20
January 2001: Clinton pardons 151 persons
Two hours before the presidency
passes to G. W. Bush, US President Clinton pardons 151 persons. They include
a leftist radical convicted of conspiring to bomb the U.S. Capitol; a
woman who illegally gave an eagle feather to now-Senator Hillary Rodham
Clinton (D-N.Y.); some drug offenders serving long prison terms under
mandatory sentencing lawso and:
Roger Clinton, Bill Clinton's under-achieving half brother, who
was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 1985 to
conspiring to distribute cocaine. He cooperated with authorities and
testified against other drug defendants. He has since focused on an
entertainment career.
Susan McDougal,
his Whitewater business partner, who went to prison rather than give
testimony about the president sought by Whitewater prosecutors. McDougal
was convicted of fraud along with her ex-husband, the late failed savings
and loan owner James McDougal, in a 1996 trial at which Clinton testified
by videotape. She only served 3 1/2 months of a two-year prison term
for her four felony convictions before a federal judge released her
because of a back problem. But her freedom was short-lived. She defied
a judge's order to answer Whitewater prosecutor's questions before a
federal grand jury and was returned to jail for 18 months for civil
contempt. A frequent defender of Clinton, she often appeared on television
in an orange prison jumpsuit to accuse Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr
of being on a political vendetta to “get Clinton” — a
charge Starr denied.
Patty Hearst,
who, in the 1970s, as a 19-year-old heiress, was kidnapped by the radical
“Symbionese Liberation Army” gang, which she then joined and
participated with them in a bank holdup in San Francisco, for which
she was sent to prison. Her prison term was cut short by President Carter,
but her convictions remained on record until Clinton's pardon. She is
married to her former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw.
John Deutch,
ex-CIA director , who had been discussing a possible plea deal with
Justice Department prosecutors to settle allegations he mishandled classified
government information. He had written and stored highly classified
intelligence reports on home computers linked to the Internet. Deutch
apologized.
Henry Cisneros,
Clinton's first housing secretary. He resigned in 1996 amid an investigation
into allegations that he lied to the FBI about payments he made to a
former mistress, Linda Medlar Jones. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to a
misdemeanor charge. Since leaving office, Cisneros served as head of
Univision, the nation's largest Spanish-language television network.
In 2000, he returned to his native San Antonio to launch an organization
to provide housing for low-income families.
Linda Jones,
political fundraiser, Cisneros's former mistress.
Fife Symington,
former Arizona Republican governor, convicted in 1997 on six of counts
of bank and wire fraud, later overturned on appeal, but prosecutors
were trying to reinstate the criminal charges.
Samuel Loring
Morison, a former Naval intelligence employee who was convicted
of espionage and theft for leaking classified photographs of Soviet
facilities to a military magazine. Morision, a descendant of a prominent
Boston family and grandson of the U.S. Navy's foremost historian, Samuel
Eliot Morison, was convicted in October 1985 and was sentenced to two
years in prison.
Marc Rich,
67, a billionaire commodities trader, who, with Pincus Green, was indicted
in 1983 on charges of tax fraud and illegal oil trading with Iran. They
fled the US for Switzerland (which does not extradite for tax evasion),
and were never brought to trial. Rich became a citizen of Spain. This
pardon is the most controversial, as Rich's former wife, Denise Rich,
alledgedly was “paid for it” with $867'000 in contributions
to Democratic causes, including Hillary Clinton's successful senatorial
campaign in New York state. Defenders of Rich said the case against
him was unfairly hyped by then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani (Republican
candidate for the same senate seat as Hillary Clinton, until he withdrew
for health reasons), now mayor of New York. They denied government charges
that Rich evaded about $48 million in income taxes, and they pointed
out that his company had agreed to pay the government $150 million in
fines before Rich fled to Switzerland.
Pincus Green,
a former business associate of Rich..
Stephen A.
Smith, a former aide to Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas
who pleaded guilty to misusing a loan (Whitewater affair)
Robert W. Palmer,
a Little Rock appraiser who pleaded guilty to conspiracy (Whitewater
affair).
Clinton, also commutes the sentences of 36 people. They include the
death sentence of
David Ronald
Chandler, commuted to life in prison without parole. Marijuana trafficker
Chandler, is on death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, for arranging the
murder of a police informer. The main witness in the case against Chandler
recanted his testimony and acknowledged committing the murder himself.
and the prison sentences of:
Peter MacDonald,
72, former Navajo leader, who has been in a Fort Worth, Texas, medical
prison since 1992. He was one of the famed Navajos used by the U.S.
military during World War II to stump the Japanese by using their native
tongue as a communications code. He later rose to chairman of America's
largest Native American tribe — a passionate orator who sharply
criticized the federal government for threatening tribal sovereignty.
But MacDonald was removed from office for taking bribes and kickbacks.
Two of his supporters were killed on 20 July 1989 by tribal police,
during a march to protest what they considered a coup against their
leader. MacDonald has been serving a 14-year sentence for inciting the
deadly riot.
