Former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin Defended His Controversial Pardons on Twitter
Former Republican Kentucky governor Matt Bevin took to Twitter Friday to defend the controversial pardons and commutations he issued during his final days in office.
"This is never an exact science," wrote Bevin in the twenty-part message. "Not one person receiving a pardon would I not welcome as a co-worker, neighbor, or to sit beside me or any member of my family in a church pew or at a public event."
According to CNN, Bevin issued up to 161 pardons and 419 commutations, a number that included more than 300 commutations for people imprisoned on drug charges. But the controversy has centered around reprieves and pardons issued for violent offenders, including Patrick Brian Baker, who was convicted of reckless homicide for a home invasion killing, and whose brother and sister-in-law raised $21,500 at a fundraiser for Bevin last year. The former governor, who was defeated by Democrat Andy Beshear in November's election, pardoned Baker, who had served two years of a 19-year sentence.
Other commutations involving violent crimes included that of Delmar Partin, who was convicted of murdering a woman in 1994 and stuffing her body in a barrel. In his executive order pardoning Partin, Bevin wrote that the state had shown an “inability or unwillingness” to “use existing DNA evidence to affirm or disprove this conviction.” Bevins also pardoned a man convicted of hiring a hitman to kill his business partner, and at least two men convicted of sexually assaulting minors received pardons or commutations, including one reportedly involved in a rape that was filmed and shared on social media.
17/20:
Not one person receiving a pardon would I not welcome as a co-worker, neighbor, or to sit beside me or any member of my family in a church pew or at a public event...— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
Not all of the pardons and commutations are controversial. Most of the reprieves were granted to drug offenders, and Bevin commuted the death sentence of Gregory Wilson to a sentence of life imprisonment. Wilson was convicted in a 1988 trial that Kentucky’s Courier-Journal wrote was "described as a travesty of justice and a national embarrassment" for the state.
On Friday, some Kentucky Democrats called for investigations, particularly into Baker’s pardon. Despite the fact that prosecutors say that Baker shot the victim, two other men convicted of participating in the same crime were not included in the former governor’s pardons and commutations.
"I don't see how, based on what we have in front of us, there is any other assumption to draw than two people are sitting in jail because they didn't have personal favors with the governor," Kentucky state senator Morgan McGarvey told the Associated Press. "There is one person who is out who did."
You Might Also Like
