Pardon This Interruption

Dear Kentucky,
I hope this note finds you well. Congratulations on selecting a new governor to lead the Bluegrass State into the next decade. I'm sure that Andy Beshear will be a great chief executive and advocate for you.
And just in case you had any lingering doubts about the man you sent packing, Matt Bevin, let me assure you that you made the correct choice. To wit: On his way out the door, he stopped to pardon a man who was convicted of decapitating a woman and stuffing her body into a fifty-five gallon drum. Bevin explained his pardon of Delmar Partin, who was convicted in 1994 for the murder of Betty Carnes, a mother of three and a co-worker of Partin’s at a factory thusly: “Given the inability or unwillingness of the state to use existing DNA evidence to either affirm or disprove this conviction, I hereby pardon Mr. Partin for this crime and encourage the state to make every effort to bring final justice to the victim and her family.”
Sounds like some real CSI stuff, right? Well, according to the Lexington Herald Leader, back in 2008, Partin, who prosecutors said killed Carnes because he was angry that she had ended their love affair, asked a circuit court to perform DNA testing in the case. The Court of Appeals denied that request, however, with Justice Laurance VanMeter ruling that the “evidence as a whole was sufficient to uphold the jury’s verdict and the trial court’s denial of a directed verdict.”
On top of this grotesque swerve around justice, Bevin also pardoned a convicted child rapist, a man convicted of murdering his parents, and a mother who tossed her newborn baby into the trash at a flea market. Not a single parent who was serving twenty-five years to life for drug possession. Rapist. Murderers. Another recipient of Bevin's last minute pardon flurry was a man convicted of in a 2014 home invasion and homicide. Whose brother just happened to have raised $21,500 for the Bevin re-election campaign. 
In his endorsement of ex-governor Bevin, the "president" let anyone who would listen know that this was a guy who was "tough on crime." Last week, as he was having his office packed up for him, ex-governor Matt had this to say: “I’m a big believer in second chances,” he told the Post in a message last week. “I think this is a nation that was founded on the concept of redemption and second chances and new pages in life.”
Right. Good luck with that.  
You can do a lot better, Kentucky. Good luck to you all.