• Texan to Obama: Forget Thanksgiving turkey, pardon long-dead writer O. Henry!

    Courtesy O. Henry Museum, Austin

    William S. Porter, better known by his pen name, O. Henry, was convicted of embezzling in 1898. But the prolific American writer, especially celebrated for his short stories, is the subject of a new campaign for a posthumous presidential pardon.

    By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

    A Texas activist wants big changes in the way the criminal justice system works, but he’s launching his campaign with a goal that he thinks should be easy for people to agree on — the presidential pardon of celebrated American writer O. Henry, 102 years after his death.

    Scott Henson, a former investigative journalist and blogger on the criminal justice system, launched a petition drive Thursday, with the aim of delivering 10,000 signatures to President Barack Obama by Sept. 11, O. Henry’s birthday.


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    "This petition aims both to honor and exonerate a great American writer and to call attention to a withering and atrophied clemency process, one which no longer functions as robustly either as justice demands or America's constitutional framers intended," said Henson.

    O. Henry, whose real name is William S. Porter, was convicted in 1898 of embezzling from an Austin bank where he worked as a teller.

    Some historians say the trial was badly flawed and there were serious problems with the bank’s lax record keeping at the time — so Porter’s actual guilt is in question.

    Porter made things worse for himself when he skipped bail and fled to Honduras. But on news that his wife was critically ill, he returned to Austin to care for her, and appear at his trial, according to a Texas history web site, Lonestar Junction.

    Porter’s wife died, and he served five years in an Ohio prison, after which he stopped using his real name altogether in an effort to hide his identity. He moved to New York, where he produced some of his most acclaimed works.

    But he died of alcoholism at the age of 47, nearly penniless.

    Even if O. Henry was legitimately convicted of the crime, Henson says, his case is an excellent opportunity for a presidential pardon, an executive power held by governors and U.S. presidents that is exercised far less than it was half a century ago.

    O. Henry published hundreds of stories, before, during and after his prison sentence, gaining fame for his detailed depictions of Texas and New York.

    One of the more famous stories "The Cop and the Anthem" depicts a New York hobo named Soapy who tries repeatedly -- and fails -- to get arrested so he can be a guest of the jail. Finally, while passing by a church, Soapy is inspired to clean up his life, only to be arrested for loitering and sentenced to 3 months in jail.

    The most prestigious award for American short stories is the PEN/O. Henry. There are museums that celebrate his legacy, including the O. Henry Museum in Austin, Tex. — as well as towns, schools and other buildings named after him, including the University of Texas-owned building that housed the court where Porter was convicted.

    This year, the 150th birthday of O. Henry’s birth, the U.S. Postal Service is rolling out a postage stamp featuring O. Henry’s face.

    When President Obama pardoned the Thanksgiving turkey in 2011, who did he quote? O. Henry.

    The irony of that presidential ritual prompted Henson to write “Eat the turkey, Pardon O. Henry,” in his blog on Texas criminal justice system, "Grits for Breakfast." He then bought the domain names PardonOHenry dot-com, dot-org, and dot-net.

    The petition invokes the case of O. Henry as a way of highlighting the power of presidents to restore the political rights of ex-felons, expunge criminal records, commute sentences, clear the name of someone falsely or unfairly convicted, even those of the deceased.

    "Pardoning William S. Porter would signal that you understand and value the true purpose of executive clemency powers in the justice system — not just as a symbol but also a remedy for both actual innocence and unfortunate guilt,' (referring to an expression from the Federalist Papers) one that provides a healing salve even for century-old wounds," says a letter accompanying the petition to Obama.

    Obama has so far been among the stingiest American presidents in exercising the powers of clemency, as recently reported by msnbc.com, but Henson says that this is merely the continuation of a trend among modern presidents.

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    And posthumous pardons are extremely rare.

    A recent study by Stephen Greenspan, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado, tallied  posthumous pardons for 106 individuals throughout U.S. history, including 12 who were executed.

    At least one previous effort to win a posthumous pardon for O. Henry in 1985 ended without success.

    Another posthumous pardon request — arguably one with more symbolic heft — was rejected by the Obama administration in 2009.

    In that effort, spearheaded by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the subject was black heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, who was imprisoned nearly a century ago for violation of the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for "immoral purposes." The case was seen as punishment for Johnson's unapologetic relationships with white women, and a warning to other black men.

    That petition was rejected at the time by Obama’s justice officials who said that the administration did not grant posthumous pardons.

    But Henson sees growing interest in the presidential pardon power — or the lack thereof. It gives Henson a "test drive" opportunity for a new lobbying organization that he is setting up to press for criminal justice reform, including greater use of clemency.

