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Bush Issues 16 Pardons

President Bush has issued fewer pardons than any president since World War II. But, Thursday, he awarded 16 of them.

Five of the pardons were in cases that involved drug crimes. Other cases involved bank fraud, mail fraud, the acceptance of a kickback, a false statement on a loan application and conspiracy to defraud the government over taxes.

Seven of the 16 received no prison or jail time when they were sentenced, instead getting probation or a reduction in their military pension. The longest sentence was nine years, for aiding cocaine distribution, followed by a six-year term for conspiracy to possess marijuana.

More stats:

President Bill Clinton issued 457 in eight years in office. Mr. Bush’s father issued 77 in four years. President Ronald Reagan issued 406 in eight years, and President Jimmy Carter issued 563 in four years.

The most pardon and commutations, 2,031, were issued by President Harry S. Truman, who served 82 days short of eight years.

Here's who got the pardons:

  • Charles James Allen of Winchester, Va., conspiracy to defraud the United States. A former federal employee, Allen was convicted in 1979 for approving payments to James Hilles Associates Inc., a Virginia firm, for office supplies that were never delivered. In return, Allen received car parts, a radio, a freezer and other gifts from the firm. He was sentenced to a year of custody to be served by 30 days in jail, 90 days in a work-release program, and the remaining period on parole.
  • William Sidney Baldwin Sr. of Green Pond, S.C., conspiracy to possess marijuana. Sentenced Oct. 27, 1981, to six years’ imprisonment.
  • Timothy Evans Barfield of Cary, N.C., aiding and abetting false statements on a Small Business Administration loan application. Sentenced July 17, 1989, to three years’ probation, including 96 hours of community service.
  • Clyde Philip Boudreaux of Thibodaux, La., borrowing money from enlisted men, accepting a noninterest-bearing loan from a government contractor and signing and swearing to a false affidavit. Sentenced Dec. 2, 1975, to a Navy reprimand, loss of numbers on the promotion list and a $1,000 fine.
  • Marie Georgette Ginette Briere of Gatineau, Quebec, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Sentenced July 9, 1982, to three years’ imprisonment and three years’ special parole.
  • Dale C. Critz, Jr., Savannah, Ga., making a false statement. Sentenced July 13, 1989, to three years’ probation.
  • Mark Alan Eberwine of San Antonio, conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding, impairing, and obstructing the assessment of taxes by the Internal Revenue Service and making false declarations to the grand jury. Sentenced Feb. 1, 1985, as amended April 23, 1986, to two years’ imprisonment.
  • Colin Earl Francis of Naugatuck, Conn., accepting a kickback of about $9,000 for helping a vendor for United Technologies Corp.’s Sikorsky Aircraft division, where Francis worked at the time, land a contract. Sentenced May 7, 1993, to two years’ probation and a $2,500 fine.
  • Patricia Ann Hultman, of Kane, Pa., conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and other controlled substances. Sentenced Oct. 28, 1985, to one year of imprisonment.
  • Eric William Olson of Ojai, Calif., conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, possession with intent to distribute, possession, and use of hashish. Sentenced Feb. 21, 1984, by an Army general court-martial to confinement at hard labor for one year, reduction in pay grade, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a bad conduct discharge.
  • Thomas R. Reece of Cumming, Ga., violating the Internal Revenue Code pertaining to alcohol. Sentenced May 2, 1969, to one year of imprisonment.
  • Larry Gene Ross of Indio, Calif., making false statements in a bank loan application. Sentenced Aug. 15, 1989, to four years’ probation and $7,654.20 in restitution.
  • Jearld David Swanner of Lexington, Okla., making false statements in a bank loan application. Sentenced Dec. 6, 1991, to three years’ probation.
  • James Walter Taylor of McCrory, Ark., bank fraud. Sentenced Oct. 18, 1991, to 90 days in jail, followed by two years and nine months’ probation.
  • Janet Theone Upton of Salinas, Calif., mail fraud. Sentenced May 23, 1975, to two years’ unsupervised probation.
  • Bush also granted a commutation of sentence to Phillip Anthony Emmert of Washington, Iowa, whose case involved conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.He was sentenced Dec. 23, 1992, to 262 months’ imprisonment (reduced on Feb. 21, 1996) and five years’ supervised release. Bush directed that Emmert’s sentence expire on this coming Jan. 20, but left the supervised release intact.

