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By Jessica Bakeman, The Clarion-Ledger
JACKSON, Miss. — Violent offenders may never again walk free in Mississippi because they worked at the Governor's Mansion.
Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican who took office Tuesday, will not follow the tradition of pardoning mansion trusties, spokesperson Mick Bullock said.
"The day Phil Bryant was sworn in, the mansion trusty program ended in its antiquated 50-year-old form," he said. Bryant also plans to discontinue the practice of convicts spending the night on mansion grounds and is "working towards phasing out" the use of any violent offenders at the mansion, Bullock said.
The announcements follow widespread criticism of former Republican governor Haley Barbour for pardoning four murderers on Jan. 6 — Joseph Ozment, Anthony McCray, Charles Hooker and David Gatlin — and one burglar, Nathan Kern, who had been trusties and for granting clemency to more than 200 other offenders as he left office.
They have been free for a week. Barbour said he has "no fear" they "will be a threat to anybody."
Sen. Michael Watson, a Republican, and Rep. David Baria, a Democrat, each have drafted bills to block violent offenders from working as trusties, citing Barbour's pardons as their motivation .
Attorney General Jim Hood is challenging whether the pardons meet a requirement outlined in the state constitution. None of the five former trusties' notices met the 30-day publication requirement before their pardons were granted, although Barbour said his office sent notices to newspapers in time.
Hood, a Democrat, has obtained a court order requiring all those pardoned to prove at a Jan. 23 hearing that they properly notified the public of their request for clemency.
The former trusties also must report to the Mississippi Department of Corrections every 24 hours. All but Ozment, whom the attorney general's office was still seeking, had done so as of the weekend.
Speaking to the media on Friday for the first time since the pardons became public, Barbour explained that murderers are historically chosen as mansion trusties because their offenses were crimes of passion.
"Experts say they are the least likely to commit another crime and are the most likely to serve well," Barbour said.
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