    And, he’s billing a pardon of O. Henry as an easy move in the right direction.

    "It’s kind of a low-risk thing for Obama, just like it’s a low-risk thing for me," said Henson. "It’s a fun campaign to be the first thing out of the gate and, meanwhile, the pardon issue is a real issue."

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  • President Obama 'stingy' on pardons, says clemency expert

    By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

    Pool / Getty Images

    President Barack Obama greets guests during a Cinco de Mayo reception in the Rose Garden at the White House on Thursday.

    President Barack Obama is on track to be one of the least forgiving of presidents in U.S. history — as measured by his use of presidential pardon powers, according to a political science professor who blogs about clemency exercised by presidents and governors.


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    "It is fair to say two things," said P.S. Ruckman Jr., who teaches at Rock Valley College in Rockville, Ill. "One is (Obama) is definitely being exceptionally stingy. There’s no doubt about that. There’s also no doubt that this is in a way unexpected."

    As president, Obama has pardoned 23 people, including one commuted sentence, in his first 40 months in office. Barring a dramatic flurry of clemency from the White House in the coming eight months, Obama will be among the bottom two or three presidents for granting pardons in his first term, Ruckman said. That puts him in the running with Presidents George Washington, John Adams and James Garfield, who was assassinated after serving less than seven months.

    While campaigning for office, Obama was critical of the mandatory minimum penalties for drugs, especially those that specified much heavier sentences for those using crack cocaine than to the ones associated with more expensive powder cocaine.

    Mandatory minimums, which emerged in the 1980s, are partially responsible for swelling federal prison populations — to 218,261 on the week of May 3, compared to 24,363 in 1980, according to government documents. 

    In April 2010, the president signed into law the Fair Sentencing Act, which aimed to even out the mandatory minimums, which critics say are discriminatory to African Americans.

    But Obama did not — as some expected or hoped — go on to throw open the doors for large numbers of people incarcerated under the old mandatory sentences.

    Instead, most of the president’s acts of clemency — about half of them for drug-related offenses — have followed a pattern that has changed little since President Eisenhower.

    "The great majority of activity that goes on today is pardons — typically for old, minor offenses, and minor sentences. All it does is restore (the convicted person) their rights — so they can vote, carry a gun to go hunting,” Ruckman said. "Arguably they are most often given to the people who need them the least."

    Single commutation for drug sentence
    In fact, most people who are pardoned have not served any jail time. In Obama’s case, that was true of 12 of the 23 people he pardoned. All but one of the others had long since been released.

    See Ruckman's chart of pardons by president
    See Ruckman's chart of pardons by presidential term

    That one exception came on Nov. 21 — the president’s most recent use of his pardon powers — when he commuted the sentence of Eugenia Marie Jennings, 34, who had served about half of her 22-year prison term for a cocaine distribution offense. She got out in December, with eight years of supervised release.

    In a statement then from the nonprofit Families Against Mandatory Minimums, president Julie Stewart urged Obama "to continue exercising his clemency power and grant more commutations to the many deserving federal prisoners, like Eugenia, who have paid a hefty price for their mistakes and deserve a second chance."

    Obama could step it up in the last quarter. Historically, presidents do tend to grant more pardons in the fourth quarter of each year, especially the fourth quarter of the final year in the term, Ruckman said.

    Among recent presidents, George W. Bush had granted 37 pardons and commutations at about this point in his first term. By the end of the year, he had added another 32.

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    The odds of being granted clemency have become much tougher over the years, with applications climbing into the thousands per year, and presidents awarding fewer of them, as illustrated in this graphic from the Department of Justice.

    Second-term flurry?
    Obama may also be reserving acts of clemency for his second term, if he gets one. 

    Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both granted many more pardons in their second terms than they did in their first. Clinton famously — and controversially — pardoned 120 people in his final hours in office, including his half-brother Roger Clinton who had already completed a sentence for drug charges, and Marc Rich, a fugitive millionaire who was living in Switzerland and was wanted in the United States on tax evasion charges.

    But none of these recent presidents comes close to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the use of pardon power. He granted about 600 pardons and commutations by the end of his first term, and about 2,800 over the course of his historic 12 years in office (1933-1945) before the two-term limit went into effect. 

    But even among modern presidents, Obama's current pace keeps him firmly among the most conservative American presidents to use these powers of forgiveness.

    The average age of individuals pardoned by Obama is about 61, according to Ruckman and the average time between the original sentence and executive clemency granted by this president is 24.3 years. 

