Bush Pardons Four for Minor Offenses

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has granted pardons to four people convicted of relatively minor offenses, bringing to 11 the number whose offenses he has excused since taking office.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that pardons were granted to people from Nevada, Florida, Wisconsin and British Columbia, Canada. The pardons were signed on Wednesday.

(snip)

The pardons announced Thursday were:

_Brianna Lee Haney of Kamloops, British Columbia, who was convicted in 1991 of failure to report monetary instruments in Washington state. She was sentenced to 4 1/2 months of community confinement and two years of supervised release.

_David Custer Heaston of Las Vegas. He was convicted in 1988 of making a false statement and sentenced to three years' probation and fined $1,000.

(snip)

_Bruce Louis Bartos of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who was convicted in 1987 of transporting a machine gun in foreign commerce. He was sentenced to two years' probation.

_Michael Robert Moelter of Jim Falls, Wis., who was convicted in 1988 of running an illegal gambling business. He was sentenced to three years' probation, 60 days in a treatment center and fined $5,000.

Since Bush took office in January 2001, 697 pardon applications have been denied or closed without any presidential action. Bush has yet to commute anyone's prison sentence, denying or closing without action 2,978 of those applications, according to the Justice Department.

more…
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031106/D7ULDLMO1.html

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

1. Wow! He pardoned people who not sentenced to time and probations

ended years ago!

What a fucking compassionate thing to do.

[Walt Starr]

6. Yeah, but that's four more votes for Bush

Now that their records are clear, they are allowed to vote again.

[Mikimouse]

2. Brother! I have seen some pretty meaningless stuff in my time,

but these go way beyond meaningless, to the realm of the absurd. "Hey, looka me, ain't I compassionate? Ain't I great? Awwwww, who cares what you think?"

[Fovea]

3. a true compassionate conservative at work

Maximum Dubya.
The friend of cheaters, gun runners, and gamblers.

[SCAMBABY]

4. News?

I guess this is considered Newsworthy ??

[Drifter]

5. Does he have THAT much ...

Free Time on his hands?

Oh yeah, he has nothing to do but campaign.

Cheers
Drifter

[JackSwift]

7. I've got a buck that says

that family members are big Republican donors.

[benfranklin1776]

8. That bears some investigation I agree.

I also want to know more about this:

"Bruce Louis Bartos of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who was convicted in 1987 of transporting a machine gun in
foreign commerce. He was sentenced to two years' probation."

Transporting a machine gun in foreign commerce?

On Edit:

That original charge looked mighty stretched based on this account:

A story on Mr. Bartos
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-apardon07nov07,0,2122789.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

According to this story he was carrying it on his boat when stopped as he was returning from Bimini.


What is interesting about these pardons is as Billy Pilgrim noted they were all for offenses that resulted in probation. There have been NO commutation of sentences hence its a politically painless dog and pony show of "compassionate conservatism".

[truthisfreedom]

9. or connected with dirty-work activities. all of these people should be

investigated by DNC operatives.

[Faygo Kid]

10. How much did they contribute to GWB?

C'mon, somebody greased the palm here. Get real.