Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), running against Mehmet Oz for the state’s open United States Senate seat, said there is “always that possibility” that convicted killers he helps get released from prison will go on to commit more murders.
As lieutenant governor, Fetterman appoints members and sits on the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, using his leverage to help free inmates convicted of second-degree murder and political power to lobby the governor to sign off on such commutations.
In an interview from 2019, Fetterman told FOX43’s Grace Griffaton there is “always that possibility” that convicted killers he helps free from prison will go on to kill more Pennsylvanians. That risk, Fetterman suggests, is one he is happy to take.
The interview went as follows:
Griffaton: Some ask, why give someone convicted of second-degree murder a second chance? This morning, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman gave us his input and why he believes some prisoners are worthy of redemption.
[Emphasis added]…
Griffaton: People on the opposite side of the spectrum are like ‘Well, what happens if one of them gets out and does something horribly wrong?’ [Emphasis added]
Fetterman: It would be, it would be — first and foremost, it would be catastrophic and personally devastating if somebody hurt somebody. There’s always that possibility, theoretically. Thousands of people are paroled, so the vast majority of inmates cycle through and they re-emerge. So the idea that this is only unique to the commutations process, it’s just simply not true. [Emphasis added]
Formerly mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Fetterman has been a longtime advocate of emptying the state’s prisons. For instance, he has said he wants to release from prison close to 13,000 inmates across the state.
Likewise, Fetterman has said his number one priority is ending Pennsylvania’s law that allows courts to sentence convicted criminals to life in prison without parole. In 2021, he advocated for eliminating the state’s mandatory life without parole sentence for suspects convicted of second-degree murder.
In 2019, Fetterman successfully lobbied Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe (D) to free from prison convicted second-degree murderer Raymond Johnson who murdered a 27-year-old man in York, Pennsylvania.
According to accounts at the time, Johnson referred to himself as “a son of the devil” and had bragged about being a hit man who “had killed several people.”
A York County sheriff’s deputy testified in the murder trial that Johnson had threatened potential witnesses with murder if they testified in the case against him. Ultimately, Johnson was convicted in 1975 of Jeffers’ murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Fetterman, as Breitbart News reported, has overseen the release of 13 convicted murderers while heading the Board of Pardons. Also, one of Fetterman’s appointees to the board sought to end mandatory life without parole sentences for first- and second-degree murderers.
In 2019, Fetterman got the Board of Pardons to eliminate application fees for convicts seeking pardons. Also that year, he hired two former inmates convicted of murder who had their life sentences commuted.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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