Does Private Slovik who was executed for desertion in World War 2 deserve to be pardoned ?

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Does Private Slovik who was executed for desertion in World War 2 deserve to be pardoned ?  I mean seriously.  This has been petitioned before SEVEN presidents and all have been denied.  Yes, I realize this is 2014 and quite a few years after the fact but seriously, can a family finally get peace for a crime that should never have resulted in execution ?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik

 

Edward Donald Slovik (February 18, 1920 – January 31, 1945) was a private in the United States Army during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War

 

Early life and draft[edit]

 

Slovik was born to a Polish-American family in Detroit, Michigan.[6] As a minor, he was arrested frequently. The first time, when he was 12 years old, he and some friends broke into a foundry to steal some brass.[7] Between 1932 and 1937, he was caught for several incidents of petty theft, breaking and entering, and disturbing the peace. In October 1937, he was sent to prison but was paroled in September 1938. After stealing and crashing a car with two friends while drunk, he was sent back to prison in January 1939.

 

In April 1942, Slovik was paroled once more, and he obtained a job at Montella Plumbing and Heating in Dearborn, Michigan. There he met the woman who would become his wife, Antoinette Wisniewski, while she was working as a bookkeeper for the owner, James Montella. They married on November 7, 1942, and lived with her parents. Slovik's criminal record made him classified as unfit for duty in the U.S. military (4-F), but, shortly after the couple's first wedding anniversary, Slovik was reclassified as fit for duty (1-A) and subsequently drafted by the Army. His service number was 36896415.

 

Slovik arrived at Camp Wolters in Texas for basic military training on January 24, 1944. In August, he was dispatched to join the fighting in France. Arriving on August 20, he was one of 12 replacements assigned to Company G of the 109th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 28th Infantry Division.

 

Desertion

 

While en route to his assigned unit, Slovik and a friend he met during basic training, Private John Tankey, took cover during an artillery attack and became separated from their replacement detachment. This was the point at which Slovik later stated he found he "wasn't cut out for combat." The next morning, they found a Canadian military police unit and remained with them for the next six weeks. Tankey wrote to their regiment to explain their absence before he and Slovik reported to their unit for duty on October 7, 1944. The US Army's rapid advance through France had caused many replacement soldiers to have trouble finding their assigned units, and so no charges were filed against Slovik or Tankey.

 

The following day on October 8, Slovik informed his company commander, Captain Ralph Grotte, that he was "too scared" to serve in a front-line rifle company and asked to be reassigned to a rear area unit. He told Grotte that he would run away if he were assigned to a rifle unit, and asked his captain if that would constitute desertion. Grotte confirmed that it would. He refused Slovik's request for reassignment and sent him to a rifle platoon.

 

The next day, October 9, Slovik deserted from his infantry unit. His friend, John Tankey, caught up with him and attempted to persuade him to stay, but Slovik's only comment was that his "mind was made up". Slovik walked several miles to the rear and approached an enlisted cook at a headquarters detachment, presenting him with a note which stated:

I, Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik, 36896415, confess to the desertion of the United States Army. At the time of my desertion we were in Albuff [Elbeuf] in France. I came to Albuff as a replacement. They were shelling the town and we were told to dig in for the night. The following morning they were shelling us again. I was so scared, nerves and trembling, that at the time the other replacements moved out, I couldn’t move. I stayed there in my fox hole till it was quiet and I was able to move. I then walked into town. Not seeing any of our troops, so I stayed over night at a French hospital. The next morning I turned myself over to the Canadian Provost Corp. After being with them six weeks I was turned over to American M.R. They turned me loose. I told my commanding officer my story. I said that if I had to go out there again I'd run away. He said there was nothing he could do for me so I ran away again AND I'LL RUN AWAY AGAIN IF I HAVE TO GO OUT THERE.

—Signed Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik A.S.N. 36896415

 

The cook summoned his company commander and an MP, who read the note and urged Slovik to destroy it before he was taken into custody, which Slovik refused. He was brought before Lieutenant Colonel Ross Henbest, who again offered him the opportunity to tear up the note, return to his unit, and face no further charges. After Slovik again refused, Henbest ordered Slovik to write another note on the back of the first one stating that he fully understood the legal consequences of deliberately incriminating himself with the note and that it would be used as evidence against him in a court martial.

