Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that he plans to pardon 21 people, including a former county judge who was convicted three decades ago of taking a bribe in office.
William F. Pogue of Horatio, the ex-county judge of Sevier County, was found guilty in October 1987 of public servant bribery, a felony, the Texarkana Gazette reported. He was fined $10,000, though he wasn’t placed on probation or ordered to serve jail time.
Randall Rogers, an equipment dealer, was found guilty of the same charge and ordered to serve the same sentence, the paper reported.
During the trial, prosecutors reportedly said that Rogers paid Pogue $10,000 so that the county would buy a 1979 Caterpillar scraper, a type of tractor, from Rogers’ business. Both men said the check was for half interest in a mobile home park in Oklahoma.
Pogue applied for a pardon, which Hutchinson intends to issue because “all terms of the applicant’s sentence have been completed and there have been no further criminal-law violations,” according to a news release Tuesday.
No law enforcement agency objects to the pardon, the governor's office said. In addition to the 21 pardons and one restoration of firearm rights, the governor denied 55 clemency requests.
All those who will be pardoned completed their jail time, fulfilled their parole and probation requirements and paid all their fines, the release said.
The public has 30 days to give feedback on the decisions.