Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has posthumously pardoned 34 lynching victims killed between 1854 and 1933.

On Saturday, Hogan issued the pardons of the Black victims at an event in Towson. One of the victims was 15-year-old Howard Cooper, who was dragged from the Towson jail and lynched by a white mob on July 13, 1885. An all-white jury had convicted the teen of raping white teenager, Katie Gray. However, neither Gray nor Cooper testified that Gray was raped. Nevertheless, Cooper was sentenced to death by hanging.

Hogan’s pardons are the first of its kind in the country meant to “right these horrific wrongs.”

“Today, we are once again leading the way as we continue the work to build a more perfect union,” the Republican governor stated.

Hogan was initially motivated by a petition from students at Loch Raven Technical Academy who called for Cooper to be pardoned “in light of the fact that he was never afforded due process under the law.” The governor agreed and dismissed charges against the wrongfully accused victims of “racial terror lynchings.”

During the Towson event, a marker was unveiled next to the former jailhouse where Cooper was held. Hogan also read the names of the other lynching victims, which included a 13-year-old boy named Frederick.

Willie Flowers, head of Maryland’s NAACP chapter, is not impressed with Hogan’s pardoning and believes that the move was a stunt to benefit him in his future political endeavors.

“If the governor’s going to do something, he should, with his power as governor, look at the many broken systems based on the same type of vitriol, contempt, hatred that caused the murders of these gentlemen. Every system that has been broken, as the governor of Maryland, he alone can change all of it.”

Flowers also added, “Celebrating himself by reminding people that lynchings happened is not the best thing you can do. It’s actually the least that he could do.”

In the news of kick-him-while-he’s-down, Carole Baskin revealed to BuzzFeed News that she’s thrilled her rival Joe Exotic didn’t get a pardon from Donald Trump.

In the final hours of Trump’s presidency, many crossed their fingers hoping they would get blessed by his executive powers, including Joe Exotic, who was sentenced to 22-years in prison for trying to pay someone to kill Baskin—the CEO of Big Cat Rescue–for $3,000.

Joe Exotic—the mullet-wearing zookeeper and star of the hit documentary series “Tiger King”—was banking on a pardon. His lawyers were so overly confident that he would be on Trump’s last-minute pardon list, they hired a limo to be there when he was released from the Texas prison.

“We’re waiting for the phone call from Washington, DC,” said private investigator Eric Love, who is part of Exotic’s defense team, in a Twitter video. “It’s coming, y’all. Hold tight.”

A hair and makeup team hired by his lawyers also waited on his release.

Sadly, Joe’s name was not one of the dozens and dozens pardoned by Trump on the last night of his presidency.

After the list went public, Love deleted his video.

Sometime after, Love retweeted a post purportedly written by Exotic: “I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first.”

Exotic was also convicted in April of 2019 for violating federal wildlife laws, killing five tigers, selling baby tigers, and fabricating records.

He has denied the charges.

As for Baskin, she gave her input, saying, “I think only Joe’s team and the media were ever even thinking about a pardon for Joe.”

“There is no benefit, other than a feeble attempt to deflect attention, for anyone to pardon someone who walked up to five tigers and shot them in the head in order to clear cage space for the circus, who was going to pay him to board their tigers during the offseason. Tigers are the world’s favorite animal and Joe Schreibvogel Maldonado Passage is right where he belongs: in a cage.”

This beef is real.

Before Donald Trump was dismissed from the White House, he granted pardons to 73 individuals and commuted the sentences of an additional 70 individuals.

Some of the names most people probably aren’t aware of, but a few of the names stuck out:

Desiree Perez (CEO of Roc Nation)– She was one of the individuals on the list who received a full pardon from Trump. Ms. Perez was involved in a drug trafficking conspiracy, and has taken full responsibility for her conduct since her arrest and has turned her life around. She has been gainfully employed and has been an advocate in her community for criminal justice reform.

