He did, but that only applied to any federal crimes which Nixon may or may not have committed. The President cannot do anything about state crimes. Generally, the governor of a state has pardon power within that state, but the rules vary from state to state.
After much googleing this afternoon I have come to the conclusion that you are correct, State crimes cannot be pardoned by the president. So technically the president is over strecthing his authority by repriving them from a death sentance. I don’t belive that we have a federal death sentance statue.
An interesting point I saw that state laws can be affected by presidential pardons. Like say you get pardoned for a felony, the state cannot stop you from getting a handgun after you are pardoned.
Tell that to Timothy McVeigh.
Uh, no, wait a second…
Okay, there is a federal death penality (must google first, must google first!)
But tell me: Is it a federal crime to be Tasty and Delicious?
I seem to remember cough hijack cough that Benjamin Franklin came quite close to making the turkey the national bird. I always hated the bald eagle, anyway.