The three-member Board of Pardons refused 2-1 to commute the life sentence of a man who has spent 29 years in prisons for the death of a retired postal worker.

The decision means Reginald Bennett has no chance to be paroled out of prison.

Bennett, who was not allowed to appear at the hearing, appeared to have a strong chance of having his sentence commuted:

* The Pardons Board had previously voted unanimously to hold a hearing on the commutation request.

* The state’s separate Parole Board voted unanimously to recommend Bennett’s sentence be commuted so that he could be paroled in a year and a half.

* Bennett had only traffic violations on his record before the 1978 incident in which he threw a rock at James Sloan, who died later at an Omaha hospital. Bennett also called an ambulance and waited until it arrived.

* Members of Bennett’s family and his church family said at the hearing they would provide a support system for him if he were released from prison.

* A former Correctional Services employee who was Bennett’s boss for six years in the correctional industries program said Bennett deserved to be released.

* The Douglas County attorney’s office took a neutral position.

* And no one opposed the commutation.

But the Pardons Board voted 2-1 to deny Bennett’s request for commutation of his death sentence to a specific number of years.

Gov. Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning said Bennett’s case was not extraordinary enough to merit commutation.

Heineman said Bennett had been offered a choice before his trial to plead guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge, and he decided to go to trial.

“Yes, he admitted he killed someone.

“Yes, he has remorse.

“Yes, he is going to church and doing a number of things (college classes, other educational programs) and we all laud him for that,” Heineman said.

“Why would I vote to overrule the judicial situation without an extraordinary set of circumstances?” he asked in voting to deny clemency.

Bruning also pointed to Bennett’s decision three decades ago to follow his attorney’s advice and reject the plea agreement.

“Ultimately I’m not sure the system failed him. He could have taken the deal,” Bruning said.

Bruning also pointed to death penalty opponents, who say the state should do away with the death penalty because “life means life.”

But a decision to commute a life sentence “is proof that life doesn’t mean life,” he said.

In addition, approving one commutation would open a flood gate for the 200 people in Nebraska’s prison system with life sentences, Bruning said.

“If we open the gate, it is going to be very difficult to say no to anyone. So do we want to open the gate?”

Law and order politics are always part of the process, said Bruning, who has announced he will run for one of Nebraska’s U.S. Senate seats.

The politics are always there, he said. “It’s not any more severe now (that he is an announced candidate) than at other times. That is the world in which we live.”

“I am going to do what my conscience tells me,” Bruning said.

Only Secretary of State John Gale said he believed Bennett’s case was one of the exceptions.

“The sentence was perfectly lawful. I don’t think there was any injustice done. But we are a board of clemency. We are not a board of appeal.”

And this is one of the rare times when clemency is deserved, said Gale, who said he has always been conservative in his approach to law and order.

Gale pointed to Bennett’s record in prison, his lack of a previous criminal record, the fact he called for an ambulance and stayed with the victim until it arrived, and his strong family and church support and his record in the prison.

“I think this is one of those rare cases that deserves an opportunity for commutation.”

Supporters said they were stunned by the board’s refusal to commute Bennett’s sentence.

“He is a good man. He made an honest mistake. I am shocked, really,” said Pastor Gary Hopkins of Omaha, who spoke for Bennett at the hearing.

“We were expecting something different,” Hopkins said.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.