In 1989, Michael David Graham decides to end his ex-wife’s life. He points a shotgun at her and that is it. In 2008, his governor, Haley Barbour, suspends his life sentence, and Graham is a free man today.

Also in 1989, Paul Joseph Warnock waits until his girlfriend is asleep to shoot her in the head. He, too, is sentenced to life, but his good old governor in Mississippi, pardons him in 2008. Graham and Warnock are free men today.

Clarence Jones’ girlfriend files multiple assault and trespassing charges against Jones. But this woman, too, ends up in 1992, fatally stabbed 22 times. Jones, too, has his sentenced suspended by then Governor Ronnie Musgrave in 2004, and he is free with Graham and Warnock. Pardoned.

Bobby Hays Clark, finding his ex-girlfriend quite alive in 1992 with a new boyfriend, put a bullet in her neck, and beats the boyfriend with a broomstick. But along with Graham, Warnock, and Jones, Clark receives a pardon from Governor Haley Barbour. He is pardoned - in 2008.

In 2008, The Jackson Free Press’s investigation into the generosity of Haley Barbour discovered the state’s disregard for domestic crimes committed against women. Radley Balko, writing in Slate after discovering that these men were not released because of some breach of justice, states “all five were enrolled in a prison trusty program that had them doing odd jobs around the Mississippi governor's mansion.” Apparently, these guys did a heck of job. And America tends to pardon guys of a few blunders if they do a heck of job.

It seems Governor Haley Barbour does hand out pardons, alright. But Jamie and Gladys Scott do not deserve one of his pardons! These women need to be exonerated!

You should have heard the story about the Scott sisters by now. Last month, New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, posted two commentaries on the Scott sisters in which he wrote the following: “the idea that those men could be freed from prison and allowed to pursue whatever kind of lives they might wish while the Scott sisters are kept locked up, presumably for the rest of their lives, is beyond disturbing.” (See “The Mississippi Pardons,” October 15, 2010).

The blood sisters have been behind bars for the last 16 years. In 1993, Jamie (then 22) and Gladys (then 19) were charged with armed robbery. Supposedly, the sisters robbed a man of 11 dollars!

These two women are serving double life sentences - each!

The “stolen” wallet, according to an affidavit by a trustee of the local jail, surfaced - with the money! No gun was ever found because the woman did not have a gun. In additional affidavits, the “victim” and three witnesses declared Jamie and Gladys innocence of the “crime” - if a crime actually happened. The men testified that under police interrogation and threats, they pinned the robbery on the sisters. The sisters are innocent. The justice machinery in Mississippi, however, never read these affidavits.

Jamie Scott is in final stage renal failure, receiving Mississippi’s Correctional system’s medical attention - which is barely adequate medical attention. Jamie has, as radio host Michael Baisden says, been given, in effect, the death penalty.

The crime has occurred and continues to occur, committed against women, these two Black women in particular, who have been subject to the death penalty in a patriarchal narrative in which even lady justice is a facade, long dead.

Jamie Scott does not have time to wait for “justice”…

On December 23, 1993, Jamie and Gladys, mothers of small children, run out of heating fuel and both drive to a local store. When the sisters leave the store, they discover the car will not start.. But this is not the beginning of this story.

James Roscoe, the father, decides he has had enough of Chicago wants to return to Mississippi, his native soil. Roscoe’s nephew owned a nightclub, and it was routine for Black owners to pay Sheriff Glenn Warren (“High White Sheriff”) in order to sell alcohol in Scott County.

Time passes. Roscoe’s nephew is called to testify against Sheriff Warren after an FBI investigation landed him in a courtroom and ultimately in prison. Deputy Sheriff Marvin Williams (Black) replaces the “High White Sheriff.” Sheriff Williams wants business as usual: money from the Black nightclub owners. But Roscoe’s nephew is out of town, in a witness protection program. James Roscoe owns the nightclub now, and Roscoe refuses to pay to new man in charge.

I will get you one way or the other, Sheriff Williams tells Roscoe.

Fast forward. Jamie and Gladys come out of that store. The car is stalled. The two start walking home. A car pulls up. It is the Duckworth men, cousins, and Gladys is a co-worker at the chicken plant with one of the men. The Duckworth men offer to drive Jamie and Gladys home, and they accept. Jamie pays the men $10.

According to Jamie, one of the Duckworth men begins to touch her, and both women decide to leave the car and start walking home again. At home, three young men, known as the Patrick Men, knock at their door. Then young men, then 14, 16, and 18 years old, inform the sisters about a fight the two Duckworth men started with them.

The morning of Christmas Eve, someone knocks at their door. This time, it is Sheriff Marvin Williams. He has come to arrest Jamie and Gladys.

By the time Sheriff Williams ends his discussion with the Duckworth and the Patrick men, (who might serve time in Parchman prison where they would “be made out of women”), the Duckworth men agree to be “victims” of an “armed robbery” and the Patrick men agree to be “witnesses.”

Jamie and Gladys Scott were the criminals!

Maybe this is not the beginning of this story either.

Nancy Lockhart holds a Masters degree in Jurisprudence from Loyola University Chicago and has dedicated the last 6 years as a legal analyst to freeing the Scott Sisters - but the clock is ticking. On the one hand, Lockhart fears, as does Gladys and their mother, Evelyn Rosco, that Jamie will die in prison - and Gladys will follow. Jamie’s health is worsening each day she remains behind bars, and she suffers from final stage renal failure and is slowly losing her eyesight. Jamie’s medical treatment in prison has contributed to the worsening of her condition.

On the other hand, Lockhart must receive letters from the district attorney, from the sheriff in Escambia County, Pensacola, Florida, along with letters from the sheriff and Judge Marcus Gordon (the judge who sentenced the Scott sisters) for in Scott County to submit to the board of parole by the end of this week!

Lockhart: “Did Haley Barbour require the men he pardoned to have letters sent to sheriffs and DAs?”

Properly not!

The sisters plan to live in Pensacola, Florida with their mother upon release from prison; however, if Jamie and Gladys are paroled, they will encounter life outside prison for those with felons. “If the Scott sisters are paroled, they could end up with a felony on their record. They could be tripped up, set up and end up back in prison for life,” Lockhart explained to me. What also worries Lockhart is Jamie’s eligibility for health care after her release if she is released as a felon. “The Scott sisters’ immediate needs will include health care, food stamps, employment for Gladys.” How will these women manage with felon records for a crime they did not commit?

As Lockhart explained, the difference between a pardon and exoneration is a matter of guilt and money. “A pardon means the Scott sisters are guilty of the crime as charged.” “Exoneration means the State of Mississippi would have to admit they were wrong.” And that means - the Scott Sisters could sue the state.

“Race is clearly a factor,” writes Dr. Alan Bean, “Race and Grace in the Magnolia State,” Friends of Justice, December 18, 2009. “It wouldn’t surprise me if all the men Barbour pardoned are white.”

And what if Jamie and Gladys were young men? - what then? Would civil rights and grassroots organizations rally around their wrongful conviction?

“Even if the Scott sisters are guilty, they should have been given probation,” Dr. Bean told me. “Things have changed,” he said, in that things “have gotten worse.”

Indeed!

Neither of these Black women should die in prison. If Jamie or both Jamie and Gladys die in prison, we must recall how our silence served to collaborate with justice in a warrior state. That means we collaborate, in actuality, with injustice.

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BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Lenore Jean Daniels, PhD, has a Doctorate in Modern American Literature/Cultural Theory. Click here to contact Dr. Daniels.