By CARL SMITH
Included among the many full, conditional and medical pardons former Gov. Haley Barbour issued Tuesday were 15 convictions stemming from Oktibbeha County.
The fate of many pardons throughout the state is still undecided as the Mississippi Attorney General’s office reviews whether individuals properly issued public notifications in time to receive a Jan. 10 pardon by the outgoing governor.
Mississippi Circuit Judge Tomie Green issued an injunction late Wednesday temporarily blocking the release of a number of convicted felons who received pardons, medical releases or sentence suspensions. The injunction was given at the request of Miss. Attorney General Jim Hood.
Section 124 of the Mississippi Constitution states any person convicted of a felony seeking a pardon must publish a notice of his or her intentions. Before the governor can grant the pardon, the notice must appear for 30 days in a newspaper in or near the county where the person was convicted.
A list of Oktibbeha County convictions pardoned by Gov. Barbour includes: Mark Hubbard Allen, William Antoin Bardwell, Thomas Holt Beasley, Mark Steven Ford, Jamie Donald Franks, Matthew Nelson Godfrey, Jeffrey Lee Haire, Zachary Cane Polk, Jason Todd Shivers, Robert Edward Stanfield, Thomas Stewart (no middle name provided), Kevin Bradley Tabereaux, John Mitchell (no middle name provided), Lindsay Cathryn Welch and Brenda Louise Travis.
Out of that list, only eight placed pardon-seeking notices in Starkville Daily News’ legal section as of Thursday, Jan. 12. Those individuals and the number of days their legal notices were published are as follows: Beasley, 30 days, scheduled Dec. 10 to Jan. 8; Ford, one day, scheduled for Jan. 6, 13, 20 and 27; Franks, 21 days, scheduled Dec. 20 to Jan. 9; Polk, 30 days, Oct. 12 to Nov. 11; Shivers, 30 days, scheduled Nov. 3 to Dec. 2; Stewart, two days, scheduled Dec. 30, Jan. 6, 13 and 20; Mitchell, 30 days, scheduled Dec. 14 to Jan. 12; and Welch, three days, scheduled Jan. 10 to Feb. 8.
Jan Schaefer, a spokesperson for the Miss. Attorney General’s Office, said officials are reviewing the list of pardons to see if individuals met the requirements for published notifications before receiving clemency. Upon the review’s completion, she said, an amended motion will be made in the state’s court system.
“Depending on our findings, a list of people shown to not have met the criteria will have to appear in court where a judge will review the evidence,” Schaefer said. “We’re hoping by next week we’ll be able to file the amended motion.”
A review of Barbour’s full pardon list and attached executive orders hosted on the Secretary of State’s website — http://www.sos.ms.gov/links/ed_pubs/pubs/pardons_barbour_1.10.2012.pdf — yielded the following results:
Allen was sentenced in Oktibbeha County in 1996 to serve 10 years for vehicular homicide. Former Gov. Kirk Fordice released Allen in 1999 with Executive Order No. 801, with parole compacted to Tennessee and an order for Allen to enroll in a four-year college program and reside with his parents. In 2007, Allen was discharged from parole supervision. Allen was granted a full pardon by Gov. Barbour.
Bardwell was sentenced on Oct. 19, 2004, in Oktibbeha County for a charge of selling marijuana (less than an ounce). Bardwell was discharged three years later. Gov. Barbour issued Bardwell a full pardon.
Beasley was sentenced in Oktibbeha County in 2007 for the sale of marijuana (more than 30 grams but less than 1 kilogram) and the sale of cocaine. He was ordered to serve seven years in MDOC custody for the marijuana conviction and was ordered to a 20-year MDOC sentence, a $5,000 fine, to cover the court costs associated with all counts and five years in post-release supervision to follow the prison term for the sale of cocaine. Those sentences were to run concurrently. Beasley was placed on parole supervision in October 2011 and granted a full pardon by Gov. Barbour.
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