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.- Also known as Lil’ Wayne, was another familiar name on Trump’s full pardon list. Mr. Carter pled guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, owing to a conviction over 10 years ago. Brett Berish of Sovereign Brands, who supports a pardon for Mr. Carter, describes him as “trustworthy, kind-hearted and generous.” He has exhibited his generosity through a commitment to various charities, including donations to research hospitals and a host of foodbanks. Also in support of Mr. Carter’s full pardon was Deion Sanders, who wrote that Wayne was “a provider for his family, a friend to many, a man of faith, a natural giver to the less fortunate, a waymaker, [and] a game-changer.”

Kwame Kilpatrick– A former Detroit Mayor, had his sentence commuted by Trump, and he is now being released from prison 20 years early for public corruption crimes in 2013. This commutation is strongly supported by prominent members of the Detroit community, Alveda King, Alice Johnson, Diamond and Silk, Pastor Paula White, Peter Karmanos, Representative Sherry Gay-Dagnogo of the Michigan House of Representatives, Representative Karen Whitsett of the Michigan House of Representatives, and more than 30 faith leaders. Mr. Kilpatrick has served approximately 7 years in prison for his role in a racketeering and bribery scheme while he held public office. During his incarceration, Mr. Kilpatrick has taught public speaking classes and has led Bible Study groups with his fellow inmates.

Next on the list of familiar names is Bill K. Kapri, aka Kodak Black- A prominent artist and community leader whose commutation is supported by numerous religious leaders, including Pastor Darrell Scott and Rabbi Schneur Kaplan. Additional supporters include Bernie Kerik, Hunter Pollack, Gucci Mane, Lil Pump, Lil Yachty, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Jack Brewer, formerly of the National Football League, and numerous other notable community leaders. Kodak was sentenced to 46 months in prison for making a false statement on a Federal document and has served nearly half of his sentence. Before his conviction and after reaching success as a recording artist, he became deeply involved in numerous philanthropic efforts. In fact, Kodak has committed to supporting various charitable efforts, such as providing educational resources to students and families of fallen law enforcement officers and the underprivileged. In addition to these efforts, he has paid for school children’s notebooks, provided funding and supplies to daycare centers, provided food for the hungry, and provides for underprivileged children during Christmas annually. Most recently, while still incarcerated, Kodak Black donated $50,000 to David Portnoy’s Barstool Fund, which provides funds to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. His only request was that his donation goes toward restaurants in his hometown.

Michael Harris–  The 59-year-old Death Row Records Co-founder will be released from prison after serving 32 years of a 25 year to life sentence for kidnapping and attempted murder. Mr. Harris has had an exemplary prison record for three decades. He is a former entrepreneur and has mentored and taught fellow prisoners how to start and run businesses. He has completed courses towards business and journalism degrees. Upon his release, he will have a meaningful place of employment and housing with his family’s support.

On Sunday, the New York Times revealed that pardon-seekers and those lobbying on their behalf paid Trump’s supporters tens of thousands of dollars to press the president to grant clemency.

The Times stated that pushes for pardons have escalated, citing records and interviews with more than three dozen lobbyists and attorneys, as people realized that Trump’s election threats will not be successful and as his administration has entered its final days.

Among those raising tens of thousands of dollars in recent weeks, former federal prosecutor Brett Tolman, who has advised the Trump administration on pardons, is asking the president to lobby many individuals, including the son of a former Arkansas senator, the founder of the Silk Road online drug marketplace, and a Manhattan woman who, according to the Times, pleaded guilty to fraud.

Trump’s administration has claimed that Tolman has helped “less-connected” citizens to seek clemency, although no public records show that Tolman was paid for that.

On Friday, Tolman said on Twitter that he has “represented many to get clemency. Some have been paying clients, many have been pro-bono. I’m proud of my team’s clemency work.”

Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, John Dowd, has also taken in tens of thousands of dollars from customers, including a rich sports gambler, pointing to his intimate friendship with the president to lobby for clemency and urging them to address Trump’s complaints about the justice system.

Karen Giorno, a former Trump campaign adviser, was granted $50,000 to get a pardon for John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer accused of disclosing a CIA officer’s identity in waterboarding an American prisoner. A copy of the agreement obtained by the Times reveals that if Trump pardoned Kiriakou, she will receive a $50,000 bonus.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The pardon granting mechanism was run by Trump and his administration differently than other administrations, which benefited those related to or willing to pay Trump or his allies, pardon lawyers told the Times.

Former U.S. pardon attorney Margaret Love told the newspaper, “This kind of off-books influence peddling, special-privilege system denies consideration to the hundreds of ordinary people who have obediently lined up as required by Justice Department rules, and is a basic violation of the longstanding effort to make this process at least look fair,”

It is not illegal to pay allies to the president to petition for a pardon because only payment proposals to the president may be prosecuted for violating bribery laws. There has been no suggestion that money was given to Trump himself in return for clemency.

Earlier this month, the Times reported that Trump had publicly discussed seeking to pardon himself and his children. Any such pardon would apply only to federal offenses, and if challenged, it’s unclear if a self-pardon would stand up.

The self-pardon could come after Trump was impeached last week on a charge of inciting violence at the Capitol that resulted in five deaths. The Senate trial is slated to begin after he leaves office.

Two people close to the situation say Trump has suggested pardoning himself in the few days left in his presidency.

According to the New York Times, the move will be one of the most extraordinary and unprecedented moves used by a President in American history.

Apparently, there have been several conversations between Trump and his advisers over his idea to pardon himself. In other instances, Trump has asked if he should do it and nd what legal and political advantages he could get from it.

The conversations’ timing is still vague, and it’s unknown if he’s spoken on it since Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump is accused of inciting his supporters to march on the capitol grounds, where some people involved stormed inside the building.

Trump’s thoughts of pardoning himself may have ventured beyond idle musings. He is well aware that he has the power to pardon himself, and given his latest antics, it won’t be surprising if he chooses to go forward with it. Even his aides feel he will follow through on his aims.

Purportedly Trump fears those against him will use the levers of law enforcement to go after him once he leaves office. This may be the reason he will become the first president to pardon himself, despite the legitimacy of prospective self clemency never being tested in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Legal scholars are at odds if the court will accept the move. Still, they share the sentiment that it will create a dangerous new precedent that other presidents may follow, feeling as if they are higher than the law. The pardoning will allow them to get off for their crimes if committed while in office.

Trump has also looked into pardoning his three oldest children—Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his close associates, including his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani. Trump is fearful that Biden’s Justice Department may launch an investigation into all of them.

Trump has already told his advisers that he likes having the power to pardon people and has asked aides and friends who he should pardon.

According to the Times, he’s offered pre-emptive pardons to advisers and administration officials. Still, people weren’t too keen on the idea because, for one, they didn’t think they were in legal jeopardy, and for two, they thought accepting the pardon would be seen as an admission of guilt.

Trump’s aides encouraged him to make a strong condemnation on Wednesday, but clearly, he declined. White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone advised him that he could face legal issues for his part in the riot, considering that he encouraged supporters to march to the capitol and “fight.”

Aides reported that Trump seemed to enjoy watching the riot unfold on the TV.

Still, Trump’s legal woes go beyond Wednesday incident are vague, even with his revealed call to Georgia Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, who he called and told “find” votes to help him overturn the election.

However, special counsel Robert S. Mueller, III, has outlined ten situations in which Trump may have obstructed justice but did not go into detail if he broke the law.

If Trump chooses to pardon himself, White-collar defense attorneys suggest he point out the crimes he pardoned himself for, but this would mean he would admit to his wrongdoings, a far stretch for Trump.

The Constitution’s framers allowed presidents to have total authority to grant clemency for federal—but not state crimes.

