Washington shooting re-opens Huckabee's clemency record

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Every Breaking Wave

Every Breaking Wave

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From the Associated Press

As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee had a hand pardoning or commuting many more prisoners than his three immediate predecessors combined. Maurice Clemmons, the suspect in Sunday's slaying of four Seattle-area police officers, was among them.

For a politician considering another run for the White House, Clemmons could become Huckabee's Willie Horton.

"In a primary between a law-and-order Republican and him, I think it could definitely be a vulnerability," said Art English, a political scientist at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. "It is very damaging when you have someone like that whose sentence was commuted. That's pretty high profile and very devastating and very tragic."

English said it's hard to avoid comparing the case to Horton, a convicted killer who raped a woman and assaulted her fiance while on release as part of a prison furlough program supported by Michael Dukakis when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Allies of former President George H.W. Bush ran ads criticizing Dukakis for his support of the program, undermining the Democrat's presidential campaign.

As recently as Sunday, hours before the shooting suspect was linked to him, Huckabee said he was leaning against running again for president, telling "Fox News Sunday" he was "less likely rather than more likely" to run.

On Monday, Huckabee said he takes responsibility for making Clemmons eligible for parole in 2000, and called the case a failure of the justice systems in Arkansas and Washington. Huckabee cited the length of Clemmons' sentence — 108 years — and a state judge's recommendation that it be reduced as factors in his decision.

"If I could have known nine years ago that this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would have never granted a commutation. It's sickening," Huckabee said on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor."

Clemmons was among 1,033 people who were pardoned or had their sentences reduced during Huckabee's 10 1/2 years as governor. Bill Clinton, Frank White and Jim Guy Tucker granted 507 clemencies in the 17 1/2 years they served. Beebe, Huckabee's Democratic successor, has issued 273 commutations and pardons since taking office in January 2007 — all but one of them were pardons after the completion of the inmates' prison terms.

Huckabee's role in gaining the release of a convicted rapist, Wayne DuMond, was the subject of an attack ad during his presidential run. While Huckabee's predecessor, Tucker, reduced DuMond's sentence making him eligible for parole, Huckabee took steps almost immediately after taking office to win DuMond's release.

Two members of the state parole board said Huckabee pressured them to show DuMond mercy, while Huckabee publicly questioned whether DuMond was guilty of the rape of a teenage girl. During the presidential primaries, a conservative group aired television commercials in South Carolina featuring the mother of Carol Sue Shields, whom DuMond killed in 2000 after his release.

Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons' parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee created a flaw in the Arkansas justice system by freeing the number of prisoners he did.

"(Clemmons) should have stayed locked up like the jury wanted him and we wouldn't even be having this discussion," Jegley said.

"I just have been figuratively holding my breath and hoping something like this wouldn't happen," Jegley said. "I just think that a lot of the people that were subjects of clemency during that period of time were some very dangerous people who didn't need to be let out."

Clemmons also had the backing of Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey, who urged the board to grant clemency. Humphrey later presided over Clemmons' 2004 wedding in his court chambers.

Huckabee cited Humphrey's support Monday and noted local prosecutors didn't object to Clemmons' commutation. Jegley said his office doesn't have any record that the governor notified him of the intention to grant clemency.

Prosecutors have said Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher, was more inclined to release or reduce the sentences of prisoners if he had direct contact with them or was lobbied by those close to him. Clemmons' letter perhaps appealed to Huckabee's Christian faith.

In his application for clemency, Clemmons wrote that he prayed Huckabee would show him compassion and said at the time of his crimes he had just moved to Arkansas from Seattle. Clemmons also wrote that he had changed his life since "the angel of death has visited and taken away my dear sweet mother."

In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery and other charges and sentenced to 108 years. Between 1989 and 1998, Clemmons broke prison rules more than two dozen times — sometimes violently, said state prison system spokeswoman Dina Tyler.

Clemmons didn't stay out long. He was convicted of robbery in Ouachita County in 2001, but was released again in 2004 by the parole board. Little Rock police say Clemmons also faced charges here in 2001 but prosecutors dropped the additional charges when Clemmons was released a second time.

Huckabee said Monday that Clemmons was allowed back on the street because prosecutors "failed to file the paperwork in a timely way." Jegley said the charges were dropped because the warrant wasn't served in a timely manner and because there was trouble locating witnesses to the 2001 robbery.

Jegley called Huckabee's comments "red herrings."

"My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did," Jegley said Monday night.

Months after his 2004 release, Clemmons was named as a suspect in an aggravated robbery at a hotel in Little Rock but he was not charged.

Saline County Circuit Judge Robert Herzfeld, who as a prosecutor successfully sued Huckabee over clemency practices, said Huckabee's decision to give Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards a pardon for a 1975 traffic offense after meeting him at a concert showed how lightly the ex-governor approached the practice.

"That just said volumes about how he considered this serious ultimate power over freedom as a joke," Herzfeld said.
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That leaves what Palin, Romney, and Jindal for 2012? Gotta say I see no real problems with that field. More relevant to the topic, why is ANYONE granted pardon until at least half of their time is served if not more?
 
60+ years for a crime committed at the age of 17 seems a little excessive to me.

Obviously Huckabee got this one wrong on its merits, but on the whole we probably under-use the clemency system. Sentences are long and don't seem to serve much of a deterrent effect.

Also, oh god, I hope it's between Jindal and Palin in 2012.
 
Yeah, I can just see you saying that if a Democrat was the one who pardoned him, or if he ended up shooting up a military base.

Point is that he released somebody who then involved himself in several robberies and murdered 4 people in cold blood. His record while in prison should have been an indication that he shouldn't have been released. And people say the left-wing is lenient when it comes to jail...
 
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Wouldn't have really mattered who pardoned him - and it would depend entirely on how soon after the pardon he shot people up. With this, the fault lies more with the judges who gave him such a peewee bail setting.

By the way, take the log out of your own eye before commenting on my supposed speck.
 
Pray tell exactly what "log" and "speck" mean and what you are trying to imply by saying that. The way I see it, the murder of four people isn't "minimal".
 
By "log" and "speck" I would consult the New Testament.

By "minimal" I mean that it's not really going to affect a presidential candidacy much because it really isn't something you can completely pin on him - a little like the Blago case and Obama. The similarity is that they're both a bit too close to the situation and risk getting hit by the splatter when the eggs are thrown. However, it really doesn't mean a whole terrible lot in the long run.
 
Arcane Mind said:
By "log" and "speck" I would consult the New Testament.
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Sorry, I'm not religious and don't have any particular interest in reading the Bible. Doubt I ever will either.

By "minimal" I mean that it's not really going to affect a presidential candidacy much because it really isn't something you can completely pin on him - a little like the Blago case and Obama. The similarity is that they're both a bit too close to the situation and risk getting hit by the splatter when the eggs are thrown. However, it really doesn't mean a whole terrible lot in the long run.
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Ah, I see, so you mean minimal effect on his reputation. Now I understand, though I disagree. As I said above, his record inside of prison should have been more than enough indication that he should not have been released. Perhaps what this incident means is that a second look should be taken at the legal system, particularly in regards to the people that are allowed clemency. Perhaps more focus should be placed on their records inside of prison rather than a whim.
 
Sorry, I'm not religious and don't have any particular interest in reading the Bible. Doubt I ever will either.
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*shrug* Up to you, I suppose.

It's all likely a moot point, because before any of this broke Huckabee said he wasn't likely to run anyway - he likely prefers his television gig, which won