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  • Reward offered for released Mississippi murderer

    Police are offering a reward to help track down a convicted murderer who was pardoned by former Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood joins NewsNation to discuss the situation.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Mississippi's attorney general is asking for the public’s help in tracking down a convicted killer who vanished weeks ago after being pardoned by former Governor Haley Barbour.

    “I hate the fact that our former governor has unleashed this guy on the U.S.,” Attorney General Jim Hood told msnbc.com on Thursday. “I equate this to having a manhunt with one arm tied behind my back.”

    Authorities began looking for Ozment after the former inmate did not appear on Monday at a court hearing related to the pardons. Hood said he has offered an unspecified cash reward for information regarding Ozment's whereabouts.

    Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, sparked controversy by granting some 200 pardons, commutations and suspensions, generating debate about how much power a governor should have to pardon criminals convicted of serious crimes.

    Barbour has defended his clemency decisions and said he was confident they were all valid and blamed political opponents for much of the controversy.

    Ozment, 40, had been serving a life sentence for the 1993 robbery and shooting death of a store clerk in northwest Mississippi. He was one of five prisoners who had worked at the governor's mansion who saw their life prison terms lifted after receiving full pardons by Barbour.

    Hood is seeking to void most of the pardons granted by Barbour because not enough public notice was given in the communities where the crimes were committed. He received a court order to temporarily block the pardons.

    A judge allowed the five freed men, including Ozment, to remain out of prison while the matter was pending but required them to report daily to authorities. Ozment was the only one who has not done so, Hood said.

    Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 3.

    Hood asked anyone with information to call a confidential hotline at 1-800-281-4418.

    Msnbc.com's Sevil Omer and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Experts: Barbour pardons appear done in 'haste,' lack key information

    On his last days in office, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour confused many of his constituents when, without explanation, he granted pardons or early releases to more than 200 convicts. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Many of the more than 200 pardons by Haley Barbour during his last day as Mississippi's governor seemed to have been done in haste, with information missing from the clemency warrants -- which did not have the “look of full technical and procedural regularity,” experts say.

    Sentencing information for many of those pardoned, given clemency or granted early release in one of Barbour's final acts as governor was not included on many of the clemency warrants. And, one of the documents even had a semicolon instead of the date the person was discharged on, said P.S. Ruckman Jr., an associate professor of political science at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., who reviewed each of the executive orders.

    A typical presidential pardon, said Ruckman, would include standard information, such as offense committed and when the crime occurred.

    "So I went to those warrants expecting to find that kind of standard information and ... most of them had maybe, I would say, half of that information. The rest of them were missing some date, one way or another, or some piece of information, like not telling you what the sentence was,” he said.

    "When you don’t know how severe the punishment was, then you know, I guess you could be of such a mind to say, well, he was hiding that information so a standard person ... couldn’t kind of see how egregious some of these offenses were," he added.

    But Ruckman said he didn't think that was the case. "I think it was just a matter of they were in a rush and they were pumping these things out fast, and so they just didn’t bother to fine track down that information and, or, to write it in the clemency warrant."

    Former Mississippi governor Gov. Haley Barbour's pardons may have violated the state constitution. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

    Barbour: I followed Parole Board recommendations
    Following a public outcry over his action, Barbour issued a statement Wednesday evening saying 189 of those pardoned were already out of prison and 13 of the 26 inmates released had cost the state a lot of money because of medical expenses.

    Of the 214 cases, 198 received full, complete and unconditional pardons, while the rest was a mix of medical and conditional suspensions of sentences plus a conditional clemency.

    "My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the Parole Board in more than 90 percent of the cases," said the statement, reported by WTVA of Tupelo.

    Mississippi Circuit Judge Tomie Green has temporarily blocked the release of 21 inmates over questions about whether a law had been followed that requires the publication -- 30 days in advance -- of legal notice of plans to pardon, The Associated Press reported.

    “Bill Clinton’s clemency warrants had that kind of look toward the very end when he pardoned all those people," Ruckman said. "Those warrants are just a big mess, and it took a while for scholars to go through them … because they failed to kind of follow the normal procedures and so, actually for some people, there weren’t ... any warrants at all to be found.

    "It wasn’t because they were hiding anything … it was just being done at the last minute,” he added.

    What made Barbour's actions different were the number of "wholesale pardons of people guilty of violent crimes” and that he had issued less than a dozen pardons during his eight-year term -- and people were only expecting up to 10 more as he left office, said Matt Steffey, a professor of criminal and constitutional law at Mississippi College in Jackson.

