Thread: Bush Pardons 19, Commutes One Prison Term

Eduviges Duvi Gonzalez-Matsumura of Clovis, Calif. (aiding and abetting embezzlement of bank funds)

Bush pardons Clovis woman
She gets mercy for aiding bank fund embezzlement.
Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A Clovis woman has beaten the odds, winning a rare presidential pardon Tuesday for a nonviolent crime committed more than 15 years ago in Southern California.

Eduviges Duvi Gonzalez-Matsumura applied for the pardon five years ago on her own without an attorney's help.

On Tuesday, capping what she said has "been a long process," she was called at home by a Justice Department official to advise her that she had secured the pardon.

* Story List: 19 people granted a pardon or commutation

"I think it's a great thing," Gonzalez-Matsumura said Tuesday in a brief telephone interview. "I feel blessed."

Hers was among 19 pardons issued Tuesday by President George W. Bush -- all for people little known to the public.

Now 37, and known to her friends as Duvi, she was convicted in 1993 of aiding and abetting the embezzlement of bank funds in Southern California.

She said that at the time she was young and merely went along with the embezzlement scheme.

"I wouldn't do anything like that or be in that kind of position [again]," said Gonzalez-Matsumura, now married and a four-year resident of Clovis.

She declined to give further comment, saying, "I want to be able to give this thought."

In winning her pardon, she succeeded where many others have failed.

In fiscal 2008, the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney received 555 pardon applications. Bush has granted 44 so far.

He has been more generous than his father, President George H.W. Bush, who in some years didn't grant a single pardon, but not as generous as President Bill Clinton.

In fiscal 2000, Clinton received 336 pardon applications and granted 70.

Presidents sometimes start offering more pardons during their final year in office; Clinton, inciting some political controversy, issued 218 pardons in fiscal 2001.

The count for Bush's final fiscal year in office isn't yet complete, and many Democratic critics are waiting to see whether he might extend presidential mercy to some who have served in his administration.

A presidential pardon restores rights and privileges that one loses upon conviction. These differ by state.

Some states, although not California, block former felons from voting or require them to file special applications to vote. Former felons may be blocked from serving on juries or obtaining occupational licenses and firearms, and more.

With a pardon, these opportunities open up again.

"A presidential pardon serves as an official statement of forgiveness for the commission of a federal crime and restores basic civil rights," then-Pardon Attorney Roger Adams said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2001. "It does not connote innocence."

Typically, the pardon applications are reviewed by local prosecutors and sometimes the judge who sentenced the individual. FBI agents, according to the Justice Department, examine the individual's "financial and employment stability, responsibility toward family, reputation in the community, participation in community service, charitable or other meritorious activities and, if applicable, military record."

Officials also take into account the individual's atonement and acceptance of responsibility for the crime committed.
Bee staff writer Marc Benjamin contributed to this report. The reporter can be reached at mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com or (202) 383-0006.
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1094346.html

19 is nothing.

Bush wanted to reward the criminal actions of MILLIONS of illegal aliens by giving them amnesty and citizenship.

Just like Obama, Biden, McCain, Palin, Clinton, Kennedy, etc.

And Reagan started it all when he gave amnesty to more than 3 MILLION illegal aliens back in 1986.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Free Ramos and Compean

Friday, December 26, 2008

Will this president ever pardon Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, the two Border Patrol Agents who were so wrongly tried and convicted for doing their jobs while protecting We the People along the ever dangerous border with Mexico?

Oh yes, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, rightly got a commutation of his 30-month prison sentence without ever having seen the inside of a prison cell. Meanwhile, our two courageous agents have been subjected to physical and verbal assaults over the last two years, the likes of which no one in the administration has ever experienced.

Let's face it, the Justice Department under President Bush would never win a prize for excellence. So why didn't it fess up to its miscarriage of justice and get these two men home to their families?

PAUL J. QUIN

Burnsville, Minn.

www.washingtontimes.com

added to the homepage

http://www.alipac.us/article-3854-thread-1-0.html

This may not be new news but since I found it I felt compelled to post it.
~~~

Parker man pardoned by Bush

Staff report
Published: 01.07.09
President George W. Bush issued pardons to 19 people last week, including a Parker man accused of counterfeiting 20 years ago.

Eric Charles Blanke, of Parker, was sentenced in July 1995 to three years of probation on the condition that he complete 50 hours of community service. He was charged with “making impression of obligations of the United Statesâ€