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Well , actually , in some ways a commuting of sentence is worse. Pardons are often, maybe most often, granted after the person has served their time, to get them back their rights as normal citizens. Commuting sentences actually lets convicted criminals still serving their sentences out of jail before they have served what society decided they deserved.
Obama let an unrepentant terrorist out of jail. Your argument over the semantics wont alter the reality.
Lopez was never charged with the actual bombings, but rather charged with his ties to the group. Of course you lied in your own thread title considering there is a major difference between commuting a sentence and a pardon...
Ties, yes. As in, he was the bombmaker for the terrorist org FALN. Sort of like saying the guy that makes the bomb vests for the radical Islamic suicide bombers has "ties" to the terrorists. Sounds sort of nice when put that way, doesn't it? Like he was the guy that went down to the corner store to buy beer and pizza for the actual bad guys.
Interesting factoid for you. Charles Manson never actually killed anyone he was originally convicted over. Not one person. He serves a life sentence only because he has "ties" to the actual killers. So maybe Charlie isn't actually that bad a guy. Weird and misunderstood, but really, he only had "ties" to the actual killers, and not one who killed himself. Maybe we should get Charlie a pardon based on your criteria of being a bad guy.
Well , actually , in some ways a commuting of sentence is worse. Pardons are often, maybe most often, granted after the person has served their time, to get them back their rights as normal citizens. Commuting sentences actually lets convicted criminals still serving their sentences out of jail before they have served what society decided they deserved.
Obama let an unrepentant terrorist out of jail. Your argument over the semantics wont alter the reality.
Ties, yes. As in, he was the bombmaker for the terrorist org FALN. Sort of like saying the guy that makes the bomb vests for the radical Islamic suicide bombers has "ties" to the terrorists. Sounds sort of nice when put that way, doesn't it? Like he was the guy that went down to the corner store to buy beer and pizza for the actual bad guys.
Interesting factoid for you. Charles Manson never actually killed anyone he was originally convicted over. Not one person. He serves a life sentence only because he has "ties" to the actual killers. So maybe Charlie isn't actually that bad a guy. Weird and misunderstood, but really, he only had "ties" to the actual killers, and not one who killed himself. Maybe we should get Charlie a pardon based on your criteria of being a bad guy.
Point being he already served 35 years and wasn't charged with any of the actual bombings.
Lopez-Rivera remains unrepentant about his crimes, and he’s hardly been a model prisoner: In one of two failed attempts to escape, he conspired with others inside and outside his prison to kill his way to freedom, attempting to procure grenades, rifles, plastic explosives, bulletproof vests, blasting caps, and armor-piercing bullets. After the FBI thwarted this plan, another 15 years was added to Lopez’s original 55-year sentence.
Does this sound like someone who should be pardoned? ... excuse me, or have his sentence commuted?
Typical... Argue over the terms - totally neglect the more important issue.
Commuting a sentence is not the same as given someone a full pardon and the group wasn't led by Rivera.
Some of the articles before Obama's action mentioned as a pardon.
The point is Rivera received presidential grace even though he was unrepentant about anything he did.
Yes - founder and leader. See post #20. It's even the mentioned in the first sentence in Wikipedia.
First paragraph...
Oscar López Rivera (born January 6, 1943) is a Puerto Rican activist and militant who was one of the leaders of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña (FALN), a clandestine paramilitary organization devoted to Puerto Rican independence. A fugitive since 1976 and indicted in 1977 and 1979, López Rivera was arrested on May 29, 1981 and tried by the United States government for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms, and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property. López Rivera admitted committing every act with which he was charged, but declared himself a political prisoner and refused to take part in most of the trial proceedings. He maintained that according to international law he was an anticolonial combatant and could not be prosecuted by the United States government. On August 11, 1981, López Rivera was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. On February 26, 1988 he was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for conspiring to escape from the Leavenworth federal prison.
Troublesome that people are defending this guy...
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