Arkansas Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe will pardon his son for a drug conviction that is more than a decade old. Gov. Beebe reached this decision after the state's parole board recommended his son for a pardon.

Back in 2003, Kyle Beebe was convicted of marijuana possession with intent to deliver, a class C felony, according to KATV.

At the time Gov. Beebe was Arkansas' attorney general and said his son should be treated like any other criminal, telling a local newspaper: "If he broke the law, he needs to pay for it." His son was given three years supervised probation as well as fines.

Eleven years later, the now-Gov. Beebe has decided to pardon his son's past infractions. The Arkansas Parole recommended Kyle for pardon on Oct. 20, and Kylesubsequently wrote a lengthy letter asking for a pardon.

"At the time of my arrest I was living in a fantasy world, not reality. I was young and dumb. At that time in my life I felt like I was missing something and I tried to fill that emptiness by selling drugs," Kyle wrote in part, convincing his father that he had learned his lesson.

Gov. Beebe recently said that children do "stupid stuff" when they're young.

"He was no different," the governor continued. "Liked to have broken his mother's heart. His mother and I were stereotypical parents from the different end of the spectrum. She was the enabler that tried to fix everything. I was the nuclear bomb thrower that thought you ought to shoot him. Somewhere between those two extremes was probably the right thing to do."

A spokesman for the state's parole board told KATV that Kyle "did not receive any special treatment by the Board."

According to ABC News, Gov. Beebe has pardoned 700 people since he took office in 2007. Last week, his office announced he would pardon 25 people, including Anna Lee Clark of Searcy, convicted of negligent homicide in 2010, and Michael Jackson, convicted of stalking a child in 2008.

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