From staff reports

Paul Joseph ‘Jody’ Warnock, Clarence Jones had served sentences, had been released

Two of four men granted pardons by Gov. Haley Barbour this month were convicted of homicides committed in Warren County, a fact revealed as the governor said he would be more accountable for future reprieves.

Both Vicksburg men pardoned – Paul Joseph “Jody” Warnock and Clarence Jones – served the sentences imposed after their convictions and had been released by the Department of Corrections. A pardon in their cases is not a reversal of their convictions or a declaration they had not done wrong.

Barbour was on the Gulf Coast this week as questions continued about his conditional release – not a sentence commutation or pardon – for another man, Michael David Graham, who had been working as a trusty at the Governor’s Mansion while serving a life sentence for the 1989 killing of his wife, Adrienne Klasky, in Pascagoula. Graham had lived and worked on the mansion’s grounds instead of in prison as part of a program that rewards inmates for good behavior.

The move triggered complaints from many south Mississippi citizens, many of whom said Barbour wasn’t responsive to their requests to reconsider his ruling.

“Obviously we didn’t have a very good system for responding to the public comment,” Barbour told The Sun Herald on Thursday. “We’ll get to the bottom of that and get that straightened out.”

Warnock was sentenced to life in October 1993 for killing his girlfriend, Carol Ann Hall, who was in her teens, in his parents’ First North Street home. He was paroled in September 2006.

Jones was sentenced to life in July 1992 for stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend, Clara M. Smith, in the early morning hours of that New Year’s Day. The stabbing took place at the Embassy Apartments on Clay Street. Smith was 22. Jones had also worked at the mansion as a trusty and was released on a suspended sentence by then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in 2004. He reportedly still works at the mansion as a cook, but as a private employee.

The pardons mean Warnock and Jones will have restored to t hem the rights taken from convicted felons, among them the right to vote, own a firearm and be employed in jobs from which a felony conviction would be a disqualification.

Barbour, in office for nearly five years, decided last week to conditionally release Graham, and the pardons have become public as part of questions about the process.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd, who called Barbour to ask him to reconsider, told the Gulf Coast newspaper that the response was not enough.

“I have all the respect for the governor, but I’d like him to reconsider and put that man back in prison,” Byrd said. “He has no business being out in society.”

Graham went through a divorce from Klasky, the daughter of a prominent businessman in Pascagoula. He stalked her on and off for three years in an ongoing battle that ended when he pulled next to Klasky at a Pascagoula intersection and shot her in the head as she waited for the light to change.

Nancy Northern, Klasky’s niece, told the Mississippi Press in Pascagoula that the thought of Graham being released by Barbour is a blow to her family.

“I’m appalled to have a governor that would release a convicted murderer who shot a woman in the face,” Northern said. “What if she was his mother, sister, daughter or aunt? The possibility of a pardon is inexcusable. His record will be wiped clean. He’ll be able to go anywhere, do anything – buy a gun, vote.”

Barbour said this was the first time he used his gubernatorial powers to suspend an inmate’s life sentence, which is different from a pardon or a commutation. Barbour issued an “indefinite suspension of sentence,” which means Graham has to meet with a parole officer, said Pete Smith, a spokesman for the governor. The suspension can be reversed.

Barbour said Graham had an unblemished record while in the penal system, worked his way up to Governor’s Mansion trusty and earned a second chance.

Barbour described Graham as “very, very quiet” and a diligent worker who has lived on the grounds of the Governor’s Mansion for the past four years and worked in a custodial role around the Barbour family, including the governor’s wife and the couple’s daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

The governor said what he did for Graham was the equivalent of a parole and that Graham will report regularly to an officer.

“And if he does alright, he’s got a job and he’s not coming to the coast, if he takes advantage of the second chance, then at some point, I’ll pardon him,” Barbour said. He added, “I expect him to continue to have an unblemished record,” he said. “Let’s see how he does outside.”

According to the state Department of Corrections, in addition to Warnock and Jones, the other two men Barbour pardoned this month are Willie James Kimble and Bobby Hays Clark. Kimble was sentenced for a Lee County homicide in May 1992 and had been on parole since September 2004. Clark was convicted in October 1996 in Panola County on charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 18 years.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Christopher B. Epps said that inmate Larry Harper received a suspension from Barbour in December 2006. Harper was convicted in Scott County in June 1999 on charges of homicide, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

Many felons whose terms have ended also seek restoration of rights through the Legislature. Barbour said he signs those who’ve been deemed rehabilitated by lawmakers, too.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.