“Only a court can invalidate a self-pardon, and it can only do so if the Biden administration brings a case against Trump,” Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and former top Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said. “A Trump self-pardon would thus make it more likely the Biden team prosecutes Trump for crimes committed in office.”

In December, Donald Trump pardoned four former Blackwater contractors for their part in the 2007 shooting rampage that left 14 unarmed civilians dead in Baghdad. Evan Liberty was one of the four contractors who was pardoned.

He has since defended his actions.

According to the Daily Mail, in 2014, Evan Liberty was convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter for opening fire in Baghdad’s busy Nisour Square. The incident took the lives of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

‘I feel like I acted correctly,’ Liberty said during his first interview following his release. ‘I regret any innocent loss of life, but I’m just confident in how I acted, and I can feel peace with that.’

Liberty spent six years in prison, hoping one day for a pardon. Last month, a prison supervisor came to his cell to deliver the news he was hoping for.

‘He says, `Are you ready for this?’ Liberty recalled. ‘I said, `Uh, I’m not sure. What is going on?´ He said, `Presidential pardon. Pack your stuff.´’

Liberty was ‘Dumbfounded’ by the news but looks forward to moving on with his life. The New Hampshire native doesn’t know what his future will be but knows he has a passion for physical fitness and wants to help veterans’ organizations.

I feel like it’s my duty to go out and do something positive and live a good life because they gave me a second chance, so that´s basically my goal,’ he says, adding that he is grateful to those that support him, including Donald Trump who has given him a ‘second chance at life.’

The Blackwater rampage has been called a ‘massacre’ by the now-retired FBI agent John M. Patarini. In a letter to the New York Times, he slammed the pardons and said the shooting was a massacre along the lines of My Lai in Vietnam.’

‘President Trump should have had staff members review the trial evidence that led to the convictions and read the judges’ opinions and sentencing statements,’ he wrote. ‘I’m so disgusted with the president’s actions!’

‘I’m so glad that I’m retired and will never again be asked to risk my life and those of my fellow investigators, only to have killers pardoned for purely political reasons,’ he continued.

All four U.S. contractors were convicted for their part in the 2014 shooting rampage. Nicholas Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder, and the other three, Paul Slough, Dustin Heard, and Liberty were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter.

The contractors claimed they were targeted by insurgent gunfire at the location of the shooting, but prosecutors said there was no evidence found to support their claims.

Their prison sentences ranged from 15 years to life. But Donald Trump’s pre-Christmas clemency spree has lessened their time.

UN experts claim the pardons violate international law.

‘Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families,’ said Jelena Aparac, who is the chair of the U.N. working group on the use of mercenaries.

Private security contractors are held accountable under the Geneva Conventions, which has war criminals responsible for their crimes.

‘These pardons violate U.S. obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level.’

The group says allowing private security contractors to operate with impunity in armed conflicts makes states emboldened to circumvent their humanitarian law obligations.

Liberty acknowledges that many may not be understanding of his pardon. Still, he insists there is a misconception of the shooting rampage and says he did not shoot in the direction of any of the victims killed that day.

‘I didn’t shoot at anybody that wasn’t shooting at me.” While also adding that he and the other contractors would ‘never take an innocent life. We responded to a threat accordingly.’

The judge initially gave Liberty 30 years in prison. He says he uncertain how he was pardoned and has never spoken with Donald Trump. However, his support base is known to have ties with the White House.

The White House says the decision to pardon the group of four was ‘broadly supported by the public’ and also by several Republican lawmakers.

Next week, on January 6, Joe’s team will fly to Washington, D.C., for a ‘high level’ meeting. The date coincides with the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and a rally that Trump plans to do a lot of high-profile last-minute pardons.

Joe’s attorney, Eric Love, validated the claims in a video. The legal team will fly on “The Joe Exotic Express” to D.C. The jet is adorned with a picture of Joe. Love said the jet will “fly the nation’s airspace requesting President Trump to grant the pardon to an innocent man, Joe Exotic,” Love said.

