The Mississippi Pardons
By BOB HERBERT
October 15, 2010
NY Times
Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi has to decide whether to show mercy to
two sisters, Jamie and Gladys Scott, who are each serving double
consecutive life sentences in state prison for a robbery in which no one
was injured and only $11 was taken.
This should be an easy call for a law-and-order governor who has,
nevertheless, displayed a willingness to set free individuals convicted
of far more serious crimes. Mr. Barbour has already pardoned four
killers and suspended the life sentence of a fifth.
The Scott sisters have been in prison for 16 years. Jamie, now 38, is
seriously ill. Both of her kidneys have failed. Keeping the two of them
locked up any longer is unconscionable, grotesquely inhumane.
The sisters were accused of luring two men to a spot outside the rural
town of Forest, Miss., in 1993, where the men were robbed by three
teenagers, one of whom had a shotgun. The Scott sisters knew the teens.
The evidence of the sisters’ involvement has always been ambiguous, at
best. The teenagers pleaded guilty to the crime, served two years in
prison and were released. All were obliged by the authorities, as part
of their plea deals, to implicate the sisters.
No explanation has ever emerged as to why Jamie and Gladys Scott were treated so severely.
In contrast, Governor Barbour has been quite willing to hand
get-out-of-jail-free cards to men who unquestionably committed
shockingly brutal crimes. The Jackson Free Press, an alternative weekly,
and Slate Magazine have catalogued these interventions by Mr. Barbour.
Some Mississippi observers have characterized the governor’s moves as
acts of mercy; others have called them dangerous abuses of executive
power.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections confirmed Governor Barbour’s
role in the five cases, noting that the specific orders were signed July
16, 2008:
• Bobby Hays Clark was pardoned by the governor. He was serving a long
sentence for manslaughter and aggravated assault, having shot and killed
a former girlfriend and badly beaten her boyfriend.
• Michael David Graham had his life sentence for murder suspended by
Governor Barbour. Graham had stalked his ex-wife, Adrienne Klasky, for
years before shooting her to death as she waited for a traffic light in
downtown Pascagoula.
• Clarence Jones was pardoned by the governor. He had murdered his
former girlfriend in 1992, stabbing her 22 times. He had already had his
life sentence suspended by a previous governor, Ronnie Musgrove.
• Paul Joseph Warnock was pardoned by Governor Barbour. He was serving
life for the murder of his girlfriend in 1989. According to Slate,
Warnock shot his girlfriend in the back of the head while she was
sleeping.
• William James Kimble was pardoned by Governor Barbour. He was serving
life for the murder and robbery of an elderly man in 1991.
Radley Balko, in an article for Slate, noted that none of the five men
were given relief because of concerns that they had been unfairly
treated by the criminal justice system. There were no questions about
their guilt or the fairness of the proceedings against them. But they
did have one thing in common. All, as Mr. Balko pointed out, had been
enrolled in a special prison program “that had them doing odd jobs
around the Mississippi governor’s mansion.”
The idea that those men could be freed from prison and allowed to pursue
whatever kind of lives they might wish while the Scott sisters are kept
locked up, presumably for the rest of their lives, is beyond
disturbing.
Supporters of the Scott sisters, including their attorney, Chokwe
Lumumba, and Ben Jealous of the N.A.A.C.P., have asked Governor Barbour
to intervene, to use his executive power to free the women from prison.
A spokeswoman for the governor told me he has referred the matter to the
state’s parole board. Under Mississippi law, the governor does not have
to follow the recommendation of the board. He is free to act on his
own. With Jamie Scott seriously ill (her sister and others have offered
to donate a kidney for a transplant), the governor should move with
dispatch.
The women’s mother, Evelyn Rasco, told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson,
Miss.: “I wish they would just hurry up and let them out. I hope that is
where it is leading to. That would be the only justified thing to do.”
An affidavit submitted to the governor on behalf of the Scott sisters
says: “Jamie and Gladys Scott respectfully pray that they each be
granted a pardon or clemency of their sentences on the grounds that
their sentences were too severe and they have been incarcerated for too
long. If not released, Jamie Scott will probably die in prison.”
As they are both serving double life sentences, a refusal by the
governor to intervene will most likely mean that both will die in
prison.
Listen To The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Specials:
Still Strange Fruit: 'The Eyes Of Willie McGee' Author Alex Heard & Major Scott Sisters Update (2nd Hour)...
All Eyes Are Still On Mississippi: Free The Scott Sisters!!!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2009/09/17/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio
Also On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio...
***Check Out The Scott Sisters Update Featuring Sis. Nancy Lockhart 3/24/2010 (Starts In The 2nd Hour)***
Also On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio...
***Check Out The Scott Sisters Update Featuring Sis. Nancy Lockhart 3/24/2010 (Starts In The 2nd Hour)***
***
UNTIL THE SCOTT SISTERS ARE FREE NEITHER ARE WE!!!
Seems the Gov. has something against women. Wouldn't surprise me if he beat his own wife.
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