Missouri governor granting pardons at pace not seen since WWII era

Distraught over a romantic breakup, 16-year-old Kenny Batson vented his pain by smashing the windshields of cars on a for-sale lot. He ended up in juvenile detention, but that was just the beginning of his problems.

Over the next few years, Batson stole cigarettes, booze and cars for drunken joyrides, bouncing in and out of prison and substance abuse treatment programs. At the age of 20, he beat a man nearly to death and only stopped when friends pulled him away.

Batson, now 50, is a Christian minister, a reformed man who has been pardoned for his crimes.

The governor who pardoned him knows a thing or two about transformations.

For ten years as a rural sheriff, Mike Parson was the face of the justice system, the man ultimately responsible for catching and jailing local lawbreakers. Now governor, Parson has also become the face of mercy, pardoning more than 600 people over the past three years, more than any Missouri governor since the 1940s.

“I still believe in law and order. I believe criminals should be treated as such and held accountable,” Parson said in an interview with The Associated Press.

But “that doesn’t mean they’re criminals all their lives,” Parson added. “I think you should be able to look at it.”

Parson’s pace of pardons in Republican-ridden Missouri coincides with a national movement to restore the rights and reputations of citizens after serving criminal sentences. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, recently set a new state record for the number of pardons.

Minnesota could also have more pardons in store after the Legislature this year revamped the state’s clemency process to allow pardons without unanimous votes by a three-member board made up of the governor, attorney general and chief justice. The governor must still be one of the two votes.

At the federal level, President Joe Biden last year pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession and encouraged governors to do the same.

The move marks a step back from the tough-on-crime approach of the late 20th century and a return to an earlier American era when pardons and commutations were far more common.

Although the process varies, every state allows some form of leniency. Commutations shorten the length of sentences. Pardons function as official forgiveness for crimes, restoring rights such as the ability to own firearms, and removing barriers to employment.

For Batson, the pardon helped restore self-esteem by destroying the criminal label. The official document arrived more than five years after his wife put together a thick package of letters of recommendation for his clemency petition in a manila envelope.

“I literally cried and screamed when I got it. It was great,” Batson said.

In Missouri, clemency requests are first screened by the Board of Probation and Parole, which makes confidential recommendations to the governor. There is no deadline within which the governor must make a decision.

Parson inherited nearly 3,700 clemency petitions when he was suddenly elevated to lieutenant governor following the resignation of scandal-plagued GOP Gov. Eric Greitens in June 2018. Some of those cases, including Batson’s, dated back to Democratic Gov. Jay’s term. Nixon, who served from 2009-2017.

Parson staff began systematically addressing the backlog in December 2020, even as requests continued to pour in. They set a goal of evaluating about 100 cases each month, weighing applicants’ work and education history, community involvement, character references and remorse for their crimes. The types of crimes, how young the perpetrators were and how much time had passed also played a role when Parson made his decisions.

To date, Parson has denied approximately 2,400 clemency requests, while granting 613 pardons and 20 commutations. That’s the highest number since Republican Gov. Forrest Donnell granted nearly 1,700 pardons between 1941 and 1945.

In Wisconsin, Evers has granted 1,111 pardons since taking office in 2019, surpassing the record of 943 set by Republican Governor Julius Heil from 1939-1943. Evers’ actions are especially notable because his predecessor, Republican Governor Scott Walker, had dissolved the pardon board and issued no pardons during his eight years in office.

As a result of Parson’s actions, Missouri is now categorized by the Restoration of Rights Project as one of sixteen states that regularly or regularly grant pardons. A predictable schedule, like Parson’s monthly announcements, can dispel the impression that the process is corrupt, said Margaret Love, executive director of the nonprofit Collateral Consequences Resource Center, which is leading the project.

“The thing about regular pardons is that the public starts to trust it and understand what the governor is doing,” said Love, a former pardon attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

In Wisconsin, Evers’ pardon notices are accompanied by a brief summary of each person’s crimes and subsequent achievements.

Parson has only released the names of those granted clemency. But details about each person’s criminal offenses and the dates and counties of their convictions are included in clemency documents filed with the secretary of state that the AP obtained through open records requests.

Of those granted clemency by Parson, 42% had been convicted of drug crimes, 28% of theft and 14% of burglary, according to an AP analysis. The next most common crime convictions were drink driving, forgery and passing poor checks. On average, almost 28 years had passed since their last conviction.

Two notable exceptions were Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The St. Louis couple who gained national attention for waving guns at protesters against racial injustice were pardoned by Parson on July 30, 2021, just six weeks after Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree felony and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty had pleaded guilty to intimidation.

At least three people were pardoned for crimes committed in Polk County while Parson was sheriff there from 1993 to 2005. They include Pete Underdal, whose frequent drinking and driving landed him in jail, and Dave Galloway, who was caught selling methamphetamine from his home.

Parson knew both men and has been a customer of Galloway’s locksmith business ever since. But Parson said his hometown connections played no role in their pardon.

More important are the testimonies of others, such as the law enforcement officer who raided Galloway’s home and vouched for his transformed character years later.

“When you have people in your community that you live in and they start saying things about you, how you’ve changed and things like that, it does have an impact. That goes for me too,” Parson said.

Galloway said he applied for a pardon in 2010 but heard nothing for years. He was shocked when his request was granted in 2022.

“For Governor Parson to look at me and see that rehabilitation is real and not just things someone says based on your actions and not your words, was huge,” Galloway said.