I’m starting to understand why Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman doesn’t want to partake in a debate.
The more Fetterman speaks, the worse he makes himself look.
Fetterman made comments last year that appeared to advocate for the release of second-degree murders from Pennsylvania prisons.
Fetterman commissioned two separate reports last year calling for the consideration of merit-based clemency for incarcerated second-degree murderers.
Additionally, he called for reforming the law that mandates life without parole for such convictions.
He called it “mercy for the deserving and rehabilitated.”
Now his campaign is desperately attempting to walk those comments back.
The more you read about John Fetterman's record on crime, and see what Fetterman has said himself, the more voters will see the last place he belongs in is the Senate. #PASen https://t.co/ZFf1S8HJYK
— Dan K. Eberhart (@DanKEberhart) September 21, 2022
Fox News has more on Fetterman’s past comments:
The campaign of Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman is walking back comments he made last year that appeared to call for the release of all second-degree murderers from Pennsylvania’s prisons.
Fetterman, the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor who chairs the state’s Board of Pardons (BOP), commissioned two reports last year released by Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) that recommended the BOP consider merit-based clemency for currently incarcerated second-degree murderers, as well as for the state legislature to reform the law that mandates life sentences without parole for second-degree murder convictions.
Fetterman said at the time that he commissioned the reports in a call for “mercy for the deserving and rehabilitated.”
During a PLSE press conference on March 1, 2021, Fetterman said the reports documented “the lives that are destroyed” and “the resources that are wasted” due to Pennsylvania’s statute, and that he hoped the reports’ findings would “lead to a conversation” that would free close to 1,200 people.
Fetterman’s words are coming back to haunt him:
Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman admitted in 2021 he wants to “free close to 1,200” inmates convicted of second-degree murder.
https://t.co/TmOnsi9NF5— GOP (@GOP) September 21, 2022
And *massive* annual savings for PA taxpayers.
If you think Morgan Freeman should have died in Shawshank, don’t waste your time reading it.
Otherwise, that metaphor is very much the face of LWOP- especially 2nd Murder- in PA.
Mercy must be a partner to justice.
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) May 4, 2021
There’s nearly 1200 people serving life without parole in PA who DID NOT take a life but will serve the IDENTICAL SENTENCE as the Tree of Life synagogue gunman.
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) July 2, 2020
Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman thinks "it’s a tragedy” that murderers get sentenced to life in prison. pic.twitter.com/A4KOVQvMwC
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 13, 2022
Fetterman’s priorities seem somewhat misplaced..
Many politicians are soft on crime.
But John Fetterman may be the only candidate in history whose top priority (in his own words!) is to release murderers from prison. https://t.co/TFTJDOLHSi
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 16, 2022
John Fetterman campaign walks back apparent call to 'free' all second-degree murderers https://t.co/yJQDuh96Wc pic.twitter.com/YHxY4ieZOH
— New York Post (@nypost) September 20, 2022
Fetterman’s campaign is desperately trying to walk back his comments according to the New York Post:
Fetterman “supports common sense criminal justice reforms that keep Pennsylvanians safe and protected while saving taxpayers money,” Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Calvello said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “He believes there are people who deserve to spend the rest of their life in prison for the crimes they’ve committed. But the decision to do this should be left to judges and parole boards not politicians in Harrisburg.”
The campaign said Fetterman does not support releasing all prisoners serving life without parole for second-degree murder and that he believes there are individuals convicted of life without parole who deserve to remain in prison.
In response to a follow-up inquiry, the Fetterman campaign said his 2021 remarks at the PLSE conference “are being taken out of context,” and that it is not clear, based on Fetterman’s phrasing at the time, that he was talking about freeing people from prison.
Philadelphia did in fact release about 40% of inmates, just like Fetterman wanted-
Last year Philly had its highest murder total ever, and is on track to exceed that record this year. https://t.co/XpQZT7aWi8
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) September 15, 2022
Fetterman voted to free a man convicted of stabbing a man 26 times with garden shears and then trying to hire an undercover cop to kill his accomplice in the murder.
Fetterman said last year he was “happy” the man was freed from jail (w/ @CAndersonMO) https://t.co/PdKpkFBbj4
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) September 19, 2022
This is John Brookins. He was convicted of first-degree murder for brutally killing a 58-year-old woman with scissors.
John Fetterman — who admitted he didn't know if Brookins was innocent — was the sole vote to release him.
Why? Because Brookins does yoga in prison. pic.twitter.com/wEUYDlmewT
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 18, 2022
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