FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

$1M GOP Donor Urged Ex-Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to Pardon Convicted Killer

Terry Forcht, who has given more than a million to Republican candidates, successfully lobbied Bevin for the release of the murderer.

One of Kentucky’s most generous Republican donors reportedly urged the state’s former governor, Matt Bevin, to pardon a convicted killer shortly before he freed the man during his last week in office. Public records surfaced Tuesday by Louisville’s Courier Journal show Terry Forcht, who has given more than $1 million to Republican candidates, lobbied Bevin twice for the release of convicted killer Patrick Baker. Forcht wrote to Bevin in June urging him to give Baker a gubernatorial pardon, saying: “I know his family and still feel he has turned his life around.” Shortly after that letter, an investigator looking into Baker’s case on Bevin’s behalf advised him it would be inappropriate to issue a pardon. However, Bevin went ahead and issued the pardon during his last week in office this month. Bevin wrote: “The evidence supporting his conviction is sketchy at best.” In December 2017, Baker was sentenced to 19 years in prison, convicted of reckless homicide, robbery and impersonating a peace officer.