PARKERSBURG -While United States presidents from George Washington on have used the Christmas season as a backdrop to issue pardons, West Virginia governors do not.
State Archivist Debra Basham said hundreds of convicts have been issued gubernatorial pardons, but few, if any, were done in the spirit of the yuletide.
Basham did some spot research on gubernatorial pardons and found they varied from year to year, but nothing specifically for Christmas.
In 1933, for example Gov. Herman Kump issued 108 pardons. There were only eight issued by Gov. Howard Gore in 1925 and 46 issued by Gore the following year. In 1964, Gov. Wally Barron issued five pardons, compared to none the year before.
Presidential pardons started with George Washington, who authorized a proclamation of amnesty in 1795 for participants in the Whiskey Rebellion.
Perhaps the most famous pardon was issued by President Andrew Johnson, who pardoned Confederate soldiers on Christmas Day 1868.
Even when West Virginia had the death penalty, which was abolished by the state in 1965, a few governors commuted sentences to life, but none did so on Christmas.
Former Gov. Arch Moore likely issued the most infamous pardon in West Virginia history.
In 1976, Moore - against the advice of the parole board -commuted convicted killer Eugene Blake's sentence to life with mercy, giving him a chance for parole. Blake was sentenced to life without mercy in 1968 for the murder of an 18-year-old telephone operator the previous year.
Blake was paroled in 1979. He was later convicted of the 1984 murder of a 13-year-old girl and in 2008 he was charged with the 1982 slaying of a 21-year-old Ohio man.
Blake, who is serving time in a West Virginia penitentiary and is awaiting extradition to Ohio, was also accused of raping the man's 17-year-old girlfriend.
Matt Turner, spokesman for Gov. Joe Manchin, said the governor makes no special provisions for Christmas-time pardons.
"It is our policy to evaluate clemency requests year-round. That doesn't change," Turner said.
Jonathan Deem, general counsel for Gov. Joe Manchin, said in his three years at the capitol there have been no Christmas pardons issued.
According to Turner, Manchin has adopted a procedure for requesting pardons, a process that involves an application and review.
Turner said the governor gets anywhere from 50 to 100 pardon requests a year. He said the governor only considers pardons for those convicted of "non-violent offenses occurring some time ago and who live a non-violent lifestyle."
Applications and character witnesses are submitted to a parole board which reviews the request and makes recommendations to the governor.
"The governor generally follows the recommendation of the board," Turner said.
