A hearing will be held on Monday to place pardons for convicted felons in Mississippi on hold. In early January, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour pardoned four convicted murderers, Anthony McCray, Charles Hooker, David Gatlin, and Joseph Ozment, who had been working with him in the governor’s mansion, for good behavior. According to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, Barbour approved roughly 200 full pardons, which included 14 convicted murderers. Families of the victims and media outlets were outraged because they were not informed 30 days prior to the release of the inmates.
At the hearing, the judge has the authority to void the pardons and send inmates back to prison, take the ruling under advisement, or set them free. Phil Bryant, the new Mississippi governor, has terminated the trusty program at the governor’s mansion. Spokesman to the governor Mick Bullock said, “As governor, Bryant first discontinued the practice of inmates spending the night on the mansion grounds and then the tradition of pardoning those individuals.”
