Outgoing Arkansas governor plans to pardon his son for drug conviction
Outgoing Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe says he will pardon his son’s felony conviction for marijuana possession with intent to deliver.
Beebe decided to issue the pardon after his son, Kyle Beebe, now 34, submitted a pardon application in June and the state parole board recommended approval, KATV, the Associated Press and CNN report.
Gov. Beebe, a Democrat, told KATV he was ready to issue a pardon because he believed his son had grown up a lot since his 2003 conviction. “I would have done it a long time ago if he’d have asked, but he took his sweet time about asking,” Beebe said. “He was embarrassed. He’s still embarrassed, and frankly, I was embarrassed and his mother was embarrassed. All of the families that go through that, it’s tough on the families, but hopefully the kids learn.”
Beebe said he has issued more than 700 pardons, mostly to nonviolent offenders, especially those with drug convictions who have straightened up.
“Kids when they’re young do stupid stuff,” Gov. Beebe told KATV. Kyle Beebe “was no different. Liked to have broken his mother’s heart. His mother and I were stereotypical parents from the different end of the spectrum. She was the enabler that tried to fix everything. I was the nuclear bomb thrower that thought you ought to shoot him. Somewhere between those two extremes was probably the right thing to do.”
Term limits are forcing Gov. Beebe from office in January.
