As I reported last month, friends of former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford are continuing to collect signatures on a petition asking President George W. Bush to pardon Medford before Bush leaves office.
Chad Nesbitt of the Carolina Stompers, appearing on the local cable access show Citizens Speak, said the petition is being circulated among friends and at convenience stores and other locations across the county. The goal is to get 20,000 signatures, according to my earlier post.
Medford, as you know, recently began serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison after being convicted of corruption earlier this year for his role in an illegal gambling ring.
Medford supporters face an uphill fight in getting notice from Bush. The Washington Post has reported that Bush hasn’t used the power to pardon or commute a sentence nearly as much as Presidents Clinton and Reagan.
Here’s the process for a clemency decision, according to the newspaper: It “starts with an application to the Justice Department Office of the Pardon Attorney. Applicants undergo an FBI check, prosecutors and judges often are consulted for their recommendations, and the submissions make their way to the deputy attorney general before moving to the White House counsel’s office and on to the president.”
That’s a complicated process, and with only a few weeks to go before bush leaves office, a Medford pardon seems highly unlikely. But you never know.