JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green issued an injunction late Wednesday at the request of Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood.
The injunctions temporarily blocks 21 inmates who received pardons or medical release by former Governor Haley Barbour.
Attorney General Jim Hood made the filing in Hinds County Circuit Court Wednesday just after his news conference hoping to stop the release of any more criminals pardoned by former governor Barbour.
"It's a slap in the face to me as a prosecutor for serving twenty years," said Attorney General Jim Hood.
Attorney General Hood requested the injunction to stop the release of Governor Barbour's pardoned criminals until it can be determined that they met the requirements of Section 124 of the Mississippi Constitution.
Section 124 states that no pardon shall be granted until the applicant has published for 30 days their request for pardon.
In her ruling, Judge Green said she granted the request because "there is a substantial likelihood of success on his claim that the subject pardons violated Section 124 of the Mississippi Constitution. There is a sufficient threat of irreparable injury should the subject individuals be released based upon the purported gubernatorial pardons. "
Former Governor Barbour said in a statement Wednesday, a day after leaving office, that he believes people have misunderstood why he gave reprieves to more than 200 inmates.
"The pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote," former Gov. Barbour said. "My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the Parole Board in more than 90 percent of the cases."
Hood said it's not clear whether all the inmates pardoned by Barbour met the publication requirement, and that he believes it's likely that some did not.
Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Suzanne Singletary told The Associated Press that five inmates let out over the weekend are the only ones on Barbour's list who had been released as of Wednesday evening.
She said about 21 inmates who received pardons or early release were still waiting to get out.
Processing paperwork generally takes several days because, among other things, the department has to give victims 48 hours' notice before an inmate is released.
Reporters from across the state and nation crowed into Attorney General Hood's office Wednesday afternoon as he made it clear, he would be taking legal action against former governor Haley Barbour's last action in office, an action Hood says is a violation of the state constitution.
"It's unfortunate Governor Barbour didn't ready the constitution," Attorney General Hood said.
Hood says in many cases, that didn't happen and pardons should be voided.
"Some of them we've found already they haven't published anything, so we think clearly a court will void those pardons. We don't know how many at this point," Attorney General Hood said.
Barbour handed out full pardons or lightened the sentences of nearly 300 people, including murderers and rapists as well as those convicted of sex and drug crimes.
Even Republican lawmakers say the pardons are shocking.
"This is an insult to every judge, every juror, every DA that spent the time to law enforcement that risked their lives to try these cases, to put these murderers and rapists in jail to start with," said Senator Billy Hudson of Hattiesburg.
For those who got a pardon, Attorney General Hood says it restores civil rights and removes employment disabilities, giving convicted felons the chance to once again own a gun and even relieves the obligation for sex offenders to register as such.
"This was all done in secrecy," Attorney General Hood said. "It's a shame and he ought be ashamed."
If any of those pardons are voided, those individuals will be taken back to jail and in the meantime the Attorney General's office will be looking over all the pardon files which Hood says Barbour's legal team refused to hand over.
"I had to tell Governor Bryant I was going to have to sue him to get an order to make the governor's office turn over those records," Attorney General Hood said.
With the files in hand, investigators will now go through every case to see if they can prove those individuals did not run those newspaper notifications.
Copyright, WLBT News, 2012. All Rights Reserved. AP contributed to this report.
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