CLEMENCY

'When Mercy Seasons Justice'

Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, whose term ends Tuesday, has been mum about the
hundreds of requests he's received for clemency, but nonetheless we
hope he has given some serious thought to the more deserving requests.

One meritorious case may be that of Freddie "Mickey" Sparks, who has
served 22 years of a 65-year sentence in the State Penitentiary at
Parchman. The sentence carried with it a stipulation that Sparks was
to serve a mandatory 30 years. His crimes were two counts of selling
cocaine and one count of possessing the substance.

State Rep. Esther Harrison, D-Columbus, believes that he has already
served beyond what he should have for the crimes he committed. Adding
to that, Gretta Gardner, an old friend of Sparks, said Parchman
officers have told her Sparks has been a model prisoner during his
lengthy sentence.

And Harrison says Sparks even has a job lined up should he be
released.

Those are the kind of cases we have in mind, and those are the ones we
hope Gov. Musgrove is seriously considering.

Though we normally don't feel a great deal of compassion for drug
pushers, we do feel strongly that justice can only be served when the
punishment fits the crime, when it doesn't fall short of it or exceed
it.

We would hope the governor would agree, for it's certainly not a case
of being soft on crime. Rather it's a case of not insisting the
punishment be "a pound of flesh nearest the heart," as was the case in
the Shakespeare play, 'The Merchant of Venice.'

Remember the words of the great English poet in that play? They're
words that we believe every governor and every judge should from time
to time ponder in his or her heart:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

'Tis the mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His scepter shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein does sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptered sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute of God himself,

And earthly power doth then show likest God's

When mercy seasons justice ....

We can think of few better things to say about a judge, governor or
president than to note, "He insisted on mercy when the need for mercy
cried out."