Daily Archives: November 20, 2021

A pardon or any act of executive clemency is a matter of grace given to the president or governor through constitutional authority.

Executive clemency can be granted or denied for a specific reason or for no reason at all. Due process of law does not attach to executive clemency decisions because a pardon or commutation of sentence is a privilege, not a right.

It is within these board parameters that Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt yesterday commuted Julius Jones’ death sentence to life without parole. The governor’s decision came after growing national and international concern about Jones’ execution because of credible evidence that he may be innocent of the crime for which he stands convicted.

Gov. Stitt’s decision, however, was not influenced by Jones’ possible innocence. The governor conditioned his commutation that Jones would never be eligible for parole release. Worse yet, the governor’s commutation also carried the condition that Jones can never apply for another commutation.

In effect, the governor made his executive intent clear: Jones will remain in prison until he dies, unless some state or federal court grants him a new trial.

That is not mercy, folks.

It is torture in the worse degree. Jones commutation is not a cause for celebration. It is a decision that should be understood for exactly what it is: the sparing of death by lethal injection in exchange for an imprisoned sentence that will ultimately result in death in some prison cell or infirmary. The present cause for celebration will pass and the agony of doing time without hope will consume Jones and his family.

One of Jones’s longtime supporters, Oklahoma State Sen. George Young (D), understands this reality.

“I was expecting this, and it’s still hard to digest,” Young said upon learning about Gov. Stitt’s commutation. “He waits to the last minute to not kill him, but assign him to a fate that is in some ways worse than death and [the governor] claims the high ground.”

I understand executive clemency through personal experience.

In 1990 the Louisiana Board of Pardons recommended to then Gov. Buddy Roemer that my life without parole sentence be commuted to 75 years.

In 1992, in his last official work day as governor, Roemer commuted my life sentence but increased the recommended 75 years to 90 years—a power the governor enjoyed.

The Louisiana Department Corrections ruled that I was not eligible for parole under Gov. Roemer commutation order. A two-year legal battle ensued concluding with Roemer appearing in court—something no other Louisiana governor had ever done—telling both the court and the DOC that it was his executive intent that I be immediately eligible for parole upon his signing the commutation.

Forced to give me a parole hearing, and none too pleased about the matter, the DOC through the parole board made me serve another 12 years and undergo seven parole hearings before I was granted parole in 2006.

Charles “Buddy” Roemer was not only an excellent, honest governor (a rarity in Louisiana) but he was a brilliant, compassionate human being as well. Roemer passed away earlier this year. There has not a time in my life since 1992 that I did not thank and appreciate Gov. Roemer for the political courage it took commute my life sentence.

Julius Jones will never be able to feel that for Gov. Kevin Stitt. The governor made it clear he wants Jones to die in the Oklahoma prison system, regardless of whether he is innocent or not.

Those who say Jones should be happy because he is no longer on death row know nothing about prison and what life without hope means.

The Baltimore Sun reported three days ago that in the three decades prior to the Civil War there were “more than 70 duels and other violent incidents” among members of Congress.

Political violence is rooted in the DNA of American government, at both the federal and state levels. This nation was founded on political violence and its “greatness” has been shaped and defined by violence with political undercurrents.

Today America is sitting on the precipice of pre-Civil War political violence.

Foreign Policy informs us that there are three core societal elements that can lead to civil war: “fractured elites with competing narratives, deep-seated identity cleavages, and a politically polarized citizenry.”

All three elements are today at the core of governance in both federal and state governments. The common good and the interests of the people have been abandoned as these elements come to a pre-civil war boil. Political tribalism for the first time since the period of 1830 to 1860 poses a real threat to cascade into violent political sectarianism.

The evidence of this dark violent brew is everywhere in these United States.

At an October political event staged in Western Idaho by Turning Point USA, a far right-wing youth organization, an attendee asked the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, “when do we get to use the guns … to kill these people (Democrats)?”

A local state legislator later commented that the attendee had raised a “fair question.”

An Ohio U.S. Senate candidate has advocated the use of violence to oppose what he calls government “tyranny”—mask and vaccine mandates.

The Washington Post reports that recent polling data found that 30 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of the people who trust “far right” news sources believe that “true patriots” may have to resort to violence to achieve their political objectives. The Post quoted a senior fellow at the left leaning group New America as saying:

“When you start dehumanizing political opponents, or really anybody, it becomes a lot easier to inflict violence on them,” Lee Drutman said. “I have a hard time seeing how we have a peaceful 2024 election after everything that’s happened now. I don’t see the rhetoric turning down; I don’t see the conflicts going away. I really do think it’s hard to see how it gets better before it gets worse.”

Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar was just censured by the U.S. House of Representatives after he posted, and then removed, a cartoon depicting him killing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and physically battling President Joe Biden—a president that at least 50 million Republicans do not believe was fairly elected and should be dethroned.

North Carolina Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn and Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also have a penchant for political violence. They have both threatened to execute other members of Congress. Both have endorsed the violent insurrection in Washington, D.C. on January 6, calling it a “patriotic” peaceful event.

These calls for political violence have reached the ears of criminal violence. Carnegie Endowment, citing Washington Post data, reported in September that during the preceding 16 weeks at least 50 drivers plowed into crowds of peaceful protestors. Militarized police brutality, white supremacists groups, hate crimes, and politically motivated mass shooters are all increasing at dangerous levels.

This criminal violence, which is being fueled by the increasing prevalence of political violence, has most assuredly led to a recent explosion of ordinary street and domestic violence. No one is truly safe anymore. Fear dominates our social landscape: citizens fear strangers, children distrust parents, spouses live with threats, and neighbor is suspicious of neighbor.

American free world culture has now become a maximum security prison culture.