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Among other commutations signed by Blanton last week was one for Katie Browder Stricklin, 40, convicted in 1972 for the strychnine poisonings of her mother and father-in-law. She had been acquitted of killing her father and mother-in-law, despite indications that their deaths also resulted from poisoning.
Thirty-six hours after the sentences were commuted, U.S. Attorney Harold D. Hardin warned Governor-elect Lamar Alexander that Blanton was about to release additional convicts, reportedly including Eddie ("Dusty") Denton, 25, a convicted murderer serving 60 years, for whom an $85,000 down payment had alledgedly been made on a commutation that was supposed to cost $200,000.
With that, Alexander arranged to take his oath three days early. The new Governor then ordered Fred Thompson, former chief minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, to take charge of all pardon and commutation documents. Immediately after the swearing-in ceremony, agents of the FBI and Tennessee Bureau of Criminal Identification swept through the capitol, searching filing cabinets for evidence and handing out subpoenas requiring some of Blanton's aides and close friends to appear before the federal grand jury. The agents wedged shut the door to the Governor's office, barring Blanton and his aides from removing any documents.
Even as power changed hands, Blanton attempted to pardon more prisoners. Lewis Donelson, an aide to the new Governor, discovered Blanton's counsel, Robert Lillard, busily drafting new executive clemency documents in a tiny office in the darkened capitol. Lillard claimed Blanton still held his gubernatorial powers, but gave up his work when Donelson phoned Blanton to inform him that he would be forbidden to enter the capitol to sign any new orders. "By whose authority?" demanded Blanton. Replied Donelson: "By the authority of the new Governor."
Blanton's 52 pardons and paroles were promptly challenged by John J. Hooker Jr., a Nashville lawyer who has long opposed Blanton's leniency with prisoners. He asked a state court to void the last-minute releases. But Governor Alexander said he was doubtful that the releases could be rescinded.
Republican State Senator Victor Ashe was so angry with Blanton that he promised to seek removal of the ex-Governor's name from three state college buildings. Said Ashe: "Students attending classes in them may be inclined to cheat." Later, from the steps of his private suburban home, Blanton, a former three-term member of Congress, offered no apologies. Said he: "History will record that we did the right and proper thing."