LOS ANGELES CARDINAL REGRETS ROLE IN PARDON

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12 — Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles said today
that he regretted having written a letter to President Bill Clinton on
behalf of a man who had been convicted of involvement in a drug-dealing
operation.

The man, Carlos Vignali, was among the 140 people whom Mr. Clinton pardoned
on his last day in office.

The pardon of Mr. Vignali came under fire over the weekend after an article
about it was published in The Los Angeles Times. Mr. Vignali, 30, had been
convicted of helping to convert 800 pounds of powder cocaine to crack,
which was then sold in Minnesota.

Since 1996, California politicians had written Mr. Clinton letters urging
him to have Mr. Vignali's case re-examined. Mr. Vignali's father, Horacio
Vignali, a Los Angeles businessman, became a heavy contributor to the
Democratic Party after his son's conviction in 1994, but he denied that he
had asked any politicians to lobby for a pardon or a commuted sentence for
his son.

Cardinal Mahoney said in a statement today that he had never met the
Vignalis but had written the letter at the behest of "leaders of our
community whom I greatly respect, including Sheriff Lee Baca, Congressman
Xavier Becerra, and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa," all of whom
were urging that the case be reviewed. Mr. Villaraigosa, who is no longer
the Assembly speaker, is a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles.

"Regardless of the merits of the case," Cardinal Mahoney said, "I made a
serious mistake in writing to the president, and I broke my decades-long
practice of never sending a letter on behalf of any person whom I did not
know personally. I apologize for not following my own principles in this
matter."

Cardinal Mahoney's office in Los Angeles did not respond to messages
request ing comment.

The judge at Mr. Vignali's trial, David Doty of Federal District Court,
said the Justice Department never contacted him regarding a pardon for Mr.
Vignali.

"I have no idea why it happened, but we are all aghast," Judge Doty said.

Mr. Doty said he strongly believed that sentences for drug convictions were
"much too high," and so he gave Mr. Vignali a sentence "on the low end" of
Minnesota state law requirements — 15 years.

Mr. Vignali served six years.