JACKSON (AP) — The state attorney general’s office was involved in getting pardons approved by former Gov. Haley Barbour but has hidden its involvement in the process, according to an attorney for four of the former inmate trusties who received a pardon.

Tom Fortner, a former Hinds County public defender, has asked a Hinds County Circuit Court judge to disqualify Attorney General Jim Hood from a lawsuit seeking to overturn some of Barbour’s reprieves. Fortner also wants the lawsuit dismissed.

“This entire conflict has been created by the attorney general’s office, not the governor’s office,” Fortner said. “Now (a judge) is being asked to clean up his mess.”

Along with his motions, Fortner provided evidence that Assistant Attorney General David Scott, assigned to represent the Mississippi Department of Corrections, gave legal advice regarding how to publish pardon notifications for the former trusties and then agreed to the responsibility of running the notifications himself.

Fortner claims that Scott exchanged text messages with Daryl Neely, Barbour’s policy adviser. He says the messages show Neely asked Scott to place the notifications for former mansion trusties in various newspapers, and Scott agreed.

In an emailed statement to The Associated Press, Hood spokeswoman Jan Schaeffer would not say Sunday if the attorney general’s office gave advice or participated in the notification process.

“Mr. Fortner’s last minute motions boil down to nothing more than an attempt by these convicts to say the Governor is above the law. These allegations have absolutely no merit and we will argue them in court at the proper time,” the statement said.

The basis of Hood’s lawsuit is that the newspaper notices required by the state constitution were not handled properly for the pardons, including those granted to five trusties who worked at the governor’s mansion. The constitution says a governor cannot grant a pardon until the applicant has published his request for a pardon for 30 days in a newspaper in the county where the crime was committed.

Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green scheduled a hearing on the issue for Monday.

Hood called Barbour’s decision to grant clemency to more than 200 people during his last week in office a “shame” and pursued the legal challenge following outrage expressed by victims’ families, lawmakers and the general public. Of the 203 pardons Barbour granted, 168 recipients had no publication or insufficient publication, Hood’s office said Friday.

But Fortner said Hood has not been forthcoming.

“The governor (granted pardons) based on advice and action by the attorney general’s office — that’s what the attorney general never told Judge Green or the press when he was making this big announcement damning the governor,” Fortner said.

Laura Hipp, Barbour’s press secretary, said Barbour has not seen Fortner’s motions, “but he understands that what has been pleaded by Mr. Fortner is consistent with the facts as we have understood them the whole time.”

Barbour has accused Hood, a Democrat, of targeting him for political reasons. He will not attend the hearing, Hipp said.

The two-term Republican governor first pardoned the five trusties, four of whom were convicted of murder, on Jan. 6. Criticism of his actions intensified when he granted the additional pardons on Jan. 10.

Barbour has noted that most of the people granted clemency already had been released from prison.

Fortner said it’s difficult for him to know his actions may cause pain to victims’ families, but his commitment is to uphold the law.

Tiffany Brewer, whose sister was murdered by former trusty David Gatlin, one of Fortner’s four clients, said she and her family are very upset that he might walk free. They plan to attend the hearing in Jackson.

Gatlin shot his estranged wife, Tammy Gatlin, in 1993 while she held their 2-month-old son and then shot family friend Randy Walker, who survived.

“All the people that were killed, they were alive and something horrible was done to them. Upholding these pardons is saying that these people never existed that nothing ever happened to them,” Brewer said.

As many as 10 pardoned offenders, including Gatlin, could be sent back to prison or told they’re not getting out if Green decides to overturn some of Barbour’s reprieves.