    Tiffany Brewer, whose sister was killed by one of the those pardoned, shares her reaction to a Mississippi judge granting a temporary block of the release of 21 inmates, who were among the 200 either pardoned or given medical release by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour before he left office Tuesday.

    Some of the crimes prisoners received pardons for included murder, manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping and rape.

    “This appears to be concluded and issued in haste,” Steffey said of the clemency action, noting his first reaction to the pardons and warrants "was that it did not have the look of full technical and procedural regularity that you usually see. It just didn’t.”

    "I think that this left everybody on the outside scrambling and wondering what exactly was the process inside the governor's office,” he added. "Normally, we hear out of Gov. Barbour a call to law and order ... and it seems like less than a full measure of accountability is in place here.”

    A telephone call placed to the Parole Board on the pardons' process was not immediately returned.

    Why did Barbour wait?
    Ruckman noted that though last-minute pardons are fairly common, recommendations from a parole board don't show up overnight.

    "This is a power he just completely ignored all but, and then right before he leaves office ... 200, so that looks kind of egregious," he said. "There’s one guy in the pool whose offense was committed 51 years ago … is it really plausible to say that guy never deserved clemency until Barbour’s last day in office? I just don’t buy that."

    Some in Mississippi have speculated that Barbour, a popular governor, had decided the pardons were in the public interest, Steffey said.

    But others, including relatives of some victims, have expressed outrage.

    Slaying victim's sister to Barbour: 'I want answers'

    "Barbour essentially told the public, 'Well, people just misunderstand what’s going on,'" Steffey said. "Perhaps they misunderstand because the governor didn’t explain to the public what he was doing and why … how would the public know that many of these people are not in prison or have served their time or are deceased, because no statement accompanied these acts of clemency."

    In the end, Barbour's actions "cast a shadow" over what should be celebratory days for those receiving the pardons, Ruckman said.

    “This is the shame of it all. I have no doubt that many, if not most, of the people in there … were well deserving," he said. "The way this was done at the last second … kind of makes it look shady and suspicious, and there’s no need for that." 

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  • Pardon of violent criminals sets up Miss. legal battle

    On his last days in office, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour confused many of his constituents when, without explanation, he granted pardons or early releases to more than 200 convicts. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated 8:40 p.m. ET: In response to criticism about the pardons, former Gov. Haley Barbour released a statement from his office Wednesday evening that said 189 of the more than 200 people pardoned were already out of prison.

    "My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the Parole Board in more than 90 percent of the cases," the statement said.

    The statement, reported by WTVA of Tupelo, went on to say 13 of the 26 inmates released from custody cost the state a lot of money due to their medical expenses and can be returned to custody if they commit another crime.

    Updated 8 p.m. ET:  Mississippi Circuit Judge Tomie Green has temporarily blocked the release of 21 inmates who'd been given pardons or medical release by Republican Haley Barbour in one of his final acts as governor.

    Original story

    JACKSON, Miss. -- The state attorney general on Wednesday moved to block the release of some inmates pardoned by Gov. Haley Barbour in his last days in office, claiming the move may have violated the state Constitution.

    Attorney General Jim Hood said the law requires a legal notice of plans to pardon to be published 30 days prior to the action. He said his office couldn't find such a record.

    “Unfortunately our research has revealed that Gov. Barbour violated the Constitution,” Hood told The Clarion-Ledger. “We’re seeking to stop the release of any prisoners.”

    Hood told WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss. that he planned to file an injunction at Hinds County Circuit.

    Read original story from WLBT.com

    On his last day as Mississippi governor, Barbour, a Republican, surprised friends and foes by granting more than 200 pardons, clemency or early release for people convicted of crimes including murder, rape and armed robbery. His actions included 21 people convicted of murder, according to NBC News. 

    Also included were four inmates who had worked at the governor's mansion doing odd jobs under a program that rewarded good behavior.

    Among the pardoned was the brother of retired National Football League star quarterback Brett Favre. Earnest Scott Favre was convicted in 1996 of driving while intoxicated resulting in the death of his best friend. He was sentenced to a year of house arrest and two years probation.

    'Seems very excessive'
    While pardons by outgoing governors and presidents are not unusual, the number and the types of crimes stand out, said Marty Wiseman, a Mississippi State University political scientist and director of the school's John C. Stennis Institute of Government.

    "That seems very excessive to me," Wiseman told The Associated Press. "I don't recall this many crimes that serious being pardoned by anybody."

    Barbour has provided no public statement on the decisions. Former Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, also a Republican, has officially taken office as governor.

    Until this month, Barbour had issued only five pardons and three indefinite suspended sentences in eight years as governor.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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