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Bush Pardons 19, Commutes One Prison Term
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 23, 2008; 4:31 PM

President Bush today commuted a prison sentence and granted 19 new pardons, including an unusual posthumous pardon for a man who helped ship arms and aircraft to the Jewish resistance in the Middle East prior to the founding of Israel.

Bush has granted just 191 pardons and nine commutations so far, less than half the number granted by Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, the other most recent two-term presidents.

Bush's latest list includes a pardon for the late Charles Winters, who was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act and served 18 months in prison for helping supply arms to Jews attempting to found an independent state in the Middle East in the 1940s. He died in Florida in 1984, officials said.

Two others involved in the same case, Herman Greenspun and Al Schwimmer, were pardoned in 1961 and 2001, respectively. Neither of them served prison time.

The only other presidential pardon granted posthumously in recent times was given by President Bill Clinton to Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Flipper was drummed out of the Army after white officers mistakenly accused him of embezzling commissary funds.


The latest list does not include any of the high-profile names, such as former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who have been the focus of widespread speculation as pardon candidates. It includes forgiveness for a range of crimes, from drug violations to bank fraud, as well as a commutation of a prison sentence for Reed Raymond Prior of Des Moines, Iowa. Prior was sentenced to life in prison in 1996. He will be let out in February under 10 years of supervised release, the Justice Department said.

The White House has said it does not rule out the possibility of more pardons or commutations from Bush before he leaves office Jan. 20. "The president has maintained his authority to do that until his last day as president," spokesman Tony Fratto said earlier today.

In addition to Winters, those granted pardons are:

-- William Alvis III of Flushing, Ohio (possession of an unregistered firearm and cocaine distribution)

-- John Allen Aregood of Riviera, Tex. (conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens)

-- Eric Charles Blanke of Parker, Colo. (counterfeiting)

-- Steve Doyle Cavender of The Villages, Fla. (conspiring to import, possess, distribute and dispense marijuana)

-- Marie Elena Eppens of Lynden, Wash. (conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute marijuana)

-- Lydia Lee Ferguson of Sun City, Ariz. (aiding and abetting possession of stolen mail)

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

-- George Clarence Greene Jr. of Gray, Ga. (mail fraud)

-- James Won Hee Kang of South Barrington, Ill. (trafficking in counterfeit goods)

-- Alan Stephen Maiss of Reno, Nev. (misprision, or concealment, of a felony)

-- Richard Harold Miller of Tallahassee (conspiracy to defraud the United States)

-- Delano Abraham Nixon of Neosho Rapids, Kan. (forging the endorsement on a U.S. Treasury check)

-- John H. Overholt of Black Hawk, S.D. (concealment of information affecting Social Security benefits)

-- Morris Keith Parker of Georgetown, S.C. (misprision, or concealment, of a felony)

-- Robert Truman Reece of Redondo Beach, Calif. (unauthorized absence and missing the movement of a U.S. Navy ship)

-- Donald Edward Roessler of Harrison, Ohio (embezzlement of mail matter)

-- Issac Robert Toussie of Brooklyn, N.Y. (false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and mail fraud)

-- David Lane Woolsey of St. George, Utah (aiding and abetting violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act).