According to the New York Post, the convict is currently at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, fearing that he will die from COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump began announcing a wave of pardons. The 41 new pardons will protect his loyalists’ criminals from accountability and punishment.  Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner are among the names listed. Manafort and Stone are former advisers of Trump. They were previously indicted and convicted of several crimes by special counsel Robert Mueller. During their trials, both parties lied to congress and prosecutors to protect Trump.

9-140.112 – Standards for Considering Pardon Petitions

“In general, a pardon is granted on the basis of the petitioner’s demonstrated good conduct for a substantial period of time after conviction and service of sentence. The Department’s regulations require a petitioner to wait a period of at least five years after conviction or release from confinement (whichever is later) before filing a pardon application (28 CFR Section 1.2). The Department may grant a waiver of the five-year requirement. In determining whether a particular petitioner should be recommended for a pardon, the following are the principal factors taken into account.”

Myron Burrell was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of murdering a child in 2002.

However, new evidence and a look into a “flawed” investigation have helped free him. According to NBC News, the state’s pardon board released Burrell, who has been in prison since he was a teenager.

In 2002, 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards was killed by a stray bullet through her heart while she sat at her dining room table doing homework. Burrell was 16 years old at the time, and not only has he maintained his innocence, but another man has also come forward to admit he was the shooter.

The case was a high-profile case that garnered the attention of the Associated Press and American Public Media. Earlier this year, both outlets discovered new evidence and significant police errors during their investigation. The AP launched a yearlong review of the case, finding no hard evidence—no gun, DNA, or fingerprints—that suggested Burrell was the shooter.

AP’s look into the case discovered that the police did not obtain the surveillance video at the nearby corner store; had they done so, it could have exonerated Burrell. And what’s even more disturbing is the fact that a homicide detective was heard on video offering another man $500 to give up Burrell’s name.

On Tuesday, the 34-year-old former inmate walked free after the Minnesota Board of Pardons agreed to commute his life sentence to 20 years. He will remain on supervised release for the next two years.

“I come before you, a 34-year-old man who spent more than half of his life incarcerated for a crime I didn’t commit,” Burrell stated when he requested the board for a pardon, adding that he wasn’t trying to “minimize the tragedy of the loss of” Edwards. Others supported his request, which was accompanied by testimonies from community leaders and letters from other inmates in the prison system. People on Burrell’s behalf spoke on his strong character and moral leadership as an inmate.

While in prison, Burrell converted to Islam and was a religious leader in prison, NBC News reports.

“I tried to make the best of my situation,” he said. “I started going in and extracting medicine out of the poison. The trials and tribulations I was going through, I tried to get something out of it.”

However, everyone is not happy that Burrell will walk free, including Tyesha’s brother Jimmie Edwards, III, who said the family is upset with the decision. Edwards’ family believes the justice system has failed Tyesha.

“She never got to go to her prom. She never got to go to college. She never got to go to junior high school or high school,” he said. “Her life was taken away at 11. Who’s the victim?” He also feels the media coverage given to Burrell will overshadow his sister’s death.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz agrees with the pardon board’s decision, and he also recommended the commuted sentence. He referenced science and the nation’s highest court that ruled that teenagers’ minds work differently as they become adults and that a life sentence is too harsh for a minor.

“While this board is not a fact-finder, it does have the power to determine when justice is served through the power of clemency and mercy,” Walz said, adding: “We cannot turn a blind eye to the developments in science and law as we look at this case.”

“We’re not here to relitigate the crime committed against your family that took your daughter away. There is nothing I can do to ease your pain, and it will not be made better. But we must act today to recognize the law in this area has changed. Justice is not served by incarcerating a child for his entire lifetime for a horrible mistake committed many years ago,” Walz said in regards to the Edwards family.