clemency – News Stories About clemency - Page 4

opinion

Dec 9, 2009 5:42 AM CST

Don't Bury Clemency with Clemmons

Mike Huckabee's decision was unfortunate, but just

(Newser) - Mike Huckabee's mercy in granting clemency to cop killer Maurice Clemmons was horribly betrayed, but that's no reason to reject the very notion of clemency, writes Michael Gerson. Strong arguments in favor of the role clemency plays in the justice system were made at the time of the Founding Fathers,...

Clemmons Not Huckabee's 1st Freed Killer

Joe Conason

Dec 1, 2009 7:28 AM CST

Clemmons Not Huckabee's 1st Freed Killer

Ex-gov said to be a sucker for cons who got religion

(Newser) - Maurice Clemmons isn’t the first killer Mike Huckabee released as governor thanks to his religious sense of mercy. Huckabee granted more commutations and pardons than any governor in the 40 years before him. Some, no doubt, were warranted by Arkansas’ draconian drug laws, but many more came courtesy of...

Va. Gov
Denies
Clemency
to DC Sniper

Nov 10, 2009 11:13 AM CST

Va. Gov Denies Clemency to DC Sniper

Muhammad will be executed tonight in Virginia

(Newser) - Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has denied clemency for Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, clearing the way for Muhammad's execution at 9pm tonight. Muhammad, whose appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court yesterday, will die by lethal injection, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch . His 2002 shooting spree with younger accomplice Lee Boyd...

Scotland Defies US,
Releases Lockerbie Bomber

Aug 20, 2009 7:51 AM CDT

Scotland Defies US, Releases Lockerbie Bomber

(Newser) - The only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been released on compassionate grounds and will return to Libya, reports the BBC. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life for the murder of 270 people, but he is suffering from prostate cancer...

Tax Cheats Flood IRS,
Looking to Come Clean

Jul 30, 2009 9:07 AM CDT

Tax Cheats Flood IRS, Looking to Come Clean

Inquiry into Swiss banks leads hundreds of evaders to come clean

(Newser) - A crackdown on tax evasion has led to a flood of wealthy Americans lining up to reveal their offshore accounts to the IRS, reports the Wall Street Journal. A limited-time offer of lower fines, coupled with the ongoing probe of Swiss bank accounts held by UBS, has produced a stampede...

Bush Rejected Pardons for Milken, Other 'High Rollers'

Jan 27, 2009 3:00 PM CST

Bush Rejected Pardons for Milken, Other 'High Rollers'

'He seems to go out of his way to deny the high rollers, the prominent people,' source says

(Newser) - George Bush formally denied pardons for several prominent politicians and businessmen on his last day in office, the Justice Department told the Los Angeles Times today. Among those whose pleas fell on deaf ears were Michael Milken, a businessman convicted of insider trading and stock evasion, and Randall Cunningham, a...

Holder Pushed Clemency
for Puerto Rican Militants

Jan 9, 2009 12:36 PM CST

Holder Pushed Clemency for Puerto Rican Militants

Obama's attorney-general pick helped commute sentences for PR nationalists

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s attorney-general nominee fought for clemency for 16 militant Puerto Rican nationalists during his time in the Clinton administration, the Los Angeles Times reports. Eric Holder pushed Justice Department subordinates to pave the way to Clinton’s clemency grant, documents show, sparking fury from law-enforcement officials who’d...

Bush Retracts Pardon
for Son of Big GOP Donor

Dec 24, 2008 4:55 PM CST

Bush Retracts Pardon for Son of Big GOP Donor

White House cites new information in halting process for developer Isaac Toussie

(Newser) - President Bush withdrew a presidential pardon today after it emerged that the father of a convicted Brooklyn developer donated $28,500 to the Republican Party, CNN reports. The president’s counsel approved clemency for Isaac Toussie on charges of mail fraud and false statements to federal officials, White House spokeswoman...

Conrad Black Asks Bush for Clemency

Nov 21, 2008 9:49 AM CST

Conrad Black Asks Bush for Clemency

Doing time for fraud, media giant wants sentence commuted

(Newser) - Onetime media mogul Conrad Black is seeking clemency from President Bush in hopes that his 6½-year jail sentence will be commuted, the CBC reports. Black, the former chair of newspaper firm Hollinger International, was convicted on fraud and obstruction of justice charges in 2007 for channeling $6 million from...

Requests for Pardons Flood White House

Jul 19, 2008 11:33 AM CDT

Requests for Pardons Flood White House

Petitioners include the American Taliban, but not Scooter Libby

(Newser) - President Bush is nearing the end of his term, and felons are coming out of the woodwork in historic numbers to ask for pardons and reduced sentences, the New York Times reports. It is not unusual for there to be a spike in pardons granted by a president in his...

Huckabee Rocked
Little Rock

Dec 22, 2007 11:55 AM CST

Huckabee Rocked Little Rock

Ex-governor intimidated colleagues, backed controversial reforms

(Newser) - Mike Huckabee surged to the top of the polls in the Republican presidential contest partly because of his squeaky clean image, but the persona emerging from years as governor of Arkansas is quite different, the New York Times reports. Supporters and critics alike remember him as a hard-charging iconoclast with...

Commutation Decision Marks Serious Shift

Jul 7, 2007 6:15 PM CDT

Commutation Decision Marks Serious Shift

As Texas governor, Bush seldom overruled court decisions

(Newser) - In six years as governor of Texas, George W. Bush issued 20 pardons and commuted one death sentence. As president, he seemed to be hewing to the same standard, granting 113 pardons (against more than 1,000 appeals) and commuting just four sentences. The fourth commutation sends the Times in...