Jack Johnson Will He Be Pardoned?

All three were much higher character guys... and frankly better at their respective sports.

 

There is such a thing as a posthumous pardon.

It has been used in cases where the death sentence was applied, and the person was later found to be innocent.

 

Some observations:

It doesn’t matter what Johnson did or did not do on other occasions. A charge either stands on its own merits, or it doesn’t stand.

Once you accept that, the following scenarios could justify a pardon:

A. Johnson was clumsily fitted up.
B. The authorities prosecuted Johnson inappropriately, or overzealously.
C. Johnson simply broke a valid but wicked law.

In order to take a had stance against a pardon, you must think that Johnsons conviction was fair and just, and that it was so on its own merits.

 

Pardons are issued to guilty people who show remorse.
That is the nature of a pardon.
They are not an apology. A pardon is a forgiveness.

If they are issued posthumously, then the person should have admitted guilt and expressed remorse when they were alive.

If it doesn't fit that profile, it's just a political bone being thrown to some interest group.

 

I don't think you understand.
When a pardon is issued it does not mean that the conviction was not fair and just.
A simple way to explain it-
The person is guilty. They are remorseful. They have paid a sufficient penalty for their crime.

 

I am going to assume that you are correct here, but pardons seem to be given out in cases where innocence/inappropriate conviction is established, because they are the only option available.

 

Can you think of one where that was the case?

 

