Kentucky: outgoing governor pardons killer whose brother hosted fundraiser
(The Guardian United States)

Pardons of violent offenders, including a child rapist and a man who beheaded a female victim, provoke widespread backlashDays after leaving office, the former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin is facing widespread backlash and calls for an investigation following a number of controversial pardons of violent offenders on his way out the door.Pardons are traditional at the end of a governor´s term - and most of the Republican´s more than 400 pardons were for drug offenses. But a number of the pardons were for particularly violent crimes, like a woman who gave birth in a flea market porta-potty and dumped her newborn into the toilet´s septic tank; a man who hired a hitman to murder his business partner in front of his family; a man convicted of beheading a woman and stuffing her body in a 55-gallon drum; a man convicted last year of raping a nine-year-old child; and a man convicted in a home invasion homicide whose brother hosted a fundraiser for the governor last year. Continue reading...