John O’Hara, the longtime opponent of Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes and the Brooklyn Democratic machine, and the only person since Susan B. Anthony convicted of registering to vote, said that his attorney got a phone call today about a possible pardon from Peter Kiernan, the counsel for Governor David Paterson.
“He said they would take a look at it, which I guess means I am still in the running,” O’Hara said.
On John Gambling’s radio show this morning, Paterson talked about the controversial pardon of John White, the Long Island man who killed a teenager he believed was threatening his family in an incident that was clouded by racial animosity and he was asked if more pardons are to come.
“There are a few that we just had to do some further research on,” Paterson said. “I don’t think any of them are really major.”
O’Hara’s case has become something of a cause celebre, since it is widely viewed as being a politically motivated one. Earlier this week, the Daily News called for him to be pardoned, as did the Times-Union.
For more on O’Hara’s case, read this.
