JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? The Mississippi Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would take up the legal challenge to the pardons ex-Gov. Haley Barbour gave in the last days in office.
State Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, wants to invalidate dozens of the 198 pardons that Barbour, a Republican, handed out before his term ended Jan. 10. Ten of the people were still incarcerated at the time they got reprieves.
Hood says only about two dozen of the people pardoned followed the Mississippi Constitution's requirement to publish a notice about their reprieves in their local newspapers for 30 days. He wants the others invalidated.
Most of the people who could lose their pardons have already served their sentences and been out of prison for years. Some of them were convicted of comparatively minor crimes as far back as the 1960s and 1970s and have never been in trouble again.
Five of the pardoned are being held on a temporary restraining order issued by Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green. The Supreme Court extended that order until it can rule on the matter. It set a hearing for Feb. 9 and said it would try to rule on the matter quickly.
Barbour had no comment on the case.
Five men who worked as Governor's Mansion trusties had already been released by the time Hood sought the injunction. The judge told the trusties to contact corrections officials every 24 hours, but one of them has not and has missed a court hearing. He was served with a summons this week in Laramie, Wyo.
Matt Steffey, a constitutional law professor at Mississippi College, said the Supreme Court's decision is not a surprise because it would ultimately be up to the justices to decide the constitutional issue.
Barbour granted some sort of reprieve to 26 inmates who were in custody ? 10 full pardons; 13 medical releases; one suspension of sentence; one conditional, indefinite suspension of sentence; and one conditional clemency. Those being released for medical reasons or who received suspended sentences or conditional clemency did not need to publish notices in newspapers.
The Supreme Court's ruling means a lower court hearing on the matter won't happen Friday. An attorney for some of the people who got pardons had requested the Supreme Court to take the case.
Associated Pressgrimm fairy tales gold rush gold rush weather boston chili recipe chili recipe grimm
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.