The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1925-01-22
LovEDAY ASKS FREE PARDoN.''

LOVEDAY ASKS GREE PARDON.
The brazen effrontery of Earl Loyeday, one
of the most desperate criminals ever sent to
prison in Wisconsin, asking the governor OF
the state to grant him full and free pardon
should offer some food for reflection among
Wisconsin people. .a s
Loveday was sent to prison after he had
entered a plea of guilty to one of the most
brutal and uncalled for murders in the history
of Wisconsin He shot q Kenosha police Of
f1cer and his only motive in shooting him was
the belief that killing would make it easier
for him to escape arrest for another crime
Of course Loveday grew up in the criminal
atmosphere of Chicago. Possibly TO him and
to his attorneys the killing of policeman is
not grevious crime. Loveday undoubtedly
had heard companions in Chicago boast OF how
they had bumped off policeman and got
away with it, Wisconsin wants men of his
kind to know that the killing Of an officer OF
the law is still considered something more
than petty larceny in Wisconsin.
There should be something in the law which
would deny the slightest encouragement to
such criminals to hope for or expect executive
clemency. Loveday has served less than five
years of a life sentence and yet with nerve
scarcely paralleled in the criminal annals Of
wisconsin he comes in and asks for "full and
free pardon" 435s@s
We haven't the slightest idea that Governor
Blaine will give more than a passing consdera-
ton to the petition of Loveday. Undoubtedly
he will accord to it the statutory hearing as
sured for every petition but this courtesy will
be as far as the governor will go.
If men of the criminal calibre of Loveday
Ycan come into Wisconsin and murder policemen,
human life is going to be held mighty cheaply
lin the future. saaae ~
Now that the legislature is in session the
appeal of Loveday should furnish food for
sthought and members of the legislature should
pass some law or offer some amendment to the
constitution which would make impossible the
release of the Loyeday class of criminals until
they had paid some penalty in conmensufatlon
to the crime committed.
By statutes the courts of the state are told
that when man admits the wilful murder of
fellow being, there is but one sentence, and
that is that he spend his life in prison If the
courts are to be limited, certainly the executive
should have some limits cast about the pardon
power.
We would not take from the governor the
historic right to offer parole or a free par
don to criminals but we believe that even the
executive should be limited in the use of such
power.
No man who goes into court and confesses
that he is guilty of murder should be eligible
to parole or pardon until after he has served
at least fifteen years in prison. Fifteen years
is not much to pay for the life of fellow being
yet this man Loveday would escape punish
ment after five short years of prison service.
No man sentenced to prison under circunl-
stances similar to those in the sLoveday case
should be eligible to parole or pardon without
the full consent and approval of the Judicial
officials in the district from which he was sent
to prison. We have faith in the judiciary as
well as the executive department and we fee
certain that the Judges of courts, the District
Attorneys and other officers Of the court woule
be just as liable to show mercy where mercy
is due as would the executive. These officials
know facts from all angles. They are not pref
udiced by the appeal of sentiment They have
no desire to exact vengeance, but they are in
terested in fair justice to the people of the
state as well as to the criminal.
The easiest way to open the doors of Wis
consin to the army of criminals seeking new
place to ply their trade is to let these criminals
understand that the law is held lightly in this
state and that the value of human life is un
derestimated. Loveday should spend his life
in prison. Certainly he should not be granted
any consideration of an appeal for the FREE
pardon. If years of penitence and right living
should indicate that he has changed his views
of life, he might in ten more years be entitled
to an executive clemency which would reduce
his sentence and make it possible for him to b
paroIed under strict parole laws. This shoult
be the only answer to his petition to the Cover
nor.