Poll of the Day > Republican governor pardons a convicted child rapist + murderous campaign donor

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50786368

Former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin issued 428 pardons in his final days in office, a list that includes multiple violent offenders.

The Republican pardoned a convicted child rapist as well as a convicted murderer whose brother raised money for Mr Bevin's election campaign.

Mr Bevin's spate of pardons includes Dayton Jones, convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, Brett Whitaker, convicted of killing a pastor and his wife while drink-driving, and a woman who was sentenced to life in prison for throwing her newborn in the trash after giving birth in a flea market outhouse.

He also pardoned a man who was sentenced to 23 years in prison last year for raping a 9-year-old child.

The extensive list includes Patrick Brian Baker, convicted in 2017 of reckless homicide, robbery, impersonating a police officer and tampering with evidence linked to a 2014 home invasion that resulted in the death of Donald Mills.

Mr Baker's brother and sister-in-law held a political fundraiser for Mr Bevin last year, raising $21,500 (16,100) and donating an additional $4,000 to his campaign at the same event, first reported by the local Courier Journal newspaper.

Mr Baker had served just two years of his 17-year sentence when Mr Bevin pardoned him on 9 December. His co-conspirators in the robbery and homicide were not pardoned.

In his decision to pardon Mr Baker, Mr Bevin called him "a man who has made a series of unwise decisions in his adult life", including his drug addiction, and called the evidence against him "sketchy at best".

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What a bitch ass move, huh?


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Jfc. With shit like this, if they ever got in trouble again it should be on his head too

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But dont you realize both sides are equally corrupt

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EvilMegas posted...

Jfc. With shit like this, if they ever got in trouble again it should be on his head too

Absolutely. Imagine being family to one of the victims? I'd be outraged.

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No individual person should have that much control over the legal system. Pardons should be subject to considerable independent review from a panel of judges that actually know what they're doing.

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why even have pardons

we have a legal system

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Why are pardons a thing with this little oversight jfc

Somebody please tell me there's some kind of checks and balances Americans love so much that stops this

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Blighboy posted...

Why are pardons a thing with this little oversight jfc

Somebody please tell me there's some kind of checks and balances Americans love so much that stops this

Absolutely none, other than whether or not it was prosecuted by that state vs. like...a federal crime.

It should be used to free people w/ very questionable convictions, like Cameron Todd Willingham. Instead, those people tend to languish in prison or get executed, and the ones who "find god" or whose families donate enough to the right person (which is another form of finding god, I guess) get pardons, regardless of how heinous their crimes.

The justice system in this country is a fucking joke. Wouldn't blame the victims' families one bit if they took things into their own hands after the justice system basically flipped them off.

Far-Queue posted...

Mr Bevin's spate of pardons includes Dayton Jones, convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, Brett Whitaker, convicted of killing a pastor and his wife while drink-driving, and a woman who was sentenced to life in prison for throwing her newborn in the trash after giving birth in a flea market outhouse.

How much of their sentence had been served at the time of the pardon? And, broadly speaking, life in prison should be reserved for people who represent a permanent threat to society, which is a pretty fucking small list. Somebody who just does a horrible thing should get a reasonable set number of years.

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Oddly enough I didn't think there was a republican worse then Mr. Trump.

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Playsaver posted...

Oddly enough I didn't think there was a republican worse then Mr. Trump.

Give him time. Wait until he sees that hes got the senate backing him NO MATTER WHAT. Then youll know true horror.

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Oof. I missed the first part of the title and thought Trudeau was up to his old tricks on a new convict.

faramir77 posted...

No individual person should have that much control over the legal system. Pardons should be subject to considerable independent review from a panel of judges that actually know what they're doing.

Youre right. But it doesnt matter when money can change hands and minds/everyone has a leaning.

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Zeus posted...

How much of their sentence had been served at the time of the pardon?

Far-Queue posted...

Mr Baker had served just two years of his 17-year sentence when Mr Bevin pardoned him on 9 December.

Far-Queue posted...

He also pardoned a man who was sentenced to 23 years in prison last year for raping a 9-year-old child.

That's not all of them, but there are two answers if you keep reading.

Zeus posted...

And, broadly speaking, life in prison should be reserved for people who represent a permanent threat to society, which is a pretty f***ing small list. Somebody who just does a horrible thing should get a reasonable set number of years.

There is indeed an argument to be made for lighter, rehabilitation-focused prison sentences, rather than the "tough on crime" attitude many Americans are so fond of, but using pardons to effect such a paradigm shift definitely is not the way to go about it, nor is there any reason at all to suspect that's what's going on here (and not just because most of the people listed were not serving life sentences). I know you love to play devil's advocate and all, but the guy literally pardoned somebody who raped a 9-year-old. You don't want to try defending that.

Playsaver posted...
Oddly enough I didn't think there was a republican worse then Mr. Trump.

Oh, there definitely are. As much as Trump is a bumbling douchebag of a president, his motivations are pretty much entirely limited to incompetent narcissism. There are and have always been politicians far more corrupt and outright evil than him, and that's unlikely to ever change.

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Ah, I remember when Republicans lost their shit when Obama pardoned non-violent drug offenders. Good times.

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