Pardons making history, but what’s the cost?

When this pardon thing started, one thought that came to my mind as I looked over the 200+ names on the list was, “Wow. From now on, every time I cover a major crime, I need to not only check our archive and the courthouse files for background, but also this list of Haley’s pardons.”

But like I said, that was just one thought I had. It was in with the other thoughts that so many Mississippians were having, like, “Who are all these people? Where are they from? Why did Governor Barbour wait so late to release this list?” And of course, there are a myriad of others.

As this thing has moved along, and as Clarion-Ledger reporter Jessica Bakeman has done a truly professional and incredibly commendable job with all the heavy lifting on this story, I have had occasion to field plenty of thoughts and opinions from people all over the state, from all walks of life.  I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of the same things:

One assistant district attorney said he felt like it was a slap in the face for all the hard work done by the prosecutors and law enforcement all over the state who had worked so hard to put these people away.

A housewife followed that by pointing out that taxpayer money has gone to fund every one of those investigations, and now it’s down the toilet.

A family member of a victim said the family now has to worry every time they round a corner that they’ll run into the man who took the life of their loved one, and now he can legally own a gun.

There are girls who were teenagers not too long ago and had their innocence taken by a teacher… and now if his pardon is constitutional, that man can go teach at any school anywhere without having to tell anyone of the more than a dozen sex charges against him.

One woman told me today that she deleted her Facebook and changed her phone number, hoping she wouldn’t be found by one of the people whose pardon is pending.

But on the other hand, a pastor asked how what Barbour has done is any different than what Christians believe Jesus did for us. If he is to preach forgiveness, he said, how can he condemn Barbour’s decision?

A former investigator pointed out that the only winner in this whole situation is Joseph Ozment, the pardoned killer/ governor’s mansion trusty that hasn’t been found to be served, because he got his pardon and got out, and he’s probably out of the country by now. He also made the point, “Why do we call it the ‘Department of Corrections’ if we don’t believe they correct the inmates’ problems?”

A county supervisor said he figures some of the people on the list have probably gotten out of prison and made respectable lives for themselves, and just want to be able to vote again, and with low county election turnouts, maybe that’s not so bad.

A businessman said drugs can make even the best people do the worst things, and obviously, drugs had to have been an influence in some of the more heinous crimes on the pardon list. Hopefully, he said, these folks have kicked the habit.

Some people want to make Barbour the good guy because he’s a Republican, or Jim Hood the bad guy because he’s a Democrat. Or vice-versa. Politics are always going to come in somewhere.

There are thousands of arguments, as we are well aware, on whether these pardons are legit or not, and everyone has different opinions on every facet of the debate.

In the words of one of my law enforcement sources, in a tone that conveyed the cold truth of it no matter how anyone feels about it: “You know what I think about this? Job security.”

As Dustin Barnes and I helped Jessica research the names on the list, these are some I found information on:

• One man was convicted of aggravated assault and was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole as an habitual offender. He thereafter filed numerous petitions for post-conviction collateral relief, all of which were denied. The trial court found in 1998 that he was ineligible for release under the cited code section.

• Another man plead guilty in August 1996 for beating a terminally ill woman to death in Oct. 1996 in her Gulfport home. She was beaten to death with a cane. He was arrested after neighbors found him sitting in a ditch covered in blood.
Autopsy results showed the woman choked to death on her own blood after he had broken her jaw with the cane.

• A young man was charged after a 5 month investigation with 13 counts of sexual battery and one count of forcible rape in 2003. All charges involve female students under age 18 at a high school in north Mississippi, authorities said.

• Another man was convicted in Scott County in June 1999 on charges of homicide, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. His sentence was already suspended in 2004 by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.

Those aren’t the best, nor the worst of them. Those are just some of the ones I found as I researched. As it turns out, Turner, who was pardoned posthumously, was Barbour’s caretaker when he was young, which could fill in some of the blanks on “What was the governor thinking?”

As Jessica wrote on Jan. 13: Barbour, whose father died when he was a child, was looked after by his grandfather, a judge. When the caregiver took ill, an inmate, Leon Turner, was assigned to help.“Leon helped take care of us,” Barbour said. “He helped raise us. He was our playmate, our friend.”

