posted on June 8, 2005 06:18:46 PM new
Bush Pardons Seven People for Crimes 23 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - President Bush granted pardons to seven people Wednesday, including a man court-martialed by the Air Force in 1978. Bush has issued 46 pardons and sentence commutations during 52 months in office.
His father, former President George H.W. Bush, issued 77 pardons during his single term, from 1989 to 1993, according to statistics collected by the University of Pittsburgh law school. Former President Clinton granted clemency to 456 people during his eight years in office, including 176 on his last day at the White House.
Some pardons, like the one President Ford gave Richard Nixon in 1974, protect recipients from going to jail or cut short their sentences. But Bush has granted clemency mainly to allow people who committed relatively minor offenses and long ago served their sentences to clear their names.
Those granted pardons Wednesday were:
• David Thomas Billmyer, North Port, Fla., making a false claim, sentenced December 1978 to two months hard labor following a court- martial.
• William Charles Davis, Blacksburg, Va., income tax evasion, sentenced August 1983 to two years probation and a $10,000 fine.
• Richard Ardell Krueger, Rock Hill, S.C., mail fraud, false information on a government housing loan application, sentenced May 1979 to three years probation and a $1,000 fine for mail fraud, sentenced October 1980 to 15 months in prison on the other charge.
• Michael Mark McLaughlin, Bedford, N.H., conspiracy to commit mail fraud, sentenced August 1983 to 27 months in prison, five years probation and $20,827 in restitution.
• Billie Curtis Moore, Waterford, Mich., income tax evasion, sentenced July 1977 to two years probation and a $10,000 fine.
• James Edward Reed, Kaufman, Texas, conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, sentenced January 1975 to 18 months in prison and two years special parole.
• Scott LaVerne Sparks, Pana, Ill., theft of government property, sentenced May 1989 to three years probation.
