Ethics

Barbour's Misplaced Compassion

By Ed Brayton

Balko has an article in Slate about Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's strange track record when it comes to giving out pardons. He's completely ignored multiple cases where there was clear injustice and instead handed out pardons to a number of convicted felons who did work on the governor's mansion - 80% of whom were convicted of killing their wives or girlfriends.

First, he documents the rampant problems in the criminal justice system in Mississippi, where his own work on the Cory Maye case and on on former forensic expert Steven Hayne have helped expose the systematic conviction of the innocent in that state, and how Barbour did nothing in response:

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).