 

Slovik was taken into custody and confined to the division stockade. The divisional judge advocate, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Sommer, again offered Slovik an opportunity to rejoin his unit and have the charges against him suspended. He offered to transfer Slovik to a different infantry regiment where no one would know of his past and he could start with a "clean slate". Slovik, convinced that he would face only jail time, which he had experienced and found preferable to combat, declined these offers, saying, "I've made up my mind. I'll take my court martial."

 

Eisenhower confirmed the execution order on 23 December, noting that it was necessary to discourage further desertions.

 

Slovik was buried in Plot "E" of Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in Fère-en-Tardenois, alongside 95 American soldiers executed for rape and/or murder.

 

...transfer to Detroit's Woodmere Cemetery, where Slovik was reburied next to his wife.

 

Although Antoinette Slovik (his wife) and others petitioned seven U.S. presidents for a pardon, none was granted.

 

 

 

[gatorclaws]

I feel like I'm not really qualified to say much on this, due to my age and since haven't served. I hadn't heard of him before, but it's certainly something worth reading about.

[|High School Harry|]

I feel like I'm not really qualified to say much on this, due to my age and since haven't served. I hadn't heard of him before, but it's certainly something worth reading about.

 

1974 made for TV movie "The Execution of Private Slovik" starring a young Martin Sheen and featuring a Ned Beatty and Gary Busey is out there if you can find it.

 

www.imdb.com/title/tt0071477/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

Tough call and fence sit... its not like he did not have opportunities to save himself.  Also wonder why some chaplain or attorney or someone did not encourage him to declare himself a conscientious objector or claim religious beliefs, maybe even convert, as a reason for not going to the front.  Even homosexuality or something... Punch his commanding officer... seems there would have been other ways leading to dishonorable discharge or spending time in military prison short of execution.

[MichaelWeston]

Killing someone for being too scared to fight sounds like a horrendous idea.

[|Numbers|]

Further Information for digestion;

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/books/the-deserters-a-world-war-ii-history-by-charles-glass.html?_r=0

 

‘The Deserters,’ a World War II History by Charles Glass

 

Nearly 50,000 American and 100,000 British soldiers deserted from the armed forces during World War II

 

Thousands of American soldiers were convicted of desertion during the war, and 49 were sentenced to death. (Most were given years of hard labor.) Only one soldier was actually executed, an unlucky private from Detroit named Eddie Slovik. This was early 1945, at the moment of the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Glass observes: “It was not the moment for the supreme Allied commander, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, to be seen to condone desertion.”

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertion#World_War_II

 

Of the Germans who deserted the Wehrmacht, 15,000 men were executed.

 

The Soviets executed 158,000 soldiers for desertion.

 

Over 20,000 American soldiers were tried and sentenced for desertion during World War Two. 49 were sentenced to death, though 48 of these death sentences were subsequently commuted. Only one US soldier, Private Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion in World War Two.

 

Approximately 50,000 American servicemen deserted during the Vietnam War.

 

...since 2000, about 40,000 troops from all branches of the military have deserted

 

Killing someone for being too scared to fight sounds like a horrendous idea.

 

Mark R. Hatlie said it best:  "Desertion is not reprehensible, war is"

 

http://sites-of-memory.de/main/ulmdeserters.html

 

Memorial to Deserters in Ulm

 

Pictures and text by Mark R. Hatlie

 

These pictures were taken on 19 November, 2005, on the day this memorial was formally unveiled by the organization Friedenswerk Ulm - 17 years after it was built! It is located near the Lehrertal entrance to the university botanical garden at Ulm. It is right by the road, near the parking lot of a dog school. The organizers were a bit disappointed that a more prominent place could not be found, but did point out that the place where the memorial now stands is not totally inappropriate.

 

Those memorialized by this marker are the men who deserted the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. 15,000 men were executed. The idea for the memorial emerged in 1985 at the annual meeting of the organization, "Reservists Refuse". They decided to build a memorial to deserters.

 

In June of 1988 the Initiative for the Creation of a Memorial to Deserters came to life in Ulm and Neu Ulm. A central idea was, "Desertion is not reprehensible, war is". On 9 September, 1989, this memorial, was unveiled in front of the Roxy Hallen in downtown Ulm. Four weeks later, the city council of Ulm decided to have the memorial removed, and the memorial was moved to the private yard of one Frau Henseler in Neu Ulm/Ludwigsfeld, where it remained for almost 16 years! In July of 2005 it was placed at its current location.

