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Friday, November 11, 2005

Law - Kentucky Governor's pardons of accused in hiring investigation trouble judge

Two stories today on the long-running Kentucky merit -hiring investigation. The Evansville Courier& Press has an AP story that begins:

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Franklin County Circuit Judge William Graham appeared troubled Thursday by the prospect of a governor using his power to pardon to close off a grand jury's own authority to examine evidence and indict wrongdoing.

"You can imagine every kind of heinous circumstance," Graham said.

Yet Graham is confronted with just such a circumstance - a request from Gov. Ernie Fletcher to halt the work of the current special grand jury to return an indictment if it finds probable cause to believe a crime was committed from the beginning of his administration to Aug. 29.

Fletcher's lawyer, Sheryl Snyder, said a governor's pardon makes any potential crime disappear. And if there is no crime, there can be no indictment, Snyder argued.

A story in the Louisville Courier Journal, headlined "Judge indicates pardons will stand: Grand jury's fate still isn't certain," reports:
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The pardons issued by Gov. Ernie Fletcher in the state hiring investigation likely mean that those accused will never be prosecuted, Franklin Circuit Judge William Graham said yesterday.

"I can easily be persuaded … the court has a duty to probably dismiss that indictment forthwith," Graham said during a hearing on the Fletcher administration's motion to block the grand jury from issuing any more indictments.

But the judge left unsettled the question of whether the pardons mean the grand jury "goes away."

"Does that give the governor the right to challenge the grand jury's constitutional privilege and right and power to go about its business?" he asked. Graham said he would rule before the grand jury's next scheduled meeting on Thursday.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 11, 2005 10:38 AM
Posted to General Law Related