A man on a long list of people pardoned by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour in 2012 is a suspect in a shootout that left another man dead, the Jackson Free Press reported Friday.

Wayne "Honkey" Harris, who was one of 203 people pardoned during Barbour’s last week in office — touching off a storm of controversy and a legal battle — was attending a “friendly cookout,” on Thursday when he got into an argument that escalated into a gunfight, the Calhoun County Journal reported.

In the melee, Chris McGonagill was shot multiple times, allegedly by Harris, and died later at the hospital. Harris was shot twice, allegedly by McGonagill, and was hospitalized with a shattered femur and a bullet lodged in his side,  according to the Journal. Harris was due for surgery Friday afternoon, the report said.

Harris, whose gun was allegedly used in the shootout, was permitted to own a gun because of the 2012 pardon had wiped his record clean of a 2001 felony conviction for selling marijuana.

Three other men were present when the shooting occurred and were being questioned as witnesses, the Jackson Free Press reported, citing Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan.

Pollan told the Journal that at least 13 shots were fired, but they did not know who had fired first. No charged had been filed as of Friday evening.

Barbour pardons, many issued the day that his successor was inaugurated in January 2012, wiped the record clean for many people who had already served time for their crimes. It also granted release to some inmates and pardoned four people convicted of murder, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

Controversy over the list led to a legal challenge but the Mississippi Supreme Court in March ruled 6-3 to reaffirm the governor’s right to use his executive powers to grant clemency.

Barbour defended the pardons as well-considered acts of mercy, the Monitor reported, citing a statement he issued at the time:

"These were decisions based on repentance, rehabilitation, and redemption, leading to forgiveness and the right defined and given by the state constitution to the governor to offer such people a second chance."

Updated at 2:26 p.m. ET: JACKSON, Miss. – Attorneys for a group of inmates told the Mississippi Court on Thursday that former Gov. Haley Barbour's decision to pardon nearly 200 people, including some convicted murderers, during his last hours in office was constitutional.

The Mississippi Supreme Court  was holding the hearing to determine whether Barbour's pardons are valid.

Attorney Thomas Fortner said that previous pardon rulings suggest the governor's pardon power is absolute and cannot be reviewed by judges.

"If you have a valid pardon signed by the governor ... it is not open to judicial review," Fortner told the court.

"The governor as the chief executive is granted the power to pardon and is the judge of the propriety of the publication," he said. "The constitution does not give the power to anybody to review that."

Attorney General Jim Hood, arguing for the state, contended that pardon power is not absolute and that courts can review the constitutionality of the governor's acts. He also contended that if ads notifying the public weren't run in daily papers every day for 30 days, or weekly newspapers once a week for five weeks, the pardons aren't valid.

Rogelio V. Solis / AP

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, right, listens as attorney Thomas Fortner, left, who represents a group of former inmates, tells the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday that former Gov. Haley Barbour's pardons of them are valid.

"We agree that the wisdom of the governor in granting a pardon, and to whom he grants that pardon, is not an issue that we’re concerned with,” Hood told the justices. “What a court  does have jurisidiction to address is whether or not that pardon itself is valid, whether it violates our constitution.”

Several victims and family members of victims were among those in attendance watching the arguments.

Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said no decision would be announced Thursday, but did not say when the court might rule.

Before leaving office Jan. 10, Barbour granted pardons to 198 people and granted other types of reprieves such as sentence suspensions and medical releases to others. Only the pardons required publication of intent.

Ten of the people pardoned were incarcerated at the time Barbour, a Republican, signed the orders. Five governor's mansion trustees were released before Hood, the only Democrat in statewide office, got a lower court judge to issue a temporary restraining order. That restraining order has kept five other pardoned inmates behind bars until the legal challenge is decided.

Many of those others who were pardoned had been out of prison for years and in some cases for decades, but their chance of having their rights restored could be wiped out in the legal battle over the pardons of those convicted of violent crimes. Hood has said only 22 of them published the proper notification.

Barbour has said he's at peace with the pardons because his Christian faith teaches about redemption. He accused Hood of trying to score political points.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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