{"id":1605859,"date":"2022-08-15T05:03:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T09:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1605859"},"modified":"2022-08-15T05:03:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T09:03:47","slug":"dem-senate-candidate-voted-to-free-convicted-murderer-who-killed-18-year-old-for-heroin-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-senate-candidate-voted-to-free-convicted-murderer-who-killed-18-year-old-for-heroin-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem Senate Candidate Voted To Free Convicted Murderer Who Killed 18-Year-Old for Heroin Money"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdem-senate-candidate-voted-to-free-convicted-murderer-who-killed-18-year-old-for-heroin-money%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1605859&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">John Fetterman is often the sole Pennsylvania Board of Pardons member to vote for freeing murderers<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tPennsylvania lieutenant governor John Fetterman (D.) \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/chuck-ross\/\" title=\"Posts by Chuck Ross\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Chuck Ross<\/a> \u2022 August 15, 2022 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Wayne Covington was sentenced to life in prison after he shot and killed an 18-year-old for money to buy heroin. Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman wants him to walk free.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In June 2021, Fetterman was the only member of the state&#8217;s Board of Pardons\u2014which he chairs as lieutenant governor\u2014to vote to commute Covington&#8217;s sentence, according to records reviewed by the <\/span><i><span>Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>. In 1970, Covington admitted to shooting 18-year-old George Rudnycky to death while high, as<\/span><span> Covington and an accomplice were robbing Rudnycky for drug money. Covington <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.leagle.com\/decision\/1979811266pasuper5451717\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>pleaded guilty<\/span><\/a><span> to first-degree murder to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Fetterman cast his vote over the pleas of Rudnycky\u2019s family members, who opposed Covington&#8217;s release at the killer\u2019s commutation hearing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One year after the controversial vote, Fetterman is placing his Board of Pardons record at the center of his campaign against Republican Mehmet Oz. His campaign site <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/johnfetterman.com\/meet\/johns-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>boasts<\/span><\/a><span> that he &#8220;transformed&#8221; the lieutenant governor position &#8220;into a bully pulpit for criminal justice reform&#8221; and &#8220;led the fight to free the wrongfully convicted and give second chances to deserving longtime inmates.&#8221;<\/span> <span>Fetterman, who <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/politics\/election\/john-fetterman-board-of-pardons-20220511.html\"><span>has said<\/span><\/a><span> he ran for lieutenant governor solely to lead the Board of Pardons<\/span><b>,<\/b><span> has specifically called to end life sentences for second-degree murderers who participated in a killing but did not &#8220;pull the trigger.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But in Covington&#8217;s case, Fetterman took no issue with voting to release a triggerman who admitted to shooting his young victim\u2014a vote that Pennsylvania attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro did not reciprocate. A review of Fetterman&#8217;s tenure on the board, meanwhile, shows that the Democrat has voted to release an array of violent criminals jailed for their roles in brutal murders, a far cry from the &#8220;innocent&#8221; people Fetterman often <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnFetterman\/status\/1278271249391611905?s=20&#038;t=cuIN-216fQGIDnpB0YgDWw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>says<\/span><\/a><span> he works to release. Those votes\u2014as well as Fetterman&#8217;s unabashed support for George Soros-funded Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner\u2014<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/pennsylvania-sheriffs-press-democratic-candidate-on-crime-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>prompted a letter<\/span><\/a><span> from 13 Pennsylvania sheriffs who said Fetterman\u2019s crime policy positions &#8220;would add to already rising crime rates in Pennsylvania.&#8221; Their criticism of Fetterman could plague the Democrat&#8217;s campaign as Pennsylvanians deal with a record murder spike.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Fetterman&#8217;s campaign did not return a request for comment. The Board of Pardons denied the <em>Free Beacon\u2019s<\/em> public records request for a video or transcript of the June 2021 hearing, saying that records of the public event are &#8220;confidential.&#8221; Fetterman&#8217;s office, which issued the denial, did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><span>Beyond his support for Covington&#8217;s commutation, Fetterman has supported the release of violent criminals Denise Crump and Anthony Eberhardt, pardon board votes reviewed by the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span> show. Crump received life in prison in the late 1980s after she and an accomplice killed a 46-year-old man to &#8220;steal his television set, which was then sold for $60 to buy cocaine,&#8221; according to the <\/span><i><span>Philadelphia Daily News<\/span><\/i><span>. Eberhardt also participated in a robbery-murder, which led to the shooting death of a beer distributor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Pennsylvania&#8217;s Board of Pardons has faced high-profile recidivism issues in the past. In 1992, board members voted to commute the sentence of serial killer Reginald McFadden, who immediately went on a murdering spree, killing two and kidnapping and raping a third within three months of his release. After that ordeal, Pennsylvanians voted to raise the board&#8217;s approval standard from a majority vote to a unanimous one, a move that caused life-sentence commutations to plummet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Fetterman has called McFadden&#8217;s actions &#8220;unthinkable.&#8221; But the infamous murderer&#8217;s post-release killing spree has not stopped the Democrat from backing an amendment to lower the board&#8217;s vote threshold to 4-1. Since 2019, Fetterman has cast the sole vote to pardon or commute a sentence at least 27 times, pardon board records reviewed by the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span> show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In January, Fetterman appointed his campaign political director, Celeste Trusty, as secretary of the Board of Pardons. Trusty supports many of the same criminal justice reform policies as Fetterman, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/celeste_trusty\/status\/981861797367074816\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>has called<\/span><\/a><span> to &#8220;disarm the police.&#8221; She worked on Fetterman\u2019s campaign through this January, according to Federal Election Commission <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&#038;recipient_name=trusty%2C+celeste&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2022&#038;min_date=01%2F01%2F2021&#038;max_date=12%2F31%2F2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>records<\/span><\/a><span>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats John Fetterman is often the sole Pennsylvania Board of Pardons member to vote for freeing murderers  Pennsylvania lieutenant governor John Fetterman (D.) \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":606,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1605859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/606"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1605859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1605859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1605859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1605859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}