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Analysis: Woman wants pardon to wipe out criminal record

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Supreme Court has said a pardon granted by the governor is not grounds to wipe clean a criminal record.

The case centered on Rebecca Hentz, who was among nearly 200 people pardoned by Gov. Haley Barbour during his final days in office in January 2012.

Although the 4-4 tie vote by the justices went against her, Hentz is seizing on at least one justice's comments to seek help from the Legislature.

Hentz pleaded guilty in 2000 to attempting to manufacture methamphetamine, a felony. Hentz was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with all 30 years suspended. She was granted a complete and unconditional pardon by Barbour. With the pardon in hand, she asked a Tallahatchie County judge to expunge her criminal record.

The judge denied the request, saying state law does not allow expunction, or deletion, of her criminal record. The Supreme Court upheld the Tallahatchie judge's ruling in December. Justice Ann Lamar did not participate in the case.

Among those pardoned as Barbour completed his second term were four convicted murderers and a robber who worked as inmate trusties at the Governor's Mansion.

Mississippi's custom of using convicted killers and others serving long sentences as workers at the Governor's Mansion is somewhat unusual. For decades, it was the custom of governors to grant those workers some type of early release. Gov. Phil Bryant, who took office in late January 2012, has stopped the practice.

Attorney General Jim Hood challenged some of the pardons as invalid. The state Supreme Court found the pardons proper. In Mississippi, the governor has ultimate authority to pardon, commute or suspend sentences.

Barbour's pardons outraged crime victims. Legislators railed against them and called for changes in the law. But nothing came of the fury. However, Hentz thinks it hurt her chances to have her record wiped clean.

"Because of the sheer amount and questionable nature of the crimes committed by fellow pardoned felons, my pardon instantly came under fire," she said. "Some of those people didn't deserve to walk away, and we got roped into all that bad company."

Hentz said she was told more appeals were unlikely to succeed. She said the Supreme Court left her with an open invitation to persuade the Legislature to change the law.

"I am going to talk to every legislator I can get to," she said.

"It is very puzzling to me how it took seven long years of scrutiny, which included random drug testing for the past decade of my life, to obtain a 'full, complete, and unconditional pardon,' only to have it minimized by the fact that it will always remain on my record," Hentz said, who applied for a pardon in 2006.

Most of those pardoned by Barbour served their sentences years, or even decades, ago and only want to clear their names. Some were convicted of drug charges or other comparatively minor crimes as far back as the 1960s and 1970s.

Hentz' lawyers conceded no state law provides for expunction upon the grant of an executive pardon.

"However, if it is the intent of a full, complete and unconditional pardon by the governor, to in essence restore a person to the status they occupied prior to their arrest and conviction, how can it be said that they are not entitled to have their record expunged?" her lawyer, Tommy Defer, said.

Justice James Kitchens, one of the four justices supporting expunction, said the effect of gubernatorial pardons in Mississippi has been diminished.

"That which previously was regarded as 'an act of sovereign grace' now is relegated to a mere piece of paper emblazoned with the dubious phrase 'absolved from all legal consequences of this crime and conviction,'" he wrote in a dissenting opinion.

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