Barbour Pardons 4 Killers

JACKSON, Miss. - Outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has pardoned four convicted murderers who worked as inmate trusties at the Governor's Mansion.

Relatives of three of the victims told The Associated Press that corrections officials notified them Saturday.

Barbour's office hasn't responded to numerous messages. Barbour, a Republican, leaves office on Tuesday.

Copies of the pardons filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State's office were released Monday. They show how Barbour pardoned five men, the convicted killers and a man serving life for robbery.

State records show the pardoned inmates are David Gatlin, convicted of killing his estranged wife in 1993; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after serving at least two prior convictions.

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