Abused women who murder get pardons

Some abused women get pardons
Governor also grants clemency
By Chris Kenning The Courier-Journal (Kentucky) 10 December 2007

Gov. Ernie Fletcher granted clemency, pardons or early parole
reviews yesterday to 21 Kentucky women convicted of killing or
trying to kill men they say abused them.

Fletcher also said additional pardons will be made today.

The women said the legal system failed to take the abuse into
account in killings they viewed as self-defense. Some argued
they took ill-advised pleas, faced unjust verdicts or had done
enough time in prison.

"Our legal system is the best in the world, but it is not perfect,"
Fletcher said in a statement. "Upon individual review of these
cases by myself and by our General Counsel, I have decided
to grant relief to these women based on their individual
circumstances."

Nine women were granted full pardons. Of those, eight
previously had their sentences commuted - Sue Melton,
Mary Ann Long, Martina Stillwell, Tracie English Gomez,
Sherry Pollard, Margie Marcum, Paula Richey and Karen
Stout.

They had argued that their records made it hard to get jobs
and participate in school activities.

"I'm ecstatic, and I couldn't be more thankful that somebody
finally listened, Gomez, now 34, said in a phone interview
yesterdayevening. She was convicted of manslaughter for
killing her father, William C. English, when she was 16 after
a string of abuse and neglect allegations.

Also pardoned was Jaqulynn Green, serving 18 years in
prison for the 2000 death of her child that her abusive husband
later said was his fault only.

Restoration of rights denied to felons, such as the right to vote,
was granted to Montilla Seewright, Johnetta McNair and
Frances Alvey. They also had previously had their sentences
commuted.

In addition, Jilletta Turner, Stacy Lyons, Teresa Fay Vincent,
Antoinette Johnson and Gabrielle Cecil had their current prison
sentences commuted because of the role abuse played in their
crimes.

Vincent, for example, is serving a 25-year sentence for the
1998 shooting death of her ex-husband, Bryan Hitchcock,
in Louisville.

Vincent, 60, said last week that she moved six times to escape
a man who she said for 20 years had hit her in the face with a
baseball bat, stabbed her with a knife, beat her children and
choked her until she passed out.

Less than a week before the shooting, he raped her. But the
courts found no connection between the abuse and her crime.

"I left many times, but he got me fired from jobs, ambushed
me and beat me up," she said last week in an interview.
"He made my life so tough, it was better to take him back and
put up with it."

Fletcher also has referred the cases of four women to the
state Parole Board for review, saying there wasn't enough
information in their petitions. They are Bertha Williams,
Barbara Sarabia, Cassandra Holland and Pearly Sue Mills.

Holland, for example, said last week that her husband beat her,
raped her and threatened her with a gun. She stayed with him
for decades but in 2003 threw gasoline and a lit match on him
during a conflict, killing him.

"I didn't want him to die, I just wanted him to stop," she said
recently, adding that if she gets out, she plans to work in a
church.

All the petitions were supported by the Department Of Public
Advocacy and the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association.

While the facts and circumstances of each case were different,
advocates said the justice system had failed them all.

Marguerite Thomas, a public advocacy lawyer, applauded the
move: "In taking this action the governor left an indelible mark
on Kentucky's history by giving a voice to some of the most
vulnerable and disenfranchised. Without the governor's
actions, their cry for justice would go unheard."

Marsha Weinstein, former executive director of the Kentucky
Commission on Women, also praised Fletcher's act of "justice
and compassion," according to a news release from the
governor's office.

But Dan Mackin, one of William English's relatives, said that his
uncle wasn't an abuser and that the pardon was a mistake.
Still, he said, he "expected it."

"We're not pleased at all," he said in a phone interview. "They
should have let the families get involved and speak to the governor."

Since 1978, more than 140 women in 28 states have received
clemency for crimes related to abuse, according to the
Philadelphia-based National Clearinghouse for the Defense of
Battered Women.

The pardons were Fletcher's first since those he offered to
members of his administration in the wake of an investigation
into hiring practices.

Fletcher, a former Baptist minister, has until the end of today -
his last full day in office - to decide whether to grant pardons
and clemencies or push for early paroles. Pardons traditionally
are granted at the end of an outgoing governor's term.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.