A summary:

Of the 16 pardons, six were for people convicted of minor drug violations, six were for people convicted of making false statements on bank or money loans. The other pardons involved a conspiracy case to defraud the government, a false statement case, a kickback conviction and an alcohol tax violation charge dating to 1969.

Only one of the pardonees had contributed money to the Bush/Cheney campaign:

According to a Federal Election Commission record search conducted by ABC News, one of the 16 people in the presidential pardons announced today by the Justice Department has donated money to the Republican National Committee and the Bush campaign.

Dale C. Critz Jr. was convicted in 1989 of making false statements in a case. He never served time but was given three years probation for his offense.

He and members of his immediate family have made donations to Republican candidates and the RNC. On April 7, 2003, Critz donated $500 to the RNC and on Sept. 30, 2003, his father, Dale C. Critz, donated $2,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Once again..... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by kdog on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:44:10 AM EST
    "Honest" Harry Truman puts the leaders of today to shame....

    If I were pres. for a day, I'd bet I could find at least 20,000 people worthy of a pardon without to much effort....if not 200,000.

    But Bush's "efforts" are reserved for his buddies raiding the treasury.  

    Actually, kdog, with approximately... (none / 0) (#7)
    by Bill Arnett on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 01:18:38 PM EST
    ...60% of the people comprising our hugh prison system, over 2.2 million, I would bet you could easily find reason to pardon well over 500,000 people.

    Think how most states financial system would benefit from the relief of prison costs by pardoning half of their prisoners in one fell swoop.

    Parent

    I do Bill..... (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 01:56:27 PM EST
    but when I think of such things my head hurts and my heart sinks.

    In our society, once you say "criminal" all compassion goes out the window.  All common sense too, for that matter.

    The only way to reduce our obscene prison population is make people aware of the bottom-line...money talks.

    I've given up on my fellow Americans showing any compassion for the incarcerated.  

    Parent

    Yeah, as an ex-bail agent, I know that well. (none / 0) (#9)
    by Bill Arnett on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 02:30:48 PM EST
    Do you really want to go here? (1.00 / 1) (#1)
    by beefeater on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 12:14:32 AM EST
    I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin', bring up pardons? Remember the last few presidents at all?

    There was nothing wrong with Clinton's Pardons (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 12:19:47 AM EST
    I didn't criticize Bush in this post, I just reported. But there was nothing wrong in Clinton's pardons.  I just wish they both granted more of them.

    Mark Rich (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by squeaky on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:40:50 AM EST
    Paperhead you are true to form here. I know that thinking is hard for you, but we don't expect it from you. Mark Rich may have given $$$ to Clinton but that wasn't why he pardoned him. He did service to America. Nothing that you could put your finger on. Sorta like Iran/Contra, 'nothing' happened.

    Mark Rich is very close to your pals at the WH. very, very close.  

    Parent

    Compassion (none / 0) (#3)
    by koshembos on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 01:25:25 AM EST
    Only a compassionate (conservative) can pardon a huge number of criminals. America is now the penal colony.

    You never know where that paper's been.. (none / 0) (#10)
    by jondee on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 11:02:21 AM EST
    Maybe we should consider it fortunate Bush hasnt overturned a few "yankee sentences" and put his very
    warmed-up lethal injection machine to use. Apparently Iraq has been enough to assuage the bloodlust of his con-stichincy.

    Paucity of Pardons (none / 0) (#11)
    by Jurycom on Sat Feb 10, 2007 at 07:30:57 PM EST
    I ran across your article through Google while researching pardon and commutation issues. It is surprising that the "compassionate conservatives" have so few pardons. In part because there is "no hope" for a pardon, we are working on completing The Rehabilitated Project (www.rehabilitated.org) to gather nationwide support for radical changes to how the formerly condemned are treated. The compassion many lawyers feel for the condemned was not understood by me before my issues with the United States. Oftentimes it takes getting hit on the head to become aware of the hammer's dangers. So it was with me. The utter lack of rehabilitative procedures for United States citizens is appalling. We intend to help change this and make a person's civility and good works after a conviction count for something by seeking to provide a new way, a new life, a new beginning. Come to www.rehabilitated.org and take a look - we're a work in progress - but you'll get the picture quickly.