10/15- Mississippi Pardons - NYT Article

Op-Ed Columnist

The Mississippi Pardons

By BOB HERBERT

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/opinion/16herbert.html?_r=1

Published: October 15, 2010

Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi has to decide whether to show mercy to two sisters, Jamie and Gladys Scott, who are each serving double consecutive life sentences in state prison for a robbery in which no one was injured and only $11 was taken.

This should be an easy call for a law-and-order governor who has, nevertheless, displayed a willingness to set free individuals convicted of far more serious crimes. Mr. Barbour has already pardoned four killers and suspended the life sentence of a fifth.

The Scott sisters have been in prison for 16 years. Jamie, now 38, is seriously ill. Both of her kidneys have failed. Keeping the two of them locked up any longer is unconscionable, grotesquely inhumane.

The sisters were accused of luring two men to a spot outside the rural town of Forest, Miss., in 1993, where the men were robbed by three teenagers, one of whom had a shotgun. The Scott sisters knew the teens. The evidence of the sisters’ involvement has always been ambiguous, at best. The teenagers pleaded guilty to the crime, served two years in prison and were released. All were obliged by the authorities, as part of their plea deals, to implicate the sisters.

No explanation has ever emerged as to why Jamie and Gladys Scott were treated so severely.

In contrast, Governor Barbour has been quite willing to hand get-out-of-jail-free cards to men who unquestionably committed shockingly brutal crimes. The Jackson Free Press, an alternative weekly, and Slate Magazine have catalogued these interventions by Mr. Barbour. Some Mississippi observers have characterized the governor’s moves as acts of mercy; others have called them dangerous abuses of executive power.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections confirmed Governor Barbour’s role in the five cases, noting that the specific orders were signed July 16, 2008:

• Bobby Hays Clark was pardoned by the governor. He was serving a long sentence for manslaughter and aggravated assault, having shot and killed a former girlfriend and badly beaten her boyfriend.

• Michael David Graham had his life sentence for murder suspended by Governor Barbour. Graham had stalked his ex-wife, Adrienne Klasky, for years before shooting her to death as she waited for a traffic light in downtown Pascagoula.

• Clarence Jones was pardoned by the governor. He had murdered his former girlfriend in 1992, stabbing her 22 times. He had already had his life sentence suspended by a previous governor, Ronnie Musgrove.

• Paul Joseph Warnock was pardoned by Governor Barbour. He was serving life for the murder of his girlfriend in 1989. According to Slate, Warnock shot his girlfriend in the back of the head while she was sleeping.

• William James Kimble was pardoned by Governor Barbour. He was serving life for the murder and robbery of an elderly man in 1991.

Radley Balko, in an article for Slate, noted that none of the five men were given relief because of concerns that they had been unfairly treated by the criminal justice system. There were no questions about their guilt or the fairness of the proceedings against them. But they did have one thing in common. All, as Mr. Balko pointed out, had been enrolled in a special prison program “that had them doing odd jobs around the Mississippi governor’s mansion.”

The idea that those men could be freed from prison and allowed to pursue whatever kind of lives they might wish while the Scott sisters are kept locked up, presumably for the rest of their lives, is beyond disturbing.

Supporters of the Scott sisters, including their attorney, Chokwe Lumumba, and Ben Jealous of the N.A.A.C.P., have asked Governor Barbour to intervene, to use his executive power to free the women from prison.

A spokeswoman for the governor told me he has referred the matter to the state’s parole board. Under Mississippi law, the governor does not have to follow the recommendation of the board. He is free to act on his own. With Jamie Scott seriously ill (her sister and others have offered to donate a kidney for a transplant), the governor should move with dispatch.

The women’s mother, Evelyn Rasco, told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss.: “I wish they would just hurry up and let them out. I hope that is where it is leading to. That would be the only justified thing to do.”

An affidavit submitted to the governor on behalf of the Scott sisters says: “Jamie and Gladys Scott respectfully pray that they each be granted a pardon or clemency of their sentences on the grounds that their sentences were too severe and they have been incarcerated for too long. If not released, Jamie Scott will probably die in prison.”

As they are both serving double life sentences, a refusal by the governor to intervene will most likely mean that both will die in prison.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on October 16, 2010, on page A19 of the New York edition.