Now we wait to find out whether or not the AG’s office was actually aware of these pardons before the fact or not, and what the fallout will be of the 30-day publishing rule, and what kind of legislation will change the face of the Mississippi Governor’s prerogative to pardon whoever he wants.

No matter what the outcome of that, crime will continue. People will do unspeakable things to each other, police will investigate and make arrests, prosecutors will fight in the courtroom, brave people will testify, and juries of their peers will deliberate until they come up with verdicts. Guilty people will sometimes go free for whatever reason, and we hope that innocent people will not be found guilty, though we know it has happened before.

The families of both the victims and the criminals will go through unbearable heartbreak. And it looks like if convicted, at this point the criminal’s ultimate fate lies in the hands of a politician.

Objectively, from where I sit in the crime desk at the newspaper, to coin a trite phrase,  right now “it is what it is.” The players that got us here have got to finish fighting it out, and we’re seeing history in the works.

So when the shouting is quieted and the dust settles, no matter how it comes out, may every one of us ask ourselves, “At what cost?”

 

This blog was originally posted in my Clarion-Ledger blog, “Boots and Badges.” That blog has since been deactivated. 

 

T’s Rules. Or at least, the groundwork for T’s Rules.

Editor’s note: This blog was originally published June 30, 2010. It’s necessary to amend the rules at least once a year, and I am six months late. So this is the same blog, with the same link and the same other stuff, but the rules list is updated, and the italics are my 2012 additions to my comments from before. Read on…

So I realize I need to start this post by saying that I know there are things going on in my life that some of you might be creeping my blog to find out about. I can’t help you, except to say my life is happy right now, and when I know that it’s safe to tell you anything beyond that, I will totally spill the beans. But out of self-protection and respect for the people involved, I’m keeping it close to the vest right now and saying, “I’m happy, butt out.” 🙂

(And WOW am I glad I didn’t spill the beans, because THAT was a MASSIVE train wreck of a situation… Whew… dodged another bullet.)

Instead, I decided to post my list of rules. Some of you watch NCIS, and you know that Leroy Jethro Gibbs, in spite of his unfortunate name, is a total badass. I mean really, EVERYONE should want to be Gibbs. But for the record, as much as I’d want to be him, I wouldn’t want to marry him. I must have been crazy when I wrote this. Silly me. Of course I would. He’s a badass who likes redheads.

Anyway, Gibbs has this list of rules that has never been fully filled out by the show, though there’s a partial list here, on just different life stuff. I like it because people can ask him a question, and he’ll answer with a rule number, and they’re expected to know what that is.

So I got to thinking about how for years, I’ve had general little superstitions and declarations that I could put into a list of my own rules, and I can do the same thing to my friends. I have to admit, part of it is Gibbs-worship, and part of it is that I just like the idea of having an ever-growing list of life rules. So here is my first run at it, just as a baseline of things that I can work with as I continue to add through life. I know I’ve left a ton out, and I know some of them might change as I get older, kinda like how one of Gibbs’ rules is, “Never apologize, it’s a sign of weakness,” but there are a few places in the series where he apologizes in spite of his rule.

For the record, since I first wrote this, these rules have yet to lead me wrong. Only my own dumb stubborn unwillingness to adhere to my own rules has gotten my ass in a bind, as they like to say down in Lincoln County. 🙂

1. It doesn’t matter what people think.2. If it looks too good to be true, it’s best to shoot it, just in case.

3. When at all possible, avoid groups of women.

4. Don’t trust a man who doesn’t like dogs.

5. Never date a lumberjack. Or, for that matter, a cop or a kicker from the football team.

6. In love and tournament fighting, when you drop your guard is ALWAYS when you get your ass kicked.

7. Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.

8. If he looks in the mirror more than you do, he’s going to be a problem.

9. At any emergency scene, find the biggest badass there and stay at least as far away from the fire/hazmat/explosives/wild animal as he is. (AKA: The Steve Davis Rule)

10. Listen to your gut. If you feel like someone might be lying, they usually are.

11. When in doubt about how to deal with a situation, always choose love and understanding. When that won’t work, try violence.

