Like many Kentuckians, state Sen. Chris McDaniel was horrified when he found out that Gov. Matt Bevin had pardoned a group of hardened criminals just as he was leaving Frankfort.
The Ryland Heights Republican was so horrified that he embarked on a seven-year journey to make sure it couldn’t happen again.
“There were lots of things that were egregious in history, but this really, I think, for the modern General Assembly really took the cake and made us realize we’ve got to do something,” McDaniel told the Kentucky Lantern in a Thursday interview.
For seven years, McDaniel tried to pass legislation to curb a governor’s pardon power. This year, his colleagues finally agreed, passing McDaniel’s legislation that would allow a constitutional amendment to be on the ballot this fall that would limit Kentucky governors’ power to grant pardons and sentence commutations around elections.
However, some, including Beshear, who beat Bevin in 2019, have reservations about enacting the change.
The amendment, which was proposed in this year’s Senate Bill 10, would block governors from issuing pardons and sentence commutations 60 days before their election through their successor’s inauguration in December if approved at the ballot box. It had support from both Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.
On his way out the door, Bevin issued pardons to people convicted of crimes including rape, murder and child abuse. One was for a Northern Kentucky man who had been convicted of raping a nine-year-old the year before. Another was for a convicted killer whose family raised money for Bevin’s campaign.
The lawmaker said another example of a controversial pardon or commutation before Bevin’s term was when former Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher commuted the sentence of Harrison Yonts, a former state representative’s son, who had been convicted of killing a 62-year-old pedestrian while driving drunk in 2005.
McDaniel said the bill is important for accountability of elected officials and prevents future governors from being able to issue pardons “in the dark without people knowing when they head to the ballot box what’s happened, and that is important.”
“A pardon is one of the most extreme actions the government can take, because it is allowing the sole discretion of one person to override an entire system of justice — from a frontline police officer to a judge, jury, multiple layers of court systems — they can all be overridden by one person,” McDaniel said. “And if someone is going to do that, they or their party should have to stand in front of the voters and account for it in the next gubernatorial cycle, and I think that this will bring some much needed accountability to the whole process.”
McDaniel said amending the state constitution is “not something that should be taken lightly” and added that he feels the lengthy process it took to get the bill’s approval in the legislature made it better, such as accounting for early voters. He said state Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, had questioned the timeframe of the pardons limit, which led to the inclusion of 60 days prior to elections so early and absentee voters could be aware of actions before casting a vote.
‘We are wary’
Though many were critical of Bevin’s pardons, some question if the constitutional amendment is the remedy.
“There is no question that Gov. Bevin abused the pardon authority and let violent criminals out of prison, some of whom then committed additional crimes,” said Scottie Ellis, a spokesperson for Beshear, in a statement Friday morning. “The solution should not be to limit a Governor’s pardon powers but to ensure we elect good governors.”
Eric King, spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU-KY), said in a statement to the Lantern the group is concerned “that limiting the authority of governors’ power in this particular way will erode an important safety valve in an imperfect judicial system.”
“Further, we are wary of amending the constitution in response to potentially one bad actor in Kentucky’s nearly 250-year history,” King added.
When asked about the ACLU’s position, McDaniel said it was “misinformed” because governors would still have the power to pardon or commute sentences “or three years and nine months out of every four-year term.”
“You just can’t issue a pardon and then walk away from the office. You have to be accountable. Your party has to be accountable. That’s it. So, the power still exists,” McDaniel said. “Only those who want pardons to happen in the darkness of night are opposed to this measure.”
McDaniel said he and others will have to raise awareness about the amendment heading into the fall. He anticipates that issue committees will not form to spend large amounts of money on the issue, but rather that it will be a “good old-fashioned shoe leather campaign.” He hopes to hear from and engage with those “who’ve been victims of a gubernatorial pardon depriving their family of justice” on the campaign for the amendment.
This story was originally published by the Kentucky Lantern.