 

During the intervening years a number of events contributed to a rethinking of the status of deserters in society, including the 1993 decision by the EU parliament to offer asylum to deserters from Yugoslavia and the decision by the German parliament to rehabilitate Wehrmacht deserters in 1997. The convictions for desertion were only formally and legally reversed by the German parliament in 2002 (although the Nazi-era convicions for treason in wartime were not anulled). The group "Youth for Peace", which was formed during the crisis surrounding the outbreak of the Iraq War in 2003, was the primary moving force behind getting the memorial moved onto public land. A 1995 attempt to get the city council to reconsider its earlier decision failed.

 

 

The only written information available to passers-by is a quote by Kurt Tucholsky, a writer an journalist, from 1925: "Here lived a man who refused to shoot at his fellow men, honor to his memory!"

 

Note: Ulm is the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

 

http://www.military-quotes.com/albert-einstein.htm

 

"The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service." - Albert Einstein

 

I would guess it is ok to forgive the deserters since World War 2 but that one soldier whom was executed in World War 2 does not need to be forgiven...

 

Henry Morton Stanley:  "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"
Samuel Langhorne Clemens:  otherwise known as Mark Twain

 

Why did I include these two people ?...

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Of note of which some may already be aware but the system of justice today is not very good but compared with the treatment received in the 40s it is much better.  Still a long way to go left.

 

Here is some further info regarding executions in WW2.

 

While researching the dishonoured dead cemetery in France (Where Slovik was initially buried), I ran across a prison that performed executions during WW2.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Shepton_Mallet

 

HM Prison Shepton Mallet

Although the American army was 90% white, 10 of the 18 men hanged there were black Americans and three were Mexican-Americans.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_military

 

The United States Army carried out 141 executions over a three-year period from 1942 to 1945, and a further six executions were conducted during the postwar period, for a known total of 147.

One of those executed, Louis Till, had a son that came to prominence in 1955.  14 year old Emmett Till.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Till

 

Louis Till was a fellow prisoner of American poet Ezra Pound, who had been imprisoned for collaborating with the Nazis and Italian Fascists; he is mentioned in lines 171-173 of Canto 74 of Pound's Pisan Cantos:

 

Till was hung yesterday
for murder and rape with trimmings

 

Aftermath

 

The circumstances of Till's death were not revealed to his estranged wife. Mamie Till would later say that she was only told her husband's death was due to "willful misconduct", and noted that bureaucracy had frustrated her attempts to learn anything more.[5] The details of Louis Till's execution only fully emerged ten years later, after the murder of his son and subsequent trial.

 

On August 28, 1955, fourteen-year old Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi, after reportedly flirting with a white woman. The woman's husband and brother-in-law abducted Till and tortured him to death, and then threw his body into the river. The men were arrested, charged and tried with first degree murder, but were acquitted by an all-white jury. After the trial, which received much attention from the national media, Mississippi senators James Eastland and John C. Stennis uncovered details about Louis Till's crimes and execution and released them to reporters.[5]

 

 

Executed person  Date of execution  Location  Method

 

