Department of (In)justice says no to pardon for Jack Johnson

Back in August I wrote about Congressional efforts to pardon former Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson of Galveston.

Yesterday the pardon attorney for the Department of Justice, Ronald Rodgers, informed Rep. Peter King (R-NY) that it was not the department's policy to grant posthumous pardon requests. According to Mr. Rodgers, the department would prefer to grant pardons to folks "who can truly benefit" from them.

President George W. Bush issued a posthumous pardon to Charlie Winters who was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act by selling decommissioned B-17 bombers to Israel in 1948.

Pardon near for boxing great Jack Johnson

This past week Congress took a big step in correcting a lingering wrong - a pardon for the first black man to hold the Heavyweight Championship in boxing - the Galveston Giant, Jack Johnson.

Jack Johnson won the heavyweight title from Tommy Burns in 1908. He defended the title against the "Great White Hope" Jim Jeffries in the "Fight of the Century" in Reno, Nevada in 1910. Johnson won when his opponent failed to answer the bell for the 15th round. Afterwards, Jeffries said "I couldn't have hit him. No, I couldn't have reached him in a thousand years."

Johnson ran afoul of the law when, in 1912, he took his white secretary/girlfriend across state lines. Johnson was charged with violating the Mann Act. Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis (who later suspended Shoeless Joe Jackson and his "Black Sox" teammates for throwing the World Series), found that Johnson took her secretary across state lines for "immoral purposes." Johnson was convicted and sentenced to a year and a day in prison. After living on the lam in Europe for several years, Johnson eventually returned to the States and served his sentence.

The resolution will now make its way to President Obama who has the opportunity to restore Jack Johnson's name.

Texas Governor lacks authority to issue posthumous pardon

Back in February I wrote about the sad case of Timothy Cole, a young man wrongly convicted of rape who was exonerated ten years after his death behind bars.

Now comes word that Governor Rick Perry lacks the authority to grant a posthumous pardon because a proposed constitutional amendment did not make it out of the legislature before the end of the regular session.

"We're extremely disappointed in this," said Cole's brother Cory Session. "He said he would take care of it. If taking care of it is letting it wait for another two years, no. It's been 25 years. We're tired of waiting."

According to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, while Gov. Perry is empowered to issue pardons to living people, he does not have the power to issue a pardon after a person's death.

"I believe we are going to find a way to grant clemency to Tim Cole. We're pretty optimistic." -- Jeff Blackburn, Innocence Project of Texas.

The family's next step is to seek a pardon from President Obama.

Presidential pardon pool

Since election night I have joked with more than one colleague about starting up a pool on how many presidential pardons George W. Bush grants between now and January 20, 2009.  Here's a story from the Houston Chronicle that could lead to the first two.  A Willacy County (Texas) grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in the Federal Detention Center in Willacy County.

See these additional accounts:

• Reuters
  
• Huffington Post
  
• Dallas Business Journal
  
• KRGV - Channel 5 (Weslaco, Texas)