Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin issued a series of tweets defending himself amid scrutiny of hundreds of pardons and commutations he issued before leaving office, the Hill reports. Bevin, who lost a reelection bid last month, has faced backlash for his pardons. One of them cleared a man convicted of reckless homicide whose brother hosted a fundraiser for Bevin’s campaign. As many as 161 pardons and 419 commutations were filed Dec. 11. That included commutations for more than 300 people convicted of drug-related charges. “The vast majority of those who were pardoned, have actually been out of prison for years and had fully paid their debt to society,” Bevin wrote in a 20-tweet thread. “The myriad statements and suggestions that financial or political considerations played a part in the decision making process, are both highly offensive and entirely false.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized Bevin’s actions, calling them “completely inappropriate.” McConnell added, “I expect he had the power to do it, but looking at the examples of people who were incarcerated as a result of heinous crimes — no, I don’t approve of it.” Bevin insisted that he reviewed every application on his own and wrote every word of justification for each pardon granted and each sentence commuted. The list of pardons included a man convicted of killing his parents, a man convicted of decapitating a woman and stuffing her in a barrel, and a woman convicted of leaving her newborn son to die. “Each case had its own set of facts, evidence, lack of evidence, supporting documents, reasons and unique details, most of which the arm-chair critics are not aware of,” Bevin wrote. “Am I perfect? No…Never have been…But I did my very best, over many hours, days, weeks and years, to reach fair and just decisions.”