James Rowe 6 November 1942 Fort Huachuca, Arizona Hanging
Edward J. Leonski 9 November 1942 Pentridge Prison, Melbourne, Australia, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Jerry Sykes 19 January 1943 Fort Huachuca, Arizona Hanging
David Cobb 12 March 1943 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
George S. Knapp 19 March 1943 Bastrop, Texas Hanging
Francis A. Line 26 March 1943 Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona Hanging
Harold A. Smith 25 June 1943 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
James E. Kendrick 17 July 1943 Oran, Algeria, North African Theater of Operations Hanging
Levi Brandon 26 July 1943 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Hanging
Walter J. Bohn 6 August 1943 Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, United States Hanging
Willie A. Pittman 30 August 1943 Sicily, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Harvey Stroud 30 August 1943 Sicily, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Armstead White 30 August 1943 Sicily, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
David White 30 August 1943 Sicily, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Charles H. Smith 6 September 1943 Algiers, North African Theater of Operations Hanging
Lee A. Davis 14 December 1943 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Edwin P. Jones 5 January 1944 Oran, Algeria, North African Theater of Operations Hanging
John H. Waters 10 February 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
J.C. Leatherberry 16 March 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Charles A. Spears 18 April 1944 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Wiley Harris 26 May 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Alex F. Miranda 30 May 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Firing squad
Robert L. Donnelly 31 May 1944 Italy,Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Eliga Brinson 11 August 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Willie Smith 11 August 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Clarence Whitfield 14 August 1944 Normandy, France, European Theater Hanging
Ray Watson 29 August 1944 Italy. Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
James W. Peoples 2 September 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Harry Bever 26 September 1944 Fort Sill, Oklahoma Hanging
Arthur T. Brown 2 October 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Andrew Gibson 2 October 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Leroy E. Greene 2 October 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Charles A. Horne 2 October 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Eugene A. Washington, Jr. 2 October 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Lloyd L. White, Jr. 2 October 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Madison Thomas 12 October 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
James B. Sanders 25 October 1944 European Theater Hanging
Ray W. Anderson 25 October 1944 European Theater Hanging
Paul Kluxdal 31 October 1944 European Theater Hanging
Willie Wimberly, Jr. 9 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Joseph Watson 9 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Aveline Fernandez 15 November 1944 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Curtis L. Maxey 16 November 1944 Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Richard Scott 18 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
William D. Pennyfather 18 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Theron McGann 20 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Arthur E. Davis 22 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Charles H. Jordan 22 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
James Hendricks 24 November 1944 Normandy, France, European Theater Hanging
Benjamin Pygate 28 November 1944 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Firing squad
Oscar N. Newman 29 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Leo Valentine, Sr. 29 November 1944 European Theater Hanging
Charles Williams 18 December 1944 United States Hanging
William E. Davis 27 December 1944 European Theater Hanging
Waiter J. Baldwin 17 January 1945 European Theater Hanging
Sylvester Davis 5 January 1945 Randolph Air Force Base, Texas Hanging
Augustine Guerra 8 January 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Ernest L. Clarke 8 January 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
John. D. Cooper 9 January 1945 European Theater Hanging
John R. O'Connor 15 January 1945 Fort Benning, Georgia Hanging
Arthur J. Farrell 19 January 1945 European Theater Hanging
James W. Twiggs 22 January 1945 European Theater Hanging
Samuel Hawthorne 29 January 1945 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Marvin Holden 30 January 1945 Lemur, Belgium Hanging
Elwood J. Spencer 30 January 1945 Lemur, Belgium Hanging
Eddie Slovik 31 January 1945 Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France, European Theater Firing squad
J.P. Wilson 2 February 1945 European Theater Hanging
Robert L. Skinner 10 February 1945 European Theater Hanging
Yancy Waiters 10 February 1945 European Theater Hanging
William Mack 15 February 1945 European Theater Hanging
Otis B. Crews 21 February 1945 Mediterranean Theater Hanging
Williams C. Downes 28 February 1945 European Theater Hanging
Amos Agee 3 March 1945 European Theater Hanging
John C. Smith 3 March 1945 European Theater Hanging
Frank Watson 3 March 1945 European Theater Hanging
Olins W. Williams 9 March 1945 European Theater Hanging
Lee A. Burns 11 March 1945 Aversa, Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
