Pardon Doesn’t Clear Criminal Record

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled for a third time that a gubernatorial pardon does not wipe out a criminal record.

Attorneys for Clarence Jones had argued a governor’s pardon wipes out a conviction – as if it never occurred. Prosecutors said no state law provides for expunction upon the grant of an executive pardon.

In 2013, a Warren County judge ruled against Jones, who pleaded guilty to murder in 1992 in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend. Jones received an indefinite suspension of his life sentence in 2004 from Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and was released from prison.

He was pardoned by Gov. Haley Barbour in 2008 and sought expunction of his conviction because he didn’t want it to show up in records he looked for a job.