Pence says he wants to respect the judicial process. That's the process that convicted an innocent man and robbed him of a healthy chunk of his life. That process deserves not respect, but contempt - Jerry Englebach
Mike Pence Tells Wrongfully Convicted Man He Won’t Act On Pardon Request
After waiting more than two years to act on the request, Pence informed Keith Cooper this week that he would not grant his pardon “out of respect for the judicial process.”
After serving 10 years of a 40 year prison sentence for an Indiana armed robbery and attempted murder, Keith Cooper was freed when eyewitnesses recanted their testimony against him, new DNA evidence showed he wasn’t at the scene of the crime, and a jailhouse informant admitted that he lied to investigators.
Five years later, Cooper filed a pardon petition that, if it were granted, would make him the first person in the state’s history granted clemency based on a finding of innocence. When his request was presented to the parole board, they found unanimously that he should be pardoned and have the two serious felony charges wiped from his record.
Now, after waiting for more than two years for Governor Mike Pence to act on the board’s decision, Cooper has learned that the GOP vice presidential candidate won’t — unless Cooper can prove to the governor’s administration that all other judicial remedies have been exhausted.
Though Cooper is now out of jail, his felony conviction remains on his record, limiting his job opportunities.
Pence’s refusal to immediately pardon Cooper was criticized this week in an editorial in the
South Bend Tribune, saying that Pence’s suggestion that he would wait until the judicial process is complete “defies reason.”
“An innocent man who has had a decade of his life stolen from him by a flawed process shouldn’t be advised to sit tight and wait a bit longer for the system to finally get it right,”
the editorial reads. “Every one of us should feel the sting of such injustice. Nothing can erase all that Keith Cooper has endured, but the next step couldn’t be clearer. Governor Pence, issue this pardon.”
Cooper’s counsel believes that Pence’s continued delay is part of a strategy to put the decision on the next governor’s administration. (Pence pulled out of the 2016 gubernatorial race when he joined the Trump campaign.)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikehayes/...ont-act-on-par?utm_term=.nfBgM39xE#.gkozb1Rk2