General L. Grant 11 March 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Herman Perry 15 March 1945 Ledo, Assam, India Hanging
Robert L. Pearson 17 March 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Cubia (Parson) Jones 17 March 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Henry Baker 18 March 1945 Philippines Hanging
John M. Mack 20 March 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
John W. Taylor 20 March 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Kinney Jones 20 March 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Robert A. Pearson 20 March 1945 Guadalcanal Hanging
Abraham Smalls 27 March 1945 Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Tommie Davison 29 March 1945 European Theater Hanging
William Harrison, Jr. 7 April 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Curn Jones 10 April 1945 Fort Benning, Georgia Hanging
Benjamin F. Hopper 11 April 1945 European Theater Hanging
Dan Boswell 16 April 1945 Camp Bowie, Texas Hanging
James L. Jones 19 April 1945 European Theater Hanging
Mileert Bailey 19 April 1945 European Theater Hanging
John Williams 19 April 1945 European Theater Hanging
William T. Curry 20 April 1945 Oro Bay, New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Area Hanging
Shelton McGhee, Sr. 4 May 1945 Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
George E. Smith, Jr. 8 May 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
George Green, Jr. 15 May 1945 European Theater Hanging
Haze Heard 21 May 1945 European Theater Hanging
William McCarter 28 May 1945 European Theater Hanging
Clete O. Norris 31 May 1945 European Theater Hanging
Alvery R. Rollins 31 May 1945 European Theater Hanging
Matthew Clay, Jr. 4 June 1945 European Theater Hanging
Werner E. Schmiedel 11 June 1945 Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Ancieto Martinez 15 June 1945 Shepton Mallet, United Kingdom, European Theater Hanging
Victor Ortiz 21 June 1945 European Theatre Hanging
Willie Johnson 26 June 1945 European Theater Hanging
Fred A. McMurray 2 July 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Louis Till 2 July 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Charles H. Jefferies 5 July 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
John T. Jones 5 July 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Henry W. Nelson 5 July 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Hanging
Tom E. Gordon 10 July 1945 European Theater Hanging
Harold Crabtree 31 July 1945 Philippines Firing squad
Cornelius Thomas 1 August 1945 Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i Hanging
Jesse D. Boston 1 August 1945 Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i Firing squad
Robert Davidson 6 August 1945 Green Haven Correctional Facility, New York Firing squad
Ernest J. Harris 9 August 1945 Philippines Hanging
Lee R. Davis 14 August 1945 Fort Sill, Oklahoma Hanging
Herbert W. Reid 14 August 1945 Camp Beale, California Hanging
Clinton Stevenson 14 August 1945 Camp Beale, California Hanging
Ellis McCloud, Jr. 20 August 1945 Philippines Hanging
Robert Wray 20 August 1945 European Theater Hanging
Edward J. Reichl 22 August 1945 United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Hanging
Harvey W. Nichols 28 August 1945 Philippines Hanging
Albert Williams 28 August 1945 Philippines Hanging
Bradley Walters, Jr. 31 August 1945 Philippines Hanging
Henry C. Philpot 10 September 1945 European Theater Hanging
Fred Hurse 20 September 1945 United States Hanging
Clarence Gibson 24 September 1945 United States Firing squad
James C.Thomas 25 September 1945 Philippines Hanging
Charles M. Robinson 28 September 1945 European Theater Hanging
Blake W. Mariano 10 October 1945 European Theater Hanging
Sidney Bennerman 15 October 1945 European Theater Firing squad
Woodrow Parker 15 October 1945 European Theater Firing squad
Ozell Louis 15 October 1945 Philippines Hanging
Charlie Ervin, Jr. 19 October 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Firing squad
Mansfield Spinks 19 October 1945 Italy, Mediterranean Theatre of World War II Firing squad
Dan J. Lee 9 November 1945 Philippines Firing squad
Ellsworth Williams 5 January 1946 Germany, European Theater Hanging
Solomon Thompson 11 September 1946 European Theater Hanging
Garlon Mickles 22 April 1947 Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i Hanging
James Norman 25 April 1947 Philippines Hanging
William Abney 1 December 1947 Mandaluyong, Philippines Hanging
Manuel Martinez 23 April 1948 European Theater Hanging
Stratman Armistead 16 December 1948 Nakano, Japan, Far East Command Hanging

 

Look at the case file of Stratman Armistead.  If you want to see a probable miscarriage of justice there is one of them.  In it you can see the catch phrases of "they all look alike" and even identification of someone that was in the courtroom (not named Armistead) as the accused.  Yet, execution was still carried out.  Doesn't take much research to see one severely flawed system of justice.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=AFIyw-CWdvUC&pg=PT206&lpg=PT206&dq=stratman+armistead&source=bl&ots=3K-zKL6dPv&sig=gwqj0Y26wNyVT9JWrTgwkl6A0n4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=S9LdUu2hCajw2QXWsoGIDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=stratman%20armistead&f=false

[Homer_Rice]

Pardoned? No. Unfortunately he was executed before he had a chance to change his life and create some form of redemption. And I think redemption is an necessary condition for granting a pardon--if the person is guilty. And he was. This is distinct from innocence--that type of case presents both a necessary and sufficient condition for a pardon. But, of course, in this world there are altogether too many instances of injustice done to the innocent despite evidence to the contrary.