Rounds says no chance of pardon for Janklow in next year

[Freddie Stubbs]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - People can stop wondering whether Rep. Bill Janklow will get a quick gubernatorial pardon to erase his criminal convictions for a fatal traffic crash.
Gov. Mike Rounds said Monday there's no chance he would pardon Janklow in the next year.

A Moody County jury on Monday convicted Janklow of second-degree manslaughter, a felony carrying a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. The jury also found Janklow guilty of misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, speeding and failing to stop at a stop sign.

Rounds said he has a policy of refusing to consider pardon requests within the first year of a conviction. During that first year, the courts retain jurisdiction of a case and a circuit judge can modify the sentence, he said.

''It's a moot point at this time,'' Rounds said of a potential pardon.

more: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1300&dept_id=156931&newsid=10636652&PAG=461&rfi=9

[Sagan]

1. That is OUTRAGEOUS!!

Rounds should have said there is NO chance of a pardon EVER!! A man is DEAD. Janklow KILLED him! And Rounds is mincing words about when he might pardon Janklow?

Rounds should be ashamed of himself.

[izzie]

3. But killing people on the roads is a Bush interest.

He will let him out then put him in a good job in DC. All those ex-crooks etc are working for Bush now.Hard to defeat any one in election now also, as Bush will have him in a good job any how.All the people the voters did not like are now running our govt. You figure that out.

[JackSwift]

2. How about a policy of not pardoning killers who are just

guilty as hell? Damn, why would anybody be talking about a pardon of someone so guilty of taking a life so recklessly?

[Lindacooks]

4. Because they're both Republicans.

[Frances]

5. Can you imagine the media circus

if Janklow had been a Democrat and Hillary had been the president's wife who ran a stop sign and killed a man?

Not a peep in the media about Laura Bush doing exactly that.

If the media treated Laura Bush the way it treats Democrats, that fact alone would mean that Bush would lose in 2004.

[Frances]

6. Shouldn't Democrats be asking

what is the difference between what Janklow did and what Laura Bush did?