it should be stated that gladys said before this she would donate a kidney to her sister, of course, since she is in medical need. so, molly, here is one of the questions. sometimes we don t know the answers but the questions are important. is this happening now because the governor was caught describing the 1960s civil rights struggle in his hometown this way. i just don t remember it as being that bad? the question bluntly is would these women be looking at their freedom if haley barbour hadn t made that statement? reporter: i don t know, obviously, and i think the time line should be looked at. the governor had the parole board looking at this case now, he hadn t made a public zig about this case, but he had asked the parole board months ago, in the fall, back around september. i m hedging on the month. he was looking at the case
multiple constituencies about this. the reality is he didn t just let jamie out. he let gladys out. he let gladys out not knowing whether he kidney will match or not, and he s made it clear he doesn t expect to see glad disback in prison whether he kidney matches or not. there are lots of folks watching this, and the governor does have a point with regards to the cost but he didn t just let one sister out. did you petition the governor for some sort of action on this? this isn t. this is a matter of state law, state courts, so the governor who you have to go, just like if it is a federal case, you go to the president. it was in the governor s court. never made a plea to the president? yes, and he actually couldn t do it. when will the sisters be
you to do. i m going to hand it over to my colleague, derek johnson. this is a very good day. thank you, governor barbour. when you re right you re right. governor david paterson did it in the john white case. now governor barbour. we hope next will be the governor of georgia, the john mcneil case. these are important cases and it s important governors realize there you have it. a press conference under way. jamie and gladys scott serving life sentences for an $11 robbery. supporters rallied for the sisters arguing the time didn t fit the crime. here s the thing. freedom comes with a condition. one sister must donate a kidney to the other. that saves the state on dialysis cost. all vacations eventually end. when the president gets back to the white house, republicans will be moving into their house. we will look at the challenges ahead. first, our random moment.
before he made the comment before he made the comments about the white citizens council. now, the decision comes out the week after. whether they re realitied or not, who knows what the governor had in his heart is anyone s best guess does all it is, but i do believe it will play to the political conversation. there is not doubt that this was a very, very important case to the black community and that last week he made a statement that was very damaging for him in the black community. molly, appreciate it. i know, marty, you want a final word on this. just that i believe the governor was already moving forward on this issue before he made the comments that he did. however, if he does run for president, he will run against america s first black president and race is going to be under the microscope for haley barb r barbour, so he moves as quickly as he can. more on the story trait ahead. we hope to speak to ben jealous.
mississippi s governor is suspending the sentences only if one of gladys kidneys is donated to jamie. we had a bit of the news conference at the top of the hour. did you pick up anything in that news conference? the attorneys spoke for a while. he basically said that they have been in contact. they made a telephone call to gladys and have spoken to her within prison. she was ecstatic with the news. they have not had a conversation with jamie. interesting, the two of them may be sisters but they are not housed together and they re in separate parts of the reason which is the reason for the different communications. the sisters have been in prison for, what, 16 years now? right. they would have been 19 and 22. and now they re, of course, 35 and 38. what crime were they convicted of? it was armed robbery. the way the court case went was that they were accused of luring two men into an ambush where these men were beaten and robbed and a shotgun was involved. yes. yes. they w