Barbour's Pardons and Mississippi's History of Unjust Prosecutions

Mississippi's former Governor Haley Barbour waited two days before explaining why he pardoned 200 convicts before leaving office this week. He said most already had been released and that all deserved the right to get jobs, vote and be licensed to hunt. But a judge blocked more than 21 pardons and four convicted killers may have to go back to jail. Judge Tomie Green agreed with an outraged Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood that some may have violated the state constitution, which requires a notice of possible pardons be published in local newspapers for 30 days. Tucker Carrington is Director of the Mississippi Innocence Project, based at the University of Mississippi School of Law.