The absolute epitome of the death of right and wrong. When I spoke about this during the live Tammy Show, I was outraged when I thought he had pardoned one convicted murderer. Now we learn it was four of them. For any normal human being this is inexplicable. Barbour’s last day as governor is tomorrow so while there may be no immediate fallout, there must be a discussion about this rank obscenity and make sure Barbour doesn’t just walk away from this. He certainly shouldn’t be rewarded with any sort of a cozy White House job with the next GOP administration.

The men he pardoned were not arguably wrongly convicted or who had support due to questions about the fairness of a trial. No, these were cold-blooded killers, each and every one. The only common thread was that they all worked for Barbour at the governor’s mansion. This is truly outrageous. All men were released Sunday and they are not on parole, i.e. there are no restrictions, they do not have to report to anyone. And the Republican Machine wonders why we’re mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.

Apparently it’s “tradition” that allows people assigned to the governor’s mansion to get pardoned. Last time I checked, it’s been a longer tradition to make murderers pay for their crimes which includes making them serve their life sentence, at the very least.

Outgoing Miss. Gov. Barbour pardons 4 convicted killers who worked at Governor’s Mansion

Outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has pardoned at least four convicted killers who worked as inmate trusties at the Governor’s Mansion, including a man who was denied parole less than two weeks ago.

Relatives of three victims told The Associated Press on Monday that state corrections officials notified them over the weekend that the convicts were to be released this past Sunday. Barbour, a Republican who weighed a presidential run last year before deciding against it, leaves office on Tuesday.

The pardons outraged victims’ relatives. Democratic lawmakers called for an end to the custom of governors’ issuing such end-of-tenure pardons

While Barbour’s office hasn’t responded to messages about the pardons, he told the AP in 2008 that releasing the trusties who live and work at the mansion is a tradition in Mississippi that goes back decades. Trusties are prisoners who earn privileges through good behavior…

The former inmates are David Gatlin, convicted of killing his estranged wife in 1993; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after at least two prior convictions…

The 40-year-old Gatlin was sentenced to life in prison in the 1993 slaying of Tammy Ellis Gatlin and the shooting of Randy Walker, her long-time friend.

Walker’s mother, Glenda Walker, said Monday that Gatlin shot his estranged wife while she was holding their young baby, then shot her son in the head.

“He left that little baby on his dead mother’s body,” Glenda Walker said. “It was a horrendous murder.”

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13 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Shifra says:

    The Talmud says: He who shows mercy to those who are cruel, is destined to show cruelty to those who are merciful.

  2. tamcat says:

    Barbour is scum of MISSISSIPPI

  3. Kat says:

    At least he just released these two instead of pardoning them! http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/03/31/pardon_unlikely_for_sisters_awaiting_transplant/

    He reminds me of another recent southern Governor who ran for POTUS in 2008….my former esteemed Governor from Arkansas… Huckabee or as I like to call him…Hucklebee!

    Maybe we should just call Barbour and Huckabee former “Goober”nors?

    BTW….Barbour was voted most fave Governor yet Mississippi still ranks at the bottom of many lists i.e. education; children living in poverty etc… #JustSayin

    • AniMel says:

      Kat, I just call him Huckster. It drives me bonkers that he has a show on FNC now. Just about the only thing I can like about the guy is the fact that he plays Tobias basses, and that ain’t sayin’ much.

  4. Maynard says:

    Showing lenience to a cold-blooded murderer is a sign that human life is held to be cheap.

  5. dennisl59 says:

    Barbour may have a ‘little trouble’ explaining this at the Pearly Gates when Saint Peter interviews him for admission, ya think?

    posted 1/10 1130am Texas [Capital Punishment] Time.

  6. Rob_W says:

    Part of being a good executive is having the fortitude to say “no”. A documentary on the Tennessee governor’s mansion featured former governor Winfield Dunn who agonized over his decision to deny a pardon for a convicted murderer that worked in the mansion. Apparently, it is tradition for the outgoing governor to grant such pardons. Really? This is one tradition that needs to end.

  7. Karan says:

    I call Barbour and Huckabee religious liberals!

  8. AniMel says:

    Anybody who can explain giving any known murderer his walking papers by claiming mercy based on religious belief should never have held office to begin with. I give it six months before all four of them are back in jail again.

    This man has obviously never spent a day of his life working in a jail and/or prison. These guys know how to game people. They call it “downing the duck” (Google that and read the police forum stories that come up – we had to read them when I was in the academy). If Barbour really thinks he did something good here, he is deluded.

  9. thierry says:

    it’s not lost on some of us that two of these scumbags killed their wives. why is it that a crime is somewhat less than and pardonable when someone has done something unspeakable to someone they are related to or intimate with?

  10. ShArKy666 says:

    i’d say this really cancels out all the good this guy did with katrina..it ALWAYS seems politicians can’t do the right thing more consitantly

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