* ‘End of pardon-gate’
* Pardoned South African citizen may be deported
By Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss., March 10 (Reuters) – The last three
inmates still in prison who had been pardoned by former
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour were released on Saturday,
two days after the state’s highest court cleared the way for
their freedom.
The release of the prisoners could be the final chapter in a
controversial saga that began in January when Barbour issued
more than 200 pardons as he left office, the most in modern
Mississippi history.
The pardons prompted an outcry from victims of those
released and the families of victims. Many in Mississippi were
perplexed why a law-and-order conservative Republican granted
them.
Barbour said he showed mercy out of a spirit of forgiveness
and to give the inmates a second chance.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood challenged 10 of the
pardons before the state Supreme Court, which ruled on Thursday
that Barbour had the constitutional authority to grant them.
“This is the end of pardon-gate,” said Matthew Steffey, a
constitutional law professor at Mississippi College School of
Law. “The court made clear there was no clear jurisdiction to
challenge a … valid pardon.”
Continued…
