State Rep. Brandon Jones, D-Pascagoula, has submitted two bills to be introduced in the Legislature in January aimed at changing the way pardons are granted in Mississippi.
One bill would amend the Mississippi Constitution to make it impossible for a governor to grant a pardon or other reprieve to individuals convicted of murder or capital murder. Another bill would require governors who exercise their pardon power to hold a public hearing where the crime occurred and to contact the district attorney and sheriff for that county before granting a pardon.
It was in Jones’ district where Michael David Graham, released from prison this year by an order of the governor, shot his wife on a public street in a high-profile killing almost 20 years ago. Gov. Haley Barbour’s action caused a maelstrom in the Pascagoula area partly because it came as a surprise with little notification to those involved in the case and no courtesy call to law enforcement in the area.
