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Lots of (constitutional?) issues surrounding high-profile clemency grant in Mississippi

By Douglas A. Berman

A helpful reader altered me to this effective Washington Post article noting all the intriguing stories surrounding a decision by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to grant clemency to two imprisoned sisters.  Here are the basics: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) announced late Wednesday that he will grant an early release from prison to two sisters serving unusually long sentences for armed robbery. Gladys and Jamie Scott have each served 16 years of a life sentence.  Their case had become a cause celebre among civil rights groups, including the NAACP, which mounted a national campaign to free the women. The Scotts were convicted in 1994 for an armed robbery in which they led two men into an ambush. The men were robbed of $11, and their supporters contend that the Scotts, who are black, received extraordinary punishment for the crime...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on December 30, 2010 (boomark / email).