Pardons and other acts of clemency can also be controversial and, in some cases, riskier for a governor who may have political ambitions beyond his or her home state. Many federal pardon recipients were convicted of financial or drug-related crimes and very few of violent crimes. One exception during the Bush presidency was a pardon granted to a bank robber who was armed during the crime. But murderers have been pardoned or won early prison release at the state level.

In the court order blocking the 21 pardons, issued Wednesday in Mississippi, Senior Circuit Judge Tomie Green noted that during Barbour's tenure he had granted clemency to individuals convicted of "murder, manslaughter, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, domestic violence, etc."

Barbour's last day in office was Jan. 10. His pardons and commutations, Green's restraining order (PDF) notes, were issued on or just before that day. Some of the individuals who have been or would have been let out of prison early "failed to publish a petition for pardon ... for thirty days prior to the purported pardon granted to them by former Governor Barbour," the order says. Alternately, the order notes, some had failed to prove that they had published a notice.

Among those pardoned were five men convicted of murder. Green concluded that it was possible the clemency acts had violated the state constitution. The 21 will remain behind bars while the order is in effect.

Margaret Colgate Love, who served as the U.S. pardon attorney from 1990-97, said the Mississippi "case seems to be another example of how a governor's failure to observe established pardoning procedures can get him in trouble. It also shows how waiting to the last minute to use the pardon power is a really bad idea."

Barbour was criticized early in his governorship for a lack of pardons, then faced new criticism when he began issuing them. By the time he left the governor's mansion, Barbour had issued more than 200 acts of clemency, more than any recent predecessor.

A 2009 Slate article examined Barbour's decision to release convicted murderers who had been part of a state trusty program that allowed them to work odd jobs around Barbour's official residence. Others pardoned last week appear to have worked in the same program.

Barbour, a former Republican Party chairman and lobbyist, last year had explored running for president but decided against it.

Photograph: Mississippi Governor's Mansion

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