10/15 ACTION ALERT FOR JAMIE SCOTT

From: Nancy Lockhart

October 15 at 1:28pm


Jamie Scott is still enduring a massive headache -- around her forehead and in the temples for weeks. The vomiting has stopped but she is currently experiencing diarrhea after eating each meal. She is being treated for a sinus condition which IS NOT WORKING!


AT this point in time, Jamie needs the attention of an outside physician. Would you please call and/or e-mail and ask that she is taken to the hospital where this illness can be immediately taken care of.


Drs. Gloria Perry and Zein-Ahmed and request that Jamie Scott #19197 immediately taken to the hospital. Please assist us in saving her life until she is released!


Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155

Dr. Zein-Ahmed - MZein-Ahmed@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155


You may cc and call the following if time permits.


Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us

601-932-2880


Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us

Epps ph. 601-359-5600



Nancy Lockhart

10/12 "So Utterly Inhumane" - NYT Article

October 12, 2010 - New York Times

‘So Utterly Inhumane’
By BOB HERBERT

You have to believe that somebody really had it in for the Scott sisters, Jamie and Gladys. They have always insisted that they had nothing to do with a robbery that occurred near the small town of Forest, Miss., on Christmas Eve in 1993. It was not the kind of crime to cause a stir. No one was hurt and perhaps $11 was taken.

Jamie was 21 at the time and Gladys just 19. But what has happened to them takes your breath away.

They were convicted by a jury and handed the most draconian sentences imaginable — short of the death penalty. Each was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in state prison, and they have been imprisoned ever since. Jamie is now 38 and seriously ill. Both of her kidneys have failed. Gladys is 36.

This is Mississippi we’re talking about, a place that in many ways has not advanced much beyond the Middle Ages.

The authorities did not even argue that the Scott sisters had committed the robbery. They were accused of luring two men into a trap, in which the men had their wallets taken by acquaintances of the sisters, one of whom had a shotgun.

It was a serious crime. But the case against the sisters was extremely shaky. In any event, even if they were guilty, the punishment is so wildly out of proportion to the offense that it should not be allowed to stand.

Three teenagers pleaded guilty to robbing the men. They ranged in age from 14 to 18. And in their initial statements to investigators, they did not implicate the Scott sisters.

But a plea deal was arranged in which the teens were required to swear that the women were involved, and two of the teens were obliged, as part of the deal, to testify against the sisters in court.

Howard Patrick, who was 14 at the time of the robbery, said that the pressure from the authorities to implicate the sisters began almost immediately. He testified, “They said if I didn’t participate with them, they would send me to Parchman and make me out a female.”

He was referring to Mississippi State Prison, which was once the notoriously violent Parchman prison farm. The lawyer questioning the boy said, “In other words, they would send you to Parchman and you would get raped, right?”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said.

The teens were sentenced to eight years in prison each, and they were released after serving just two years.

This is a case that should be repugnant to anyone with the slightest interest in justice. The right thing to do at this point is to get the sisters out of prison as quickly as possible and ensure that Jamie gets proper medical treatment.

A number of people have taken up the sisters’ cause, including Ben Jealous, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., who is trying to help secure a pardon from Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. “It makes you sick to think that this sort of thing can happen,” he said. “That these women should be kept in prison until they die — well, that’s just so utterly inhumane.”

I have no idea why the authorities were so dead set on implicating the Scott sisters in the crime and sending them away for life, while letting the teens who unquestionably committed the robbery get off with much lighter sentences.

Life sentences for robbery can only be imposed by juries in Mississippi, but it is extremely rare for that sentencing option to even be included in the instructions given to jurors. It’s fair to think, in other words, that there would have to be some extraordinary reason for prosecutors and the court to offer such a draconian possibility to a jury.

Chokwe Lumumba, a lawyer representing the sisters, captured the prevailing legal sentiment when he said: “I don’t think Mississippi law anticipates that you’re going to be giving this instruction in a case where nobody gets hurt and $11 is allegedly stolen. In the majority of robbery cases, even the ones that are somewhat nasty, they don’t read that instruction.”

