Press enter after choosing selection

1st In Michigan: Local Man Gets Unique Pardon

1st In Michigan: Local Man Gets Unique Pardon image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, March 18, 1968
Day
18
Month
March
Year
1968
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

1st in Michigan:

Local Man Gets Unique Pardon

An Ypsilanti man has received the first pardon Michigan has ever granted to a person for exemplary behavior after he served a prison term.

The pardon of Paul E. Wasson, 44, of 449 Burton Ct. was confirmed today by Gov. George Romney's office.

Wasson, supervisor of transportation at the University of Michigan Medical Center, was sentenced in 1953 to 3 to 5 years in Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson for conspiracy to vio-

late state gambling laws. It involved transporting of numbers slips between Detroit and Ypsilanti.

Because of appeals, he didn’t begin serving his sentence until Jan. 6, 1955, and was paroled Feb. 12, 1957. In a December hearing before a paroles board, he said he sought the pardon for the future of his family, to clear the way for job promotions, to eliminate references to records when he seeks an office in an organization and to provide hope for "the hundreds of thousands of fellows with problems similar to mine.”

Wasson is a member of the Washtenaw County Citizens Committee for Economic Opportunity and a leader in the Ypsilanti chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Exhibits
LOH Employment