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Posted: 23-12-2002 23:34 Post subject: Bush pardons moonshine maker, others

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/23/white.house.pardons/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush Monday granted seven Americans whose offenses ranged from a Tennessean who made untaxed whiskey to a man who altered the altered the odometer of his car.

They were the first pardons Bush has issued since taking office.

The Justice Department announced the pardons Monday afternoon. Those who received pardons are:

• Kenneth Copley, sentenced in 1962 to probation for manufacturing untaxed whiskey in Tennessee.

• Harlan Dobas, sentenced in 1966 to three months jail and then probation for conspiracy involving the sale of grain stolen from employer in Washington state.

• Stephen Jackson, sentenced in 1993 for altering the odometer of a motor vehicle in Louisiana. He received three years probation and a $500 fine.

• Douglas Rogers, sentenced in 1957 for failing to submit to a draft induction notice. The ordained Jehovah's Witness minister from Wisconsin was sentenced to two years in prison.

• Walter Schuerer, sentenced in 1989 in Iowa for making a false statement to the Social Security Administration regarding his employment. He was fined $15,000.

• Paul Wieser, sentenced in 1972 for stealing $38,000 of copper wire from an interstate shipment. The Tacoma, Washington, resident received 18 months probation.

• Olgen Williams, a postal employee sentenced in 1971 for the theft of $10.90 from the mail. A resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, he was sentenced to a year in prison.

Bush decided to grant the seven pardons Friday.

White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee noted the seven pardons had four common elements.

Each of the seven committed a minor offense, completed a prison sentence, went on to live an "exemplary life," and remained a positive force in the community.

"That is what they were judged on," Snee said.
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that's nice. i wish Bush would decide to do something else as well *wink wink nudge nudge*

Posted: 24-12-2002 02:43 Post subject: Re: Bush pardons moonshine maker, others

Posted: 29-12-2002 19:44 Post subject:

So they weren't actually innocent just guilty of minor crimes that would, in the UK, be considered "spent"; ie no longer on your record. I take it that if they had committed 2 other minor offenses they would have been in prison for life - "3 Strikes" and all that.

No further comment from me