Arkansas governor pardons his own son's felony drug conviction

By RYAN GORMAN

A state governor has announced he will pardon his son for a drug conviction.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, has announced his 34-year-old son Kyle Beebe will be pardoned for a 2003 felony after saying then he should pay for the crime.

"If he broke the law, he needs to pay for it. He needs to be treated like everybody else-no better, worse," Mike Beebe said when his son was first arrested, according to KATV.

The previously iron-fisted governor curiously appears to have long ago had a change of heart, but did not pardon son Kyle because of a technicality.

"I would have done it a long time ago if he'd have asked, but he took his sweet time about asking," the governor told the station. "He was embarrassed. He's still embarrassed, and frankly, I was embarrassed and his mother was embarrassed."

Kyle Beebe was convicted in 2003 of possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, with intent to deliver, a class C felony, records revealed.

""Kids when they're young do stupid stuff," the governor continued. "He was no different. His mother and I were stereotypical parents from the different end of the spectrum.

"She was the enabler that tried to fix everything. I was the nuclear bomb thrower that thought you ought to shoot him," said Mike Beebe. "Somewhere between those two extremes was probably the right thing to do."

Kyle Beebe's pardon is among roughly 700 the governor claims to have done during his time in office.

"Especially young people with drugs if they've straightened up, to get their life back on track and have a second chance, so this is no different," said the convicted felon's father. "It's different because it's my son."

Kyle Beebe officially made the request in the form of a letter written to his father's office.

"Mr. Governor, I am asking for a second chance at life. I am asking for a second chance to be the man that I know that I can be," the felon wrote, according to the station.

"At the time of my arrest I was living in a fantasy world, not reality. I was young and dumb," he continued. "At that time in my life I felt like I was missing something and I tried to fill that emptiness by selling drugs.

"I am asking for a second chance to be a better son to my parents and prove to them that I am the person they raised me to be."

Kyle Beebe was one of 10 drug offenders recommended for pardons by the parole board.

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