The reason for giving the jury the option of imposing life sentences in this case escapes me. Even the original prosecutor, Ken Turner, who is now retired and who believes the sisters were guilty, has said that he thinks it would be “appropriate” to offer them relief from their extreme sentences. He told The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., “It was not a particularly egregious case.”

The appeals process for the women has long since been exhausted. It is up to Governor Barbour, who is considering petitions on the sisters’ behalf, to do the humane thing.

A pardon or commutation of sentence — some form of relief that would release Jamie and Gladys Scott from the hideous shackles of a lifetime in prison — is not just desirable, it’s absolutely essential.

10/2 JAMIE SCOTT ACTION ALERT

October 2 at 1:47am

Please e-mail and/or call Drs. Gloria Perry and Zein-Ahmed and request that Jamie Scott #19197 immediately receive proper medical treatment. Jamie has been vomiting for 5 days now and is in need of immediate attention. I apologize for being so crude here but, this is the case and it is urgent. Please assist us in saving her life until she is released!

Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155


Dr. Zein-Ahmed - MZein-Ahmed@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155


You may cc and call the following if time permits.


Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us

601-932-2880


Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us

Epps ph. 601-359-5600


Nancy Lockhart

9/27 SCOTT SISTERS ACTION ALERT!

MESSAGE FROM MRS. RASCO:

Thanks to all of the supporters that have helped with Jamie and Gladys' case. It is because of all of you that it has came down to what it has. You all have worked hard to help to free Jamie and Gladys and I feel like now we are on the final step to freedom.

I am asking that everyone Write and Fax all the Parole Board members to ask for justice for Jamie and Gladys. They need all of your help, the ones that can tweet it, please do. Jamie and Gladys' life depends on you all so that another injustice won't be done to them. Let the Parole Board know that the world is looking at this injustice.

Shannon Warnock - Chairman

Bobbie Thomas - Board Member

Clarence Brown - Board Member

Betty Lou Jones - Board Member

Danny Guice - Board Member

State of Mississippi Parole Board
660 North Street
Suite 100A
Jackson, MS 39202
Fax: (601) 576-3528

Please contact these Board Members and keep doing it until Jamie and Gladys are free. Love to every one of you.

Evelyn Rasco

Please be polite when writing/faxing.

9/16 SCOTT SISTERS MEDIA UPDATES!

The very well-attended 9/15 Jackson, MS rally to Free the Scott Sisters has generated an unprecedented amount of mainstream media that is shining a light on these cases like never before! Hopefully these actions and many more to come will at long last bring about the release of these two long-suffering women and reunite them with their family. Keep the pressure on!

This just in.... Starting in October on the Michael Baisden Show on his Falsely Accused Series will be: Have you read about the Scott Sisters?
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MSNBC gave coverage to this case! Features Mrs. Rasco and NAACP Prez, Ben Jealous

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Great excerpts of 9/15 Scott Sisters Rally held in Jackson, MS


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NAACP Press Conference on Scott Sisters: http://www.naacp.org/blog/entry/naacp-press-conference-on-the-scott-sisters/
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Uhuru News http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=mississippi-rally-demands-release-of-scott-sisters-15-years-into-double-life-sentences-on-bogus-11-robbery-charge
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Thanks to Muhammad Speaks for publishing our Case Summary! - http://www.muhammadspeaksonline.net/2010/09/12/mississippi-injustice-2/
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USA TODAY even gave coverage to this case! - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-14-scott-sisters_N.htm
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PRE-RALLY

Bro. JR of Block Report Radio speaks to Mrs. Rasco on 9/13 Flashpoints at http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20100913-Mon1700.mp3

WAPT- Scott Sisters Supporters to Rally in Jackson, MS 9/15 - http://www.wapt.com/r/24986222/detail.html

WLBT- Scott Sisters Attorney to Present Pardon Request -http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13144101

Clarion Ledger - Support Growing for Sisters - http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109120370

8/24 + 8/27 RADIO PROGRAMS

8/27 INTERVIEW WITH NANCY LOCKHART AND MRS. EVELYN RASCO

Listen to internet radio with brburns.com on Blog Talk Radio

8/24 - DOES RACISM STILL EXIST IN AMERICA?: The Tragic Case Of THE SCOTT SISTERS!

Listen to internet radio with brburns.com on Blog Talk Radio