USA Track Official Urges Bush: Don't Pardon Jones

Letting the disgraced track start out of prison early is wrong move, he says
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 22, 2008 6:00 PM CDT
USA Track Official Urges Bush: Don't Pardon Jones
Marion Jones of the United States celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the gold medal in the 100 meters at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in this 2000 file photo.    (AP Photo/CP, Kevin Frayer)

The head of the US track and field program urged President Bush today not to pardon disgraced sprinter Marion Jones, the Daily News reports. Doing so would send a "horrible message" to young fans and to the international community getting ready to watch the Olympics, said Douglas Logan in an open letter to Bush. Jones is serving a 6-month sentence but has asked the president to spring her before her September release.

"She lied to federal agents," Logan wrote. "She took steroids. She made false statements in a bank fraud investigation—not necessarily in that order. She admitted it. And now she apparently wants to be let off." (More Marion Jones stories.)

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