LENIENT

Mississippi Gov. Pardons Hundreds

Including convicted murderers.

Facing a scandal about pardoning five people? How about pardoning 193 more. Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi pardoned 193 criminals on his last day in office. It's an unusually high number for the state—Barbour's predecessor pardoned only one person, and the governor before him pardoned 13. Furthermore, Barbour is already under fire for pardoning five convicted murderers last week who had worked in the governor's mansion, performing odd jobs like waiting tables, something allowed under Mississippi law. One of them had been turned down for parole the day before. Barbour pardoned 17 convicted murderers over the course of his career.