Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour pardons 4 killers

In his last days in office, outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour pardoned four men convicted of murder, a state official said Monday.
David Gatlin, Joseph Ozment, Charles Hooker and Anthony McCray received full pardons and were released at 1 p.m. Sunday, said Suzanne Singletary, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. All four were serving life sentences and worked as trusties at the governor's mansion, she said.
"It is at any governor's discretion," said Singletary.
Gatlin was convicted of murder, aggravated assault and burglary of a residence, she said. Ozment was convicted of murder, conspiracy and armed robbery in a separate case. Both inmates were at minimum security level, she said.
Hooker was convicted in a 1991 murder, while McCray was convicted in a 2001 murder, Singletary said. The governor also recently pardoned Nathan Kern, who was serving a life sentence for burglary, she said.
Families of the men's victims told CNN affiliates WAPT and WLBT they are outraged by Barbour's decision.
Attempts by CNN on Monday to reach Barbour's office for comment on the pardons were unsuccessful.
In 1993, WLBT reported, Gatlin walked into the trailer where his estranged wife, Tammy Ellis Gatlin, lived and shot her in the head. The woman's friend, Randy Walker, survived a gunshot to the head.
"Is Gov. Barbour going to pardon us from our aches and pains and heartache that we have to suffer?" the victim's mother, Betty Ellis, asked WLBT. "Is he going to pardon a child that had to grow up without a mother? Is he going to pardon me from never being able to feel her arms around my neck again? What is Barbour going to do about that?


The inmates are David Gatlin, convicted of killing his estranged wife in 1993; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after at least two prior convictions.


Gatlin, 40, was recently reviewed by the Mississippi Parole Board, which denied parole on Dec. 27.


Barbour told the Associated Press for a 2008 story that releasing the trusties who live and work at the mansion is a tradition in Mississippi that goes back decades. Trusties are prisoners who earn privileges through good behavior.


State Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, said it's time to end the practice.


"I know that people will say that lame-duck pardons are a political tradition, but this is one tradition that needs to go away," he said.


Joann Martin, a probation officer from Fort Worth, Texas, is the sister of slaying victim Jennifer Bonds McCray, 38.


"It's very painful for my family that (Anthony McCray) was released. When he killed her, she had a 3-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son who have been raised by my other sister," Martin said. "It's almost like you kill somebody and nobody cares."