Kennard Conviction Vacated
by TChris
As TalkLeft discussed here, Clyde Kennard was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for buying stolen chicken feed in Mississippi, a crime he didn't commit. Kennard, an African American veteran of the Korean War, was set up for prosecution because he tried to enroll at an all-white university. He died in 1963, three years after he was framed for the chicken feed crime.
Interest in Kennard's case was recently renewed after a reporter obtained the recantation of a witness. Gov. Haley Barbour nonetheless refused a request to pardon Kennard, innocent or not, because Barbour doesn't believe in pardons. That position was widely criticized, which may explain Barbour's willingness to (belatedly) join a petition asking the circuit court to vacate Kennard's conviction.
Mississippi has no clear procedure to vacate convictions of deceased defendants, but Circuit Court Judge Robert Helfrich decided that justice required action.
"Because this matter did begin here, it should end here," Helfrich said from the bench. "To me, this is not a black and white issue - it's a right and wrong issue. To correct that wrong, I am compelled to do the right thing, and that is to declare Mr. Kennard innocent, and to declare that the conviction of Mr. Kennard is hereby null and void."
Good for Judge Helfrich. And good for Forrest-Perry County District Attorney Jon Mark Weathers, who admitted that Kennard was innocent.
The petition was signed by a number of prominent residents of Mississippi, including retired federal judge Charles Pickering Sr. and former Gov. William Winter. They deserve credit for their attention to this injustice, but Barbour deserves none, despite his claim to be "pleased to have been a part of this successful effort to clear the name of Clyde Kennard." Nonsense, guv. You could have pardoned the man and you chose not to disturb your unblemished record of refusing to exercise your power to correct injustice. Asking a judge to do what you refused to do is too little, too late.
| < Tobin Sentenced | Utah Upholds Bigamy Ban > |
