Politics & Government
Kentucky lawmakers in both parties call for investigation of Matt Bevin’s pardons
Frankfort
Senate President Robert Stivers has requested that the U.S. Attorney’s office open an investigation into controversial pardons issued by former Gov. Matt Bevin in his final days in office, even as a Republican lawmaker proposed placing limits on when a governor can issue a pardon.
“From what we know of former Governor Bevin’s extreme pardons and commutations, the Senate Republican Majority condemns his actions as a travesty and perversion of justice,” said Stivers, R-Manchester. “Our citizens, and especially the crime victims and their families, deserve better.”
His statement came hours after two Democratic lawmakers called on Attorney General-elect Daniel Cameron to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate.
Bevin pushed back against the lawmakers in a twenty-tweet thread on Twitter Friday evening, saying he had personally read every application in the file for people who received a pardon and that he personally wrote every pardon and commutation.
“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,” Bevin wrote. “Not one person receiving a pardon would I not welcome as a co-worker, neighbor, or to sit beside me or any member of my family in a church pew or at a public event.”
Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, and Rep. Chris Harris, D-Pikeville, were specifically focused on a pardon Bevin gave to Patrick Brian Baker, who was convicted of reckless homicide, robbery, impersonating a peace officer and tampering with evidence in Knox County in 2017.
Baker’s brother and sister-in-law held a fundraiser in 2018 that raised $21,500 for Bevin to help him clear-out debt in his 2015 campaign and personally donated $4,000 to his campaign, according to campaign finance records. Two of Baker’s co-defendants in the case are still in prison. A fourth, Angela Mills, was only sentenced to two years probation.
“While the governor’s constitutional power to pardon is broad and virtually unfettered, the power was granted to serve justice and hold public officeholders accountable, not to grant political favors to powerful friends and campaign donors,” McGarvey and Harris wrote. “The appearance of corruption in this instance is overwhelming and cannot be overlooked or brushed aside.”
McGarvey and Harris said that if an investigation found that Bevin granted the pardon because his campaign received money from Baker’s family, it could result in criminal action against Bevin.
Bevin pushed back on the allegations that he had pardoned someone because their family gave money to his campaign.
“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,” Bevin wrote. “To repeat such uncorroborated rumors and lies is reprehensible.”
In a written statement, Cameron did not commit to appointing a special prosecutor, instead saying he looked forward to taking office on December 17.
“Kentucky’s prosecutors do an outstanding job of bringing to justice those individuals who have committed a crime, and I stand by these prosecutors,” Cameron wrote. “I also respect the decisions of juries who convict wrongdoers. That is why I believe the pardon power should be used sparingly and only after great deliberation with due regard to public safety.”
Some of Bevin’s top aides have been hired by Cameron, including Bevin’s two top attorneys — Steve Pitt and Chad Meredith. It’s unclear what role Pitt and Meredith played in vetting requests for pardons.
Prosecutors throughout the state have expressed outrage over a number of last minute pardons Bevin issued, saying they were never consulted about the decisions. Those pardons included a man convicted of beheading a woman, a man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, and a man convicted of wanton murder after he killed a man while driving drunk at 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood.
Bevin issued 661 commutations and pardons in 2019, mostly during his last weeks in office, according to the Office of the Secretary of States. Those include 227 pardons, 16 commutations and pardons and 418 commutations. A commutation shortens a sentence, either by a set number of years or to time served, but the crime is not wiped from the person’s record. A pardon wipes the crime from the record and restores the person’s civil rights.
In Baker’s case, he was convicted of shooting and killing a man named Donald Mills after he broke into Mills home to rob him with Christopher Wagner, according to Jackie Steele, the commonwealth’s attorney for Knox and Laurel counties. Mills wife and three children were in the house at the time of the murder.
Wagner confessed and entered a guilty plea and received a sentence of 10 years in prison but Baker did not and wanted a trial. Baker was sentenced to twenty years in prison and only served two. Wagner is still in prison as is a third man, Elijah Messer, who was sentenced to 50 years.
Harris and McGarvey’s letter could be seen as a way to head off any potential legislation to limit Gov. Andy Beshear’s ability to pardon people in the future. Beshear, a Democrat, took office Tuesday.
Already, Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, has said he will propose legislation in 2020 that would prevent the governor from issuing any pardons in the month before an election or the period of time after an election before the new governor is sworn in.
McDaniel represents Kenton County, where Bevin pardoned Micah Schoettle, 41, who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old in Kenton County in 2018. In his pardon, Bevin wrote Schoettle’s conviction was not supported by any physical evidence.
“If a governor wants to use the power to commute and pardon, he should be willing to stand in front of the voters and be held accountable for those actions,” McDaniel said.
Damon Preston, Kentucky’s public advocate, said he does not think the governor’s ability to pardon should be restricted. He pointed to several seemingly worthy pardons Bevin issued, such as his pardon of Brian Keith Damrell, who was serving 20 years because prosecutors used two minor drug crimes from Damrell’s past to enhance a charge of manufacturing methamphetamine despite questionable evidence, and some of the community activists that were pardoned by Bevin, such as Amanda Hall, the smart on crime organizer for the ACLU.
“The chief executive needs to have the power to set something straight,” Preston said. “And if Governor Bevin believed a person was in prison for something he didn’t do and he had the power to do it right, shouldn’t he do that?”
Preston said his office gave Bevin about 50 cases to look at for pardons, of which Bevin pardoned about 20 to 25.
House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said the governor’s ability to pardon should be separated from politics.
“As we learn more about how the former governor chose to use his authority to issue pardons, we are reminded that with the power to pardon must come the judgment and discretion to use that power judiciously,” Osborne said. “Like all authority associated with elected office, it must be free from political and personal interest and balanced with the impact it has on the victims and our communities and justice system.”
Harris and McGarvey said they would want to see any potential legislation before they opposed it, but that philosophically they don’t approve of restricting the governor’s ability to issue pardons.
“I believe that the governor should have the ability to pardon people. It is a check and balance on our system that, when used responsibly, can be used for good,” McGarvey said. “So I don’t think we should revoke the governor’s pardon powers because Matt Bevin obviously abused them.”
In a news conference about their letter, McGarvey said it seemed apparent that several of the pardons Bevin issued were to people whose families had money, like Baker.
“The balance of your bank account cannot determine your access to justice in Kentucky,” McGarvey said.