Melvin J. Reynolds,
former Democrat Chicago area US Representative. He resigned from Congress
after being convicted in 1995 of having sex with an underage campaign
worker. He later was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison after being
convicted of federal charges of bank fraud, campaign violations and
conspiracy.
Linda Sue Evans
and Susan Rosenberg, ensnared in a conspiracy to stage a bombing
at the U.S. Capitol in 1983 to protest the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
Derrick Curry,
a Prince George's County man, who was arrested in a drug sting in 1990.
Although he had never been arrested before, had served mainly as a delivery
boy for a drug dealer and was found with only a pound of drugs, he was
convicted of conspiracy and distribution of crack cocaine. He was sentenced
to nearly 20 years in prison, with no possibility of parole. His case
had attracted support from critics of the federal government's arbitrary
crack cocaine sentencing mandates.
Antoinette
M. Frink, 49, former owner of a car dealership in Delaware, Ohio,
who is freed from a federal women's prison in Lexington, Kentucky, after
serving 11 years of a 15 1/2-year sentence for selling cars to a drug
trafficker who used them to run cocaine. Co-defendants had received
sentences ranging from six months to six years after cooperating with
authorities.
Susan Rosenberg,
a member of the radical group, the Weather Underground, who was charged
with conspiracy in the 1981 robbery of a Brink's armored truck in New
York, during which two police officers and a security guard were killed.
Linda Sue Evans,
who was serving a 40-year sentence for her role in a 1983 bombing attempt
on the U.S. Capitol.
Benjamin Berger,
Kalmen Stern, Jacob Elbaum, and David Goldstein, leaders of the
Hasidic community of New Square in Rockland County NY (which voted 1400
to 12 for Hillary Clinton), accused of defrauding the government out
of millions in education, housing and business loans and grants (with
a bogus school). They faced long prison terms.
Ronald Henderson
Blackley, who had been chief of staff of former agriculture secretary
Mike Espy. Espy was acquitted of accepting illegal gifts, but independent
counsel Donald Smaltz's obtained conviction of a number of his associates.
Blackey's 27-month sentence was for making false statements regarding
$22'000 which he accepted from agribusiness friends. Also pardoned are
four others convicted of lesser offenses linked to the Espy probe.
The list also is notable for those it does not include:
Webster Hubbell,
a former law partner of Hillary Rodham Clinton convicted in the Whitewater
investigation, who had not sought a pardon. Hubbell, the former number
three Justice Department official, first came to Starr's attention during
the independent counsel's investigation of the Whitewater land deal
and other business matters in Arkansas. He spent 18 months in prison
after pleading guilty in 1994 to embezzling from clients and partners
of the Rose Law Firm, the Little Rock law office where he worked with
Hillary Clinton. As part of that plea, he agreed to cooperate with Starr.
But Starr and his aides were not satisfied that Hubbell told them everything
he knew about Whitewater and other issues, and Hubbell's trouble continued.
Jim Guy Tucker,
former Arkansas governor, involved in Whitewater. Tucker, who underwent
a liver transplant in 1997, pleaded guilty to fraud in a second case
involving a cable television company. Tucker was accused of creating
a sham bankruptcy to avoid paying taxes on profits when the company
was sold.
Jonathan Pollard,
a former Navy analyst imprisoned for spying for Israel;
Michael Milken,
one-time Wall Street financier
Harrison Williams,
former senator and Abscam figure
Leonard Peltier,
Amerindian activist convicted of killing two FBI agents on an Indian
reservation in 1975.
The Constitution gives presidents unlimited power to pardon – or officially
forgive – criminal wrongdoing. Pardons do not expunge convictions but
can be used to restore any civil rights that were lost as a result.
The overwhelming majority of pardon requests are channeled through the
Justice Department, which has its own Office of the Pardon Attorney
that aids presidents in making decisions. The pardon attorney's office
reviews requests, conducts investigations and makes recommendations.
But the law permits presidents to act on their own as well, without
Justice Department input.
COMPLETE LIST: |
| PARDONS
ALLEN,
Verla Jean
ALTIERE, Nicholas M.
ALTSCHUL, Bernice Ruth
ANDERSON, Joe, Jr.
ANDERSON, William Sterling
AZIZKHANI, Mansour T.
BABIN, Cleveland Victor,
Jr.
BAGLEY, Chris Harmon
BANE, Scott Lynn
BARBER, Thomas Cleveland
BARGON, Peggy Ann
BLAMPIED, David Roscoe
BORDERS, William Arthur,
Jr.
BOREL, Arthur David
BOREL, Douglas Charles
BRABHAM, George Thomas
BRASWELL, Almon Glenn
BROWDER, Leonard
BROWN, David Steven
BURLESON, Delores Caroylene,
aka Delores Cox Burleson
BUSTAMANTE, John H.
CAMPBELL, Mary Louise
CANDELARIA, Eloida
CAPILI, Dennis Sobrevinas
CHAMBERS, Donna Denise
CHAPMAN, Douglas Eugene
CHAPMAN, Ronald Keith
CHAVEZ, Francisco Larios
CISNEROS, Henry G.
CLINTON, Roger
COHN, Stuart Harris
COOPER, David Marc
COX, Ernest Harley, Jr.
