Yesterday, the Rochester Post Bulletin carried the AP story, New details surface on pardoned man. Those new details came from reporting I had a hand in while on assignment for City Pages. The AP story notes:
Court records show Giefer has had other legal problems since the 1994 case was closed. The Free Press and the Twin Cities weekly City Pages reported that he was charged in 2003 with malicious punishment of a child and domestic assault for bruising a 7-year-old boy by slapping him in the face. Prosecutors dropped the case after Giefer completed a diversion program. Prosecutors later told the board they did not oppose his pardon application.
The slapping case isn't mentioned in the public portion of Giefer's pardon file obtained by the Associated Press, so it wasn't clear Tuesday afternoon whether it factored into the pardons board's decision. Pardon applicants undergo criminal background checks as part of the process.
"We would need to review the file and consult with Pardon Board staff to determine what information was before the board regarding this charge which was apparently dismissed," Pawlenty spokesman Bruce Gordon said.
"Apparently" dismissed? Gordon is soft-pedaling what happened. The dismissal came after Giefer was allowed into a diversion program. According to one report in the 2003 domestic assault file, the county attorney had a statement from Giefer in which he admitted that he had committed the act.
It's not just the bruise on his son's face that's troubling here. It's at least one child that Giefer sired out of wedlock in the year before the pardon was granted (hard to conceal that activity in a small town). It's the disorderly conduct charge. It's Giefer's July 2008 involvement with the sexual prank at Pumpkinland which resulted in a local police officer quite rightly quite rightly losing his job. It's the Giefer home day care getting a permit two months before the pardon on the 1993 sexual offense was granted. It's Will Purvis writing a letter of support for the pardon in which Giefer is described as a good husband and father--even though Purvis was supervisor for the 2003 abuse case.
How did Giefer's less than model behavior get overlooked by department of corrections staff reviewing the application for the pardon board? Who thought this charmer was so special?
Those last two paragraphs of yours really say it all. This guy's entire adult life has been one free pass after another, hasn't it? Who's been pulling strings for him all this time? If he'd been a poor migrant worker's kid, he'd likely be in prison right now.
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Dec 17, 2010 at 09:48 AM