What goes around comes around !

[ronc4424]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/241976/birds-accuser-headed-for-jail

[hazelnut]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/241976/birds-accuser-headed-for-jail

Oh really? I thought they PARDONED Ward Bird yet the Governor chose to ignore that recommendation and chose commutation of the sentence? Is this a deliberate omission or an oversight? I often question the motives of the press. Sorry if it seems all conspiracy theorist and all but spin is spin and things are hardly if ever oversight. Although it is (AP) and they probably have no dog in the fight.

So correct me if I am wrong on the original point. Didn't the Exec. Council vote for Pardon and the Governor chose commute?

[DickR]

Oh, poor Christine! Did the dogs testify against her, and did the court believe their barking? Perhaps she felt threatened by their barking and baring of their teeth? Perhaps she really didn't see the signs on the dog houses saying "No Cruelty."

[GTO]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/241976/birds-accuser-headed-for-jail


"Free Christine Harris " ( just kidding )

[Wolfeboro_Baja]

So correct me if I am wrong on the original point. Didn't the Exec. Council vote for Pardon and the Governor chose commute?Hazelnut, I believe you are correct, according to this article (http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/237949/birds-sentence-commuted) in the Feb. 3, 2011 Concord Monitor. Here's the first paragraph of that article:

"The Executive Council decided yesterday to commute Ward Bird's sentence after Gov. John Lynch rejected its unanimous vote to pardon the Moultonboro man of his criminal threatening conviction."

It would appear they were just reporting what Bird ended up with from his pardon hearing (commuted sentence) but not how they arrived at that decision (Lynch's initial rejection of full pardon).

[upthesaukee]

Bird, 49, of Moultonborough, had sought a full pardon to clear his name. The council voted in his favor, but Gov. John Lynch vetoed the pardon, saying the judicial system had given Bird's case a thorough review and he would not undermine that. The council then immediately voted to commute his sentence, and Lynch let that vote stand.