Problems over pardons and paroles arose early in the Blanton administration. Marie Ragghianti, a Blanton appointee and chairwoman of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles, was abruptly fired in August , when she refused to release certain prisoners who, as later events proved, had bribed members of the Blanton administration.
Ragghianti retained Fred Thompson, later a U. Senator from Tennessee, as her lawyer and won a thirty-eight-thousand-dollar settlement against the state. Peter Maas brought her story to national attention in the book Marie, which became a movie of the same name, starring actress Sissy Spacek in the title role. Edward Sisk, on suspicion of a cash-for-clemency scandal.
They arrested three state employees, including Sisk, and Blanton appeared before a federal grand jury on December 23, , denying any wrongdoing. On January 15, , Blanton pardoned fifty-two prisoners, claiming the need to do so under a court order to reduce the prison population. Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds.
Westport, CT: Meckler Books, January 15, - January 8, January 18, - January 15, January 12, - January 18, January 17, - January 21, Just the ability to get at records and talk to witnesses would be a big help. We have penetrated every one of them through informants and currently are operating informants in top-level positions of leadership in seven of them. Through this high-level source we were able to control the expansion of the Klan. More importantly, we were able to discourage violence throughout the state.
After all, in , someone tried to assassinate a Nashville city councilman. And no one has ever been held accountable for that. Edit Close. Toggle navigation Menu. Photo courtesy of the Tennessee State Library and Archives. In this Jan. Ray Blanton appears before a joint session to give his final State of the State message in Nashville before leaving office on Jan. Law enforcement officials announced Wednesday, June 9, , the closing a year-old cold case of Samuel Pettyjohn, a Chattanooga businessman who was shot and killed in in a contract killing that former Gov.
Ray Blanton's administration helped pay for. The new details revealed for the first time Wednesday have elements that ring of a movie: a trusted ally of union boss Jimmy Hoffa gunned down after testifying about a corrupt governor selling prison pardons and a gunman who donned a wig and blackface to throw authorities off the scent.
Investigators in Hamilton County, which encompasses Chattanooga, have been chipping away at the year-old cold case of Samuel Pettyjohn since they renewed their investigation in
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