Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports:
In twenty tweets Friday evening, the Republican ex-governor defended his decision to issue pardons that ranged from a man convicted of beheading a woman and stuffing her in a barrel, to a man convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his business partner, to a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old.
On Friday, Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, with the backing of Senate Republicans, called on the U.S. Attorney’s Office to open an investigation into Bevin’s pardons. Stivers’ statement followed an earlier request from two Democratic lawmakers for AG-elect Daniel Cameron to appoint a special counsel to investigate the pardons.
1/20:
America is a nation that was established with an understanding and support for redemption and second chances…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
2/20:
The criminal justice system is intended to find the proper balance between justice for the victims and rehabilitation for the offenders…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
3/20:
When it is not possible to guarantee more of either being accomplished by further incarceration, it is reasonable for a person to be considered for either a commutation or a pardon…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
4/20:
This is never an exact science…The entire criminal justice system hinges upon the judgement of third parties…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
5/20:
Over the past four years, I have reviewed hundreds of applications for pardons and commutations and have read thousands of letters and supporting documents…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
6/20:
I have read hundreds of pages of court transcripts and witness testimony as well as documents related to appeals that were filed in a few cases…I have spoken with many…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
7/20:
Not every application that was sent in was able to be fully reviewed… Those that were not reviewed, remain in the files for consideration by future governors…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
8/20:
Many that were fully reviewed were not granted…Many other applications were fully reviewed and resulted in either a conditional or full pardon, or a commutation of some part of the existing sentence…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
9/20:
Contrary to that which has been falsely stated by many, not a single person was released who had not already been scheduled for a specific release date or who was sentenced with the eligibility to be considered for early release…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
10/20:
The vast majority of those who were pardoned, have actually been out of prison for years and had fully paid their debt to society…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
11/20:
The myriad statements and suggestions that financial or political considerations played a part in the decision making process, are both highly offensive and entirely false…
To repeat such uncorroborated rumors and lies is reprehensible…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
12/20:
At the end of the day, the responsibility for making pardon and commutation decisions falls on the Governor alone…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
13/20:
For anyone to question the motives and involvement of anyone else in the administration is highly inappropriate and irresponsible…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019
16/20:
Am I perfect? No…Never have been…But I did my very best, over many hours, days, weeks and years, to reach fair and just decisions…
— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) December 13, 2019