12. The minute your leader (or boyfriend) lies to you, start looking for another leader (or boyfriend).

13. Avoid alpha female competitions. When you’re top dog, there’s no reason to compete.

14. Never confide details to your girly-girl friends. They will ALWAYS tell SOMEONE.

15. Nothing is worth worrying yourself sick.

16. You can’t control someone else’s heart, especially not by worry, jealousy, rules and brute force. Don’t try.

17. Always pick the fortune cookie farthest away from you. It’s a thing.

18. Never get so lazy that you don’t check your rearview mirrors and your peripheral vision every few minutes.

19. Never sleep with your best friend unless you’re prepared to eventually lose them.

20. Try a thing you haven’t done three times: Once to get over the fear of doing it, twice to learn how to do it, and a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.

21. There are people that ARE better than other people, and very few of them make a lot of money, wield a lot of power, or are famous. It’s about integrity, courage and character.

22. Pimento cheese is not a good date food.

23. People don’t listen to you 90 percent of the time anyway. The less you talk, the more weight your words will carry when you do.

24. Dogs and small kids have better instincts about character and truth than any grownup anywhere.

25. Pizza is the universal comfort food. Don’t trust people who don’t like pizza.

26. Always have a Sharpie handy.

27. Having a child die in your hands will reset your “what’s important” meter. (AKA: The Devonte McNulty Rule.)

28. You can tell a lot about a person by whether they choose their favorite music for the lyrics or the beat.

29. “It’s a thing,” is always an adequate answer to the question, “Why do you do that?”

30. Avoid, at all costs, people who are constantly causing or seeking out drama. Especially the men who do, because the women they surround themselves with are usually reprehensible.

31. Never go out with a guy who asks you for dirty pictures before he asks you on a date. This should be a no-brainer.

32. The dishes can be done tomorrow. Live today.

33. A guy who doesn’t make you feel safe, smart, and capable is not worth having for ANYTHING.

34. The more someone talks about what a badass martial artist or firefighter or cop or soldier they are is directly proportionate to what a dumbass they are.

35. Don’t wear flip-flops to a fire.

36. When someone’s return text word-count average drops consistently below four, stop texting. They don’t want to talk to you.

37. If you’re in the in crowd now, don’t worry, you’ll be in the out crowd later. Or you could be out all by yourself, which is actually better.

38. You CAN save the world.

39. High heels and good cleavage will get you everywhere, including some places you really, really, really don’t need to be.

40. Girls can be firefighters, but firefighters shouldn’t be girls.

41. People remember when you tell them the truth, when you keep their secrets, and when you share your ice cream.

42. It’s okay to cry.

43. It’s not okay to cry all the time, like a little baby girl.

44. Never argue with an on-duty cop. That’s just stupid.

45. Surround yourself with funny, brave, honest people.

46. Read the Bible as much as possible, and “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “The Little Prince” at least once a year. They’ll all make you a better person.

47. There is great wisdom to be found in Calvin & Hobbes.

48. If someone won’t tell you to your face that they’re mad, then you have the right not to give a damn about whatever their beef is.

49. Nothing is worth losing your family over.

50. You’re only as old as people guess you are.

51. It’s better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

52. Don’t kiss a man who gives vague answers, dodges the question, or outright lies. Kissing leads to other stuff and you don’t want to end up stuck with THAT guy.

53. I have this little policy about honesty and ass-kicking… if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

54. Don’t date or marry anyone you’d be ashamed to have stand with your family at your funeral.

55. Believe that something good is going to happen and you’re halfway there.

56. In an altercation, it’s always best to calmly speak the truth, then make a timely exit.

57. You always, somewhere deep down, regret eating junk food.

58. Chickens run.

59. There IS such a thing as a good man, but that just means it shocks the hell out of you when he’s (inevitably) a jerk. Doesn’t mean he’s not a good man, just means he’s also a jerk.

60. Very few people that you know would lay down their lives for you, and even fewer will interrupt their schedules for you. Treasure the ones who do.

61. There’s no such thing as a perfect moment, no matter how much you deserve it. Make the best of what you have.

62. There’s ALWAYS a silver lining.

That said, if I’ve omitted one that you think is important, preferably one of my own, please feel free to comment and I’ll add it. It’s not that I don’t think many of you have some awesome rules to add, but those are yours. These are mine. So if there’s something I’ve barked at you insistently for as long as you’ve known me, feel free to let me know.

And if you decide to write your own rules, you can use some of mine if you want, but you have to give me credit. I’m THAT much of a narcissist. 😉