McComb Enterprise-Journal – Gov. Bryant wrong to ignore pleas

Gov. Bryant wrong to ignore pleas

It was not surprising that Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant rejected clemency for death row inmate Curtis Jackson in the hours prior to Jackson’s execution June 5.

Bryant, in the wake of the pardon fiasco of his predecessor Haley Barbour, had gone on record in the first days of his tenure that he would not grant clemency to any convicts except in cases where there is “clear and convincing evidence that someone has been wrongly convicted.”

When Bryant drew that line, he might not have envisioned a case like Jackson’s, where the surviving victims of a heinous crime were the ones petitioning him most for mercy.

McComb Enterprise-Journal via the Hattiesburg American
6/14/12