United Kingdom[edit]
1966
• Timothy Evans, Convicted 1950. (posthumous, executed 1950)[4][5]
1968
• Mahmood Hussein Mattan, Convicted 1952 (posthumous, executed 1952)[6]
• Derek Bentley, Convicted 1952 (posthumous, executed 1953)[7]
1969
• Death penalty for murder abolished.[8][9]
1973
• Despite abolition in the UK, the separate legal systems meant death sentences still passed in Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands but with no likelihood of them being carried out. One Provisional Irish Republican Army member was sentenced to death for murder before this anomaly was abolished. European Union protocols signed in 1999 on human rights mean no death penalty statute can exist in an EU country.[10]
United States[edit]
In October 2015, the Death Penalty Information Center said that there had been 156 exonerations of prisoners on death row in the United States since 1973.[11]
1970–1979[edit]
1977
• Delbert Tibbs, Florida. Convicted 1974.[12]
1980–1989[edit]
1987
• Joseph Green Brown. He was re-arrested in 2012 and charged with another murder in North Carolina.[13]
• Perry Cobb. Illinois. Convicted October 15, 1979.[14]
• Darby J. Tillis. Illinois. Convicted October 15, 1979. Perry Cobb and Darby Tillis, two African American men were convicted of First Degree Murder after a third trial by an all-white jury. The primary witness in the case, Phyllis Santini, was determined to be an accomplice of the actual killer by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Judge in the case, Thomas J. Maloney was later convicted of accepting bribes.[15]
1989
• Randall Dale Adams, Texas (Ex Parte Adams, 768 S.W.2d 281) (Tex. Crim App. 1989). Convicted 1977.[16][17]The Adams case was the subject of The Thin Blue Line (1988 film).
• On April 8, 2010, former death row inmate Timothy B. Hennis, once exonerated in 1989, was reconvicted of a triple murder, thereby dropping him from the list of those exonerated.[18]
1990–1999[edit]
1993
• Walter McMillian, Alabama. Convicted 1988.[19]
• Gregory R. Wilhoit, Oklahoma. Convicted 1987. Along with Ron Williamson, Wilhoit later became the subject ofJohn Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.[20]
1995
• Robert Charles Cruz, Illinois. Convicted 1966. (Cruz disappeared in 1997. His remains were found in 2007.[21])
1996
• Joseph Burrows, Illinois. Convicted 1989. Joseph Burrows was released from death row after his attorneyKathleen Zellner persuaded the real killer to confess at the post-conviction hearing, and Peter Rooney, a reporter for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, obtained a recantation from a key witness.[22] The Burrows case was the subject of a book by Rooney titled Die Free: A True Story of Murder, Betrayal and Miscarried Justice.
• Gary Gauger Illinois. Convicted 1995.[23]
1999
• Shareef Cousin, Louisiana (Louisiana v. Cousin, 710 So. 2d 1065 (1998)). Convicted 1996.[24]
• Anthony Porter, Illinois. Convicted 1983.[25]
• Ron Williamson, Oklahoma. Convicted 1988. Along with Gregory R. Wilhoit, Williamson later became the inspiration for and subject of John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.[20]
2000–2009[edit]
2000
• Earl Washington, Jr., Virginia (pardoned). Convicted 1994 (1984, without life sentence).[26]
2002
• Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon, Florida. Convicted 1984.[27][28][29]
• Ray Krone, Arizona (State v. Krone, 897 P.2d 621 (Ariz. 1995) (en banc)). Convicted 1992.[30][31]
2003
• Nicholas Yarris, Pennsylvania Convicted 1982.[32]
• John Thompson, Louisiana. Convicted 1985.[33]
2004
• Alan Gell, North Carolina. Convicted 1995[34]
2008
• Glen Edward Chapman, North Carolina. Convicted 1995. [35]
• Levon "Bo" Jones, North Carolina. Convicted 1993.[36]
• Michael Blair, Texas. Convicted 1994.[37][38][39]
2009
• Nathson Fields, Illinois. Convicted 1986.[40]
• Paul House, Tennessee. Convicted 1986.[41][42]
• Daniel Wade Moore, Alabama. Convicted 2002.[43]
• Ronald Kitchen, Illinois. Convicted 1988.[44]
• Michael Toney, Texas. Convicted 1999. Toney later died in a car accident on October 3, 2009, just one month and a day after his exoneration.[45]
2010–2015[edit]
2010
• Joe D'Ambrosio, Ohio. Convicted 1989. While he was freed in 2010, but not yet exonerated, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the state of Ohio challenging the unconditional writ of habeas corpus and bar to D'Ambrosio's re-prosecution on January 23, 2012, nearly 2 years later, making D'Ambrosio the 140th death row exoneree since 1973.[46][47]
• Anthony Graves, Texas. Convicted 1994.[48]
2011
• Gussie Vann, Tennessee. Convicted 1984
.[49]
2012
• Damon Thibodeaux, Louisiana. Convicted 1997.[50]
• Seth Penalver, Florida. Convicted 1994.[51]
2013
• Reginald Griffin, Missouri. Convicted 1983.[52]
2014
• Glenn Ford, Louisiana. Convicted 1984.[53]
• Carl Dausch, Florida. Convicted 2011.[54]
• Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown, North Carolina. Convicted 1984.[55]
• Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman, Ohio. Convicted 1975.[56]
• Kwame Ajamu (formerly Ronnie Bridgeman), Ohio. Convicted 1975.[57]
2015
• Debra Milke, Arizona. Convicted 1990.[58]
• Anthony Ray Hinton, Alabama. Convicted 1985.[59]
• Willie Manning, Mississippi. Convicted 1996.
• Alfred Brown, Texas. Convicted 2005.
• Lawrence William Lee, Georgia. Convicted 1987.
• Derral Wayne Hodgkins, Florida. Convicted 2013.
• William Antunes, Massachusetts. Convicted 1990.

 

None of those listed are federal presidential pardons.

State pardons have different rules which are decided by state laws.
Johnson's Mann Act conviction was a federal crime.

You posted a big list, but it has nothing to do with the subject.

 

A President can pardon whomever they want. Which is why John Mccain and Senator Reid, who know the law, are advocating a pardon.

But hey, let's throw this argument away, and keep coming up with fresh ideas on why this is a bad idea!

 

Aw man. If Only John Mccain had all this knowledge!

 

Pardons are not only given to guilty people who show remorse. That's not correct.

 

---------------

 

Originally Posted by reznick
Jesse Owen, Jackie Robinson are house hold names, largely for symbolizing values that Johnson wore to a much higher degree.

Louis doesn't get enough credit either.

True. They had better character and were more well known.

Obama might pardon Johnson for political reasons. Keep in mind where his roots were, on the South side of Chicago, a member of a church where the Reverend openly ripped the with hate speech against the USA. Obama also had dinner several times with the Nation of Islam leader.

I'm thinking these friends might influence him to issue a posthumous pardon.

 

Actually Obama has distanced himself from this issue. Never openly responding to Mccain or Reid.

And he left that church after Wright made those comments. This has been a closed issue since 2008.

Amongst all of Obamas actions as president, very strange that you would bring those little details up as reasons on why he would pardon Johnson. So simplistic and wrong.