FRANKFORT, Ky - Kentucky’s chief law enforcement officer is asking the federal government to investigate former Governor Matt Bevin’s pardons.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Monday requesting they investigate the matter.

This comes after Democratic lawmakers Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, and Rep. Chris Harris, D-Forest Hills, asked Cameron to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate some of Bevin's pardons. 

Cameron wrote McGarvey and Harris a letter informing them of the request.

“While Kentucky’s Constitution gives the Governor the power to pardon a person convicted of a crime, I believe the pardon power should be used sparingly and only after great deliberation with due concern for public safety,” he wrote.

McGarvey and Harris are applauding the request by Cameron.

Kentuckians deserve to know if the pardon of Patrick Baker, whose family raised tens of thousands of dollars for Gov. Bevin in 2018, was granted improperly,” they said in a joint statement. “We believe strongly that this and potentially other pardons should be investigated impartially, and are pleased that the Attorney General agrees and has asked the FBI to make sure that happens.”

Bevin has come under fire with several controversial pardons including a pardon for Patrick Brian Baker, who was convicted of reckless homicide, robbery, and other crimes in a fatal 2014 Knox County home break-in. According to the Courier-Journal, Baker's family raised $21,500 at a political fundraiser for Bevin and Baker's brother and sister-in-law gave $4,000 to Bevin's campaign on the same day as the fundraiser. The other defendants in the Baker case were not pardoned.

Another pardon issued by Bevin was Micah Schoettle. Schoettle was sentenced in July 2018 of raping a 9-year-old child in Kenton County. Bevin says Schoettle was convicted “based only on testimony that was not supported by any physical evidence.” Bevin said he does not believe the charges against Schoettle are true.