Word: ashcroft
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...clemency hearings on March 10, Governor Lawton Chiles grants Collins or any other battered woman clemency, Florida will join 26 other states in a national movement to take another look at the cases of abuse victims who kill their abusers. Just before Christmas, Missouri's conservative Republican Governor John Ashcroft commuted the life sentences of two women who claimed they had killed their husbands in self-defense. After 20 years of trying, these women have made a Darwinian claim for mercy: Victims of perpetual violence should be forgiven if they turn violent themselves...
Republican Governor John Ashcroft of Missouri has commuted the life sentences of two women, Helen Martin and Becca Hughes, both convicted of murdering abusive husbands. Ashcroft said he commuted the sentences because the women were convicted before a 1987 law allowing the "battered-spouse syndrome" as a defense. They are now eligible for parole, but probably neither will be released for over a year. Critics say Ashcroft should release the women...