Missouri governor pardons couple who aimed guns at BLM protesters

[Dill]

It might bring some focus to the discussion of the Missouri pardons if we remember what executive/parole board pardons are intended to address--namely unjust outcomes which fall through the cracks of the legal system, making extra-legal redress necessary/appropriate, especially in cases where the machinery of the law cannot act in timely fashion, if at all. In some cases a pardon may be granted people who were guilty, but have paid their debt and exhibit contrition. That means that the pardon was not created for, and is not responsibly used, in cases where normal legal remedies are still available and perfectly suitable, or the guilty are unrepentant.

Also the sovereign people of many US states give their governors this awesome power to go above the law on the assumption that it will be exercised in the interest of the people, not in the interest of a governor's party or personal friends. When the latter happens, scandal results.

And that's also why in states which grant governors this power, there is an application and review process, to insure that only the worthiest cases, already strictly vetted, come before a governor. That process is not foolproof, but it increases the likelihood that worthy cases do come before the governor, and decreases the likelihood that governors, given this power by the people, exercise it whimsically or in partisan fashion. (In some states the governor can pardon ONLY those recommended by a parole board; i nothers the power is taken completely out of the governor's hands and placed with a special parole board.)

In states like Missouri, that process currently has a backlog. One reason Parsons has given for not pardoning Strickland involves the 3,000 applications now awaiting adjudication. Parsons' argument is that media attention should not necessarily jump people to the head of the line--even in cases like Strickland's. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/missouri-governor-pardon-decade-inmate-priority-78174382

Given this framework I would pose the following questions for discussion:

1. Is the above characterization of pardon power accurate or inaccurate? (This is not poll, so explain your reasoning.)

2. How well does Parsons' pardon of the McCloskeys align with the intent and traditional exercise of pardon power as described above? Is the pardon in the interests of the people of Missouri?