Meathead
Diamond Member
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was the governor of Massachusetts at the time of Horton's release. While he did not start the furlough program, he had supported it as a method of criminal rehabilitation. The state inmate furlough program, originally signed into law by Republican governor Francis Sargent in 1972, excluded convicted first-degree murderers.Iberra hadn't committed any serious crimes before this incident.
Horton was in prison for murder, and was let out on a furlough program created by Republicans. That Dukakis didn't fix the problem fast enough is on him, but he did fix it.