David Gatlin and the eyes of a murderer.
Posted on 01/09/2012 11:45:04 AM PST by ScottinVA
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's pardon of a convicted murderer who worked as an inmate trusty at the Governor's Mansion came two weeks after the man was denied parole by a state board.
A letter to one of the victims in the case said the Mississippi Parole Board turned down 40-year-old David Gatlin on Dec. 27. The letter, dated Jan. 4 and obtained by The Associated Press, did not explain why the Parole Board rejected Gatlin's parole request. It said he was due for another parole hearing in October.
Shannon Warnock, chair of the parole board, didn't immediately respond to a message Monday.
Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Suzanne Singletary said Gatlin was released Sunday after being pardoned by Barbour, a Republican who leaves office Tuesday at the end of his second term.
Barbour's office did not respond Sunday and Monday to messages about the pardon. He has said in the past that releasing the trusties who live and work at the mansion is a tradition in Mississippi that goes back decades. Trusties are prisoners who earn privileges through good behavior.
Still, the move angered the victim's relatives and others.
Gatlin was sentenced to life in prison for killing his estranged wife, Tammy Ellis Gatlin, in 1993, and shooting her long-time friend, Randy Walker. Walker survived. The shootings took place in Brandon, Miss.
Walker's mother, Glenda Walker, said Monday that her son is afraid now that Gatlin is free.
"I have to watch him be almost paranoid when people knock on his door," she said Monday in a phone interview.
Walker said Gatlin shot his estranged wife while she was holding their young baby, then shot Randy Walker in the head.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Democratic legislature & governor of North Carolina passed legislation - the "Racial Justice Act" - that allows every death row inmate to sue to have their sentences overturned - and every one of them is suing. Regardless of the race of the murderer or victim or judge or jury, the system is biased and one way or another the convict got a raw deal and should be released (or whatever).
The new Republican legislature repealed the law, Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed it, and they are a few votes short on the veto override.
From a Clarion ledger article:
“In 1993, David Glenn Gatlin leveled a gun at the head of his wife, Tammy, and killed her while she held their 2-month-old child, then turned the gun on family friend Randy Walker and shot him in the head as well. Walker survived.
Gatlin was convicted in 1994 in Rankin County and given life for murder, 20 years for aggravated assault and 10 years for residential burglary. He has been a trusty at the Governor’s Mansion since Nov. 19, 2009, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ Website.”
So this guy does 18 years in the big house. I’m guessing was a model prisoner the entire time, otherwise he wouldn’t have been in minimum security and on detail to the governor’s mansion.
Do you believe in rehabilitation or do you feel our prisons are for retribution? I know very little about the case but guess the original sentence was 15 years to life, otherwise he wouldn’t have been getting annual parole hearings.
There needs to be a mob outside of the Governor’s mansion.
Punishment and safety of society from the criminal, FIRST. Rehab is secondary, IMO.
This a national journalist ??
Should be trustee not trusty
and trustees not trusties
And in Texas over the last year, there have been at least two cases where further evidence was found which exonerated people who were convicted of murder.
In at least one case, Anthony Graves did 18 years on Death Row for a murder he did not commit and twice reached his date with the executioner.
There needs to be some system to review Death Row cases as we cannot be a society that executes innocent people.
However, this guy is Mississippi is not innocent and should have been left in prison to rot.
Barbour must be good friends with Huckabeeee
A cuckold husband can be dangerous, ladies.
....”till death do us part” ???
David Gatlin and the eyes of a murderer.
If the Parole Board's position on the matter wasn't factored in, that system has a major flaw.
In the immortal words of "President" Schwarzenegger, "I was elected to lead, not to read."
“Gee...it’s like a mob is forming on this thread.”
And there should be.
And if a Democratic governor had pardoned a cold blooded murderer like David Gatlin, this thread would have hundreds of posts condemning his actions.
Exactly...like a few Border Patrol agents & SW border ranchers who've been railroaded over the past several years. Of course, that's federal, but the principle holds.
One other instance is a person who has served their time, and been out & clean for a long period, but still has an otherwise incurable loss of rights attached.
Mississippi state board of pardons and paroles are who recommends pardons to the governor, after they conduct an investigation.
So much for Barbour’s presidential ambitions.
The only way to be entirely sure is to abolish the death penalty.
Just like the only way to avoid unjust incarceration is to abolish prison terms.
Heck, why do we even bother with a justice system at all? Nothing will ever be perfect!
I believe in retribution STRONGLY.
“Rehabilitation” is, at best, a hit or miss sort of thing. But the victims or their families deserve the satisfaction of revenge since they don’t get to take it themselves.
Find a Flaw Destroy the Conservative Brigade (FFDCB)
They report directly to the White House for their next secret mission.
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