LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has sent a formal request to the FBI asking for an investigation into controversial pardons made by former Gov. Matt Bevin in his last weeks in office.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey and Rep. Chris Harris previously asked Cameron to appoint a bipartisan team of special prosecutors to investigate whether the political donations influenced Bevin's decision, and Cameron responded in a letter Thursday saying he believes "pardon power should be used sparingly and only after great deliberation with due concern for public safety."
The FBI said it couldn't comment per Department of Justice policy.
Bevin commuted 428 sentences before leaving office on Dec. 9, several of which have also attracted the attention of Russell Coleman, the U.S. attorney for Kentucky's western district. On Monday, Coleman said his office would review any pardon-related issues brought to them by state prosecutors or other law enforcement partners.
“I am particularly concerned about the risk to the public by those previously convicted of sex offenses, who by virtue of the state pardon, will not fall under any post-release supervision or be required to register as sex offenders," Coleman said at a news conference.
Coleman was likely referring to the pardon of Micah Schoettle, who was in the second year of a 23-year prison sentence when Bevin pardoned him of rape, sodomy and other sexual crimes. The pardon also removed him from the state's sex offender registry.
A jury found Schoettle guilty in August 2018 of nine charges dating back to November 2016: first-degree rape of a victim under 12 years old, three counts of incest with a victim under 12 years old, two counts of first-degree sodomy with a victim under 12 years old and three counts of sexual abuse of a victim under 12 years old.
"It's offensive," Rob Sanders, the Commonwealth's Attorney for Kenton County, said of Bevin pardoning Schoettle. "It's mind boggling how any governor could be this irresponsible. It's an abomination of the criminal justice system."
Also among those pardoned was Patrick Baker, who was convicted of killing a man during a home invasion in Knox County in 2014. Baker's pardon has drawn national scrutiny because Baker's family raised $21,500 for Bevin at a political fundraiser last year. Baker's two co-defendants are still in prison.
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin
Bevin wrote in the pardon that the evidence against Baker was "sketchy at best."
In a news release Thursday, McGarvey and Harris said Kentuckians should know if several of the pardons were granted "improperly":
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