Former Kentucky governor's pardoning spree leaves prosecutors stunned

Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) spent his last few weeks in office issuing 428 pardons, with his list including a woman who threw her newborn in the trash, a convicted child rapist, and a man who murdered his parents when he was a teenager.

Bevin was defeated last month by Democrat Andy Beshear, who was sworn into office this week. Bevin's pardoning spree has left many of the state's prosecutors stunned, The Washington Post reports, with Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele, a prosecutor for Knox and Laurel counties, saying, "What this governor did is an absolute atrocity of justice. He's put victims, he's put others in our community in danger."

Steele told the Post she was shocked to see Patrick Brian Baker on the pardon list. In 2017, Baker was convicted of reckless homicide, robbery, impersonating a peace officer, and tampering with evidence in connection with a 2014 home invasion that left one man dead. Baker's brother was a Bevin donor, who raised $21,500 to pay off Bevin's 2015 campaign debts. Baker was sentenced to 19 years in prison, but only served two years before his release on Dec. 6. Bevin did not pardon Baker's co-conspirators.

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There were some pardons that didn't raise eyebrows; Gregory Wilson, a death row inmate, had his sentence commuted to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Wilson's 1988 trial was described as being "a travesty of justice and a national embarrassment for Kentucky," the Courier Journal says. Bevin told the Post he is "a big believer in second chances. I think this is a nation that was founded on the concept of redemption and second chances and new pages in life."