injustice by our former governor, and it's disappointing. I was someone that supported [Bevin] and believed in him, and I'm disgusted in myself for having done so," Sanders said.

“So, I guess Matt Bevin thinks he’s smarter than the 12 citizens that heard the actual evidence,” Sanders said. “I’ve got news for him: Child molesting rarely happens in front of witnesses or leaves physical evidence. If we didn’t pursue those cases, 99% of child rapists would never be prosecuted.”

In Adair County he pardoned a man convicted of killing his parents

Adair Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian Wright, who prosecuted Walker, said he was "disgusted, frustrated and upset" by the pardon, which he called a travesty. He said Bevin's office never consulted him about it, and that Walker agreed to the sentence in a plea agreement.

In Knox county he pardon one of three men convicted as posing as police officers, invading a home and killing an indidual during a robbery.  The one pardoned was the triggerman.  Why was he pardoned, but not the other two?

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele, who prosecuted Patrick Baker and other defendants for the 2014 death of Donald Mills, told The Courier Journal on Wednesday it would be an “understatement to say I am aggrieved” by Bevin’s pardon.

Steele, who, like Bevin, is a Republican, also cited the fact that two of Baker’s co-defendants are still in prison. "What makes Mr. Baker any different than the other two?" he asked.

Answering that question, he said he believes Baker was pardoned while the others remain locked up because Baker’s family has given generously to Bevin.

Baker's family held a fundraiser for Bevin in 2015 and many family members had donated directly to his campaign

It goes on and on...

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/11/bevin-issued-hundreds-pardons-and-commutations-final-day/4399770002/

https://local12.com/news/local/child-rapist-released-after-just-over-a-year-in-prison-micah-schoettle-kenton-county-jury-kentucky-cincinnati

https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Commonwealths-Attorney-frustrated-with-pardon-of-man-guilty-of-double-murder--566115161.html

https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Gov-Bevin-undid-years-of-work-by-prosecutors-with-outgoing-pardons-566145431.html

https://www.kentuckynewera.com/news/article_c1a31eec-1c5f-11ea-b560-f7ed0ba79bdf.html

[DINGO Joe]

Ah, the fine American tradition of eleventh hour pardons.

Well, sometimes they are FF moves, like when outgoing Illinois governor George Ryan, a Republican, issued exeuctive clemency for everyone on death row:

On January 11, 2003, just two days before leaving office, Ryan commuted (to "life" terms) the sentences of everyone on or waiting to be sent to Illinois' death row—a total of 167 convicts—due to his belief that the death penalty could not be administered fairly. [...]

Wikipedia

Well, that's OK, because he wasn't releasing them from prison unilaterally.

Here are two more from Bevin's final hours:

A man who hired a hitman to kill his business partner

https://www.messenger-inquirer.com/news/local/edge-pardon-shocks-law-enforcers/article_3b7321e8-186e-5e41-b4ef-3eb9b1a42208.html

A man who beheaded a woman he was having an affair with and stuffed her in a barrel

https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article238320918.html

The prosecutor on the case, Tom Handy, said he hasn’t been this angry in a long time. He called the governor’s pardon “mystifying.”

“I think its arrogance of one who has a God-like image of himself,” Handy said of Bevin. “And a lack of concern for anybody else.”

I think this hits the nail on the head.  There is a certain confidence one has to have in ones self to run for office, but Bevin has ramped it up to a meglomania where he thinks his judgement is God-like.

Again, in case there is any confusion, Bevin is releasing all these people into society, not removing them from death row.

It was noted in one of the stories that over 300 of the pardons were for drug related offenses and they were probably deserved, but Bevin did not support sentencing reform that is quite common across the country these days.  I guess he feels he has the great wisdom to choose who is worthy or not instead of improving the process for getting people out of jail who don't belong there

There's also been a stampede in the last 24 hours in KY to reform the process for pardons, from having a special prosecutor appointed to look into Bevin's pardons to preventing a Gov from making pardons after the election like Bevin did,