CROSS, John F., Jr.
CUNNINGHAM, Rickey Lee
DE LABIO, Richard Anthony
DEUTCH, John
DOUGLAS, Richard
DOWNE, Edward Reynolds
DUDLEY, Marvin Dean
DUNCAN, Larry Lee
FAIN, Robert Clinton
FERNANDEZ, Marcos Arcenio
|
FERROUILLET,
Alvarez
FUGAZY, William Denis
GEORGE, Lloyd Reid
GOLDSTEIN, Louis
GORDON, Rubye Lee
GREEN, Pincus
HAMNER, Robert Ivey
HANDLEY, Samuel Price
HANDLEY, Woodie Randolph
HARMON, Jay Houston
HEMMINGSON, John
HERDLINGER, David S.
HUCKLEBERRY, Debi Rae
JAMES, Donald Ray
JOBE, Stanley Pruet
JOHNSON, Ruben H.
JONES, Linda
LAKE, James Howard
LEWIS, June Louise
LEWIS, Salim Bonnor
LODWICK, John Leighton
LOPEZ, Hildebrando
LUACES, Jose Julio
MANESS, James Timothy
MANNING, James Lowell
MARTIN, John Robert
MARTINEZ, Frank Ayala
MARTINEZ, Silvia Leticia
Beltran
McCORMICK, John Francis
McDOUGAL, Susan H.
MECHANIC, Howard Lawrence
MITCHELL, Brook K., Sr.
MORISON, Samuel Loring
MORGAN, Charles Wilfred,
III
NAZZARO, Richard Anthony
NOSENKO, Charlene Ann
OBERMEIER, Vernon Raymond
OGALDE, Miguelina
OWEN, David C.
PALMER, Robert W.
PERHOSKY, Kelli Anne
PEZZOPANE, Richard H.
PHILLIPS, Orville Rex
POLING, Vinson Stewart,
Jr.
PROUSE, Norman Lyle
|
PRUITT,
Willie H. H., Jr.
PURSLEY, Danny Martin,
Sr.
RAVENEL, Charles D.
RAY, William Clyde
REGALADO, Alfredo Luna
RICAFORT, Ildefonso Reynes
RICH, Marc
RIDDLE, Howard Winfield
RILEY, Richard Wilson,
Jr.
ROBBINS, Samuel Lee
RODRIGUEZ, Joel Gonzales
ROGERS, Michael James
ROSS, Anna Louise
RUST, Gerald Glen
RUST, Jerri Ann
RUTHERFORD, Bettye June
SANDS, Gregory Lee
SCHWIMMER, Adolph
SERETTI, Albert A., Jr.
SHAW, Patricia Campbell
Hearst
SMITH, Dennis Joseph
SMITH, Gerald Owen
SMITH, Stephen A.
SPEAKE, Jimmie Lee
STEWART, Charles Bernard
STEWART-ROLLINS, Marlena
Francisca
SYMINGTON, John Fife, III
TANNEHILL, Richard Lee
TENAGLIA, Nicholas C.
THOMAS, Gary Allen
TODD, Larry Weldon
TREVINO, Olga C.
VAMVOUKLIS, Ignatious
VAN DE WEERD, Patricia
A.
WADE, Christopher V.
WARMATH, Bill Wayne
WATSON, Jack Kenneth
WEBB, Donna Lynn
WELLS, Donald William
WENDT, Robert H.
WILLIAMS, Jack L.
WILLIAMS, Kevin Arthur
WILLIAMS, Robert Michael
WILSON, Jimmie Lee
|
WINGATE, Thelma Louise
WOOD, Mitchell Couey
WOOD, Warren Stannard
WORTHEY, Dewey
YALE, Rick Allen
YASAK, Joseph A.
YINGLING, William Stanley
YOUNG, Phillip David
COMMUTATIONS
BERGER, Benjamin
BLACKLEY, Ronald Henderson
BOLAN, Bert Wayne
CAMARGO, Gloria Libia
CAMPBELL, Charles F.
CHANDLER, David Ronald
CHIN, Lau Ching
CLARK, Donald R.
COFFMAN, Loreta De-Ann
CURRY, Derrick
DESALUS, Velinda
ELBAUM, Jacob
EVANS, Linda Sue
FISH, Loretta Sharon
FRINK, Antoinette M.
GOLDSTEIN, David
GREENFIELD, Gerard A.
ISRAEL, Jodie E.
JOHNSON, Kimberly D.
LANGSTON, Billy Thornton,
Jr.
LUMPKIN, Belinda Lynn
MACDONALD, Peter
MANN, Kellie Ann
NINEMIRE, Peter
PADMORE, Hugh Ricardo
PROSPERI, Arnold Paul
REYNOLDS, Melvin J.
RIVEIRO, Pedro Miguel
RIVERS, Dorothy
ROSENBERG, Susan
STERN, Kalmen
STRINGFELLOW, Cory
VIGNALI, Carlos Anibal,
Jr.
WADDELL, III, Thomas Wilson
WEINIG, Harvey
WILLIS, Kim Allen
|
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