Felons Seeking Bush Pardon Near a Record

WASHINGTON — Felons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests.

Among the petitioners is Michael Milken, the billionaire former junk bond king turned philanthropist, who is seeking a pardon for his 1990 conviction for securities fraud, the Justice Department said. Mr. Milken sought a pardon eight years ago from President Bill Clinton, and submitted a new petition in June.

In addition, prominent federal inmates are asking Mr. Bush to commute their sentences. Among them are Randy Cunningham, the former Republican congressman from California; Edwin W. Edwards, a former Democratic governor of Louisiana; John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban; and Marion Jones, the former Olympic sprinter.

The requests are adding to a backlog of nearly 2,300 pending petitions, most from “ordinary people who committed garden-variety crimes,” said Margaret Colgate Love, a clemency lawyer.

Washington Post

Dec. 13, 2007

Sixty-one percent of defendants sentenced in the Bush administration's crackdown on corporate fraud spent no more than two years in jail, escaping the stiff penalties given WorldCom Inc. and Enron Corp. executives.

In the past five years, 28 percent of those sentenced got no prison time and 6 percent received 10 years or more, according to a review of 1,236 white-collar convictions.

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Of the 1,236 convictions from 2002 to 2007 in the review, 1,133 defendants were sentenced. Forty-seven percent of those got a year or less in prison.

Dec 2007

"Bush has now granted 142 pardons, which puts him on track to being the stingiest two-term president in U.S. history. While he may overtake his father in absolute number of grants by the end of his term, if you compare the number of cases available for consideration in each administration, the comparative compassion quotient is not even close. Ditto for his general housekeeping practices: there are now over 1000 pardon cases awaiting consideration, in addition to more than 3000 commutation cases, no applications in either category having been denied in over a year. Some applications (including those of a couple of my clients) have been awaiting consideration since the Clinton Administration. One can only hope that he picks up the pace in his final year or he will leave a frighteningly large backlog of cases for his successor.

Whitecollar Crime Blog

Dec-13-07

President Bush granted pardons yesterday to carjackers, drug dealers, a moonshiner and a violator of election laws, but not to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his vice president's former top aide, who was convicted in the case of the leaked identity of a CIA operative.

Nearly all of those to win pardons this year were small-time crooks who at most were imprisoned for five years. Many never served time at all and instead were fined or put on probation.

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Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Bush has granted 142 pardons and commuted five sentences since taking office in 2001.