OXFORD, MS (abc24.com) - There's more fallout over the 200 pardons by former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. A victim's family said there is a repeat DUI offender who was also pardoned, even while sitting in jail waiting to be charged for killing their teenage daughter while driving drunk.
Oxford Police said Harry Bostick was arrested for driving drunk three times in one year. In the last case he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to house arrest and four years in an alcohol abuse program.
Bostick's family and friends began a campaign to have him pardoned. They said he learned his lesson, and blamed his drinking on the death of his teenage son and a divorce.
The Mississippi Parole Board agreed, and recommended a pardon to Barbour. "The power of pardon is to give people a second chance who have repented, been rehabilitated and redeemed themselves," Barbour said in defense of the now-controversial pardons.
Just seven days after that recommendation, but before he was pardoned, police said Bostick was driving drunk again when he hit and killed 18-year-old Charity Smith. Bostick was sent to a jail in Oxford for violating his previous DUI sentence.
But while Bostick was in jail awaiting charges for Smith's death, Barbour officially pardoned him and he was set free.
"She should still be here with me," said the victim's mother, Linda Smith. "She should still be here with me. This should not have happened."
How was Bostick allowed to walk free? It turns out the governor's office and parole board never did a last minute check of Bostick's record. Both say they had no idea he had been arrested a fourth time for drunk driving.
