The State of the Union address was Tuesday, spoiler alert, it ain’t good, and in a move that is emblematic of the issues America is facing socially and politically, freshman Senator John Fetterman threw on his best (only) suit and brought a convicted murderer with him as his plus-one. You can’t make this up. Check this out.
Freshman Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) brought a convicted murderer to the State of the Union address on Tuesday. The convict received a commuted sentence thanks in large part to Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons, which Fetterman used to oversee.
Dennis Horton was found guilty of second-degree murder, along with his brother Lee Horton, stemming from a 1993 fatal shooting during a Philadelphia robbery, as Breitbart News reported. They both maintained their innocence throughout their prison terms, which lasted nearly three decades before they were granted clemency by then-Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) in 2021 at the recommendation of the state’s five-person Board of Pardons, chaired by then-Lt. Gov. Fetterman.
So, how does getting a pardon from a governor of a state that is notoriously weak on crime merit an all-expense paid hang session with John Stutterman? It isn’t as if new evidence came to light exonerating Horton from the murder. No, he simply said ‘wasn’t me’ for almost 30 years until the governor finally said, ‘must not have been him’. Fetterman was simply flexing over the number of commutation recommendations he sent as overseer of the Board of Pardons, and the fact that Horton is black certainly didn’t hurt the optics either.
Under his tenure, recommendations for life sentence commutations and clemency to Wolf skyrocketed, sending the governor at least 46 recommendations, as the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso reported last year.
“That’s compared with just six in Wolf’s first term, none under former Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s one term, and only five during former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s eight years in office,” Terruso wrote in May.
https://twitter.com/RobMattox2/status/1623377130800267264?s=20&t=xF1l0Ca5Ct8t-MLVrhp9yw
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Democrats love little more than turning criminal loose, all one needs to do is look at the crime stats in blue states and blue cities. If the criminal is a person of color, then all the better. So, did some compelling evidence come forward that led to Fetterman recommending Horton and his brother get set free? It doesn’t really appear so.
A 2021 appeal filing in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania cited the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County summary of “the facts underlying [Dennis] Horton’s convictions.” It reads as follows:
The evidence adduced at trial established that on May 31, 1993, Horton, his brother Lee Horton (“Lee”), and a co-conspirator Robert Leaf (“Leaf”) robbed Filito’s Bar located at 5th Street and Hunting Park Avenue. During the course of the robbery, [Horton], who was carrying a rifle, shot Samuel Alemo multiple times. Alemo later died from his gunshot wounds. [Horton] also shot Luz Archella and her daughter Luz Martinez, injuring both. Leaf brandished what appeared to be a black pistol while Lee took money from bar patrons. After leaving the bar, the three men fled in a blue automobile. A passerby was able to supply police with a description of the vehicle and a partial license plate number. A radio call was sent out, which included a description of the three assailants, their vehicle, and the last four digits of the license plate. A police officer observed the vehicle a short time later only a mile from the crime scene and placed [Horton] and his companions under arrest. Police recovered a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle from the backseat of the car as well as a black pellet gun under the front passenger seat. Ballistics testing identified the rifle as the same weapon used during the robbery at Filito’s. [Horton], Lee, and Leaf, who was wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt at the time of his arrest, were taken to the hospital where Martinez and her daughter, as well as another bar patron Miguel DeJesus, identified them as the robbers.
The facts of the case certainly look like Horton and his brother were guilty, but I’m sure they learned their lessons! Why not set them free? After all, having to hang out and try to have a conversation with John Fetterman HAS to be worse than prison!