A pair of Democratic lawmakers is pushing for a special investigation into pardons issued by former governor Matt Bevin during his final days in office. Of specific interest is the case of Patrick Brian Baker, whose family held a fundraiser for Bevin.
Baker was convicted of reckless homicide in 2014, but it's his family’s financial support for the former governor that has raised a few eyebrows in Frankfort.
"This reeks of political favoritism," said Morgan McGarvey, the Senate’s top Democrat. The Louisville senator said the details of the case and pardon warrant further investigation.
"We have someone who was convicted of killing someone in front of his wife at this home, who pulled the trigger, but the people who drove him away from that crime are still sitting in jail. It defies any rational explanation how that happens," McGarvey charged. "Bottom line, if it looks like a duck and talks like a duck, you've got to look into whether or not it's a duck."
McGarvey was joined by fellow Democrat, Rep. Chris Harris, at a press conference Friday morning. The lawmakers called on the state’s new attorney general, Daniel Cameron, to appoint a special prosecutor to look into a number of pardons.
Cameron, a Republican, responded in a statement, saying he stands by the work of state prosecutors and judges, and that he believes the pardon power should be used “sparingly and only after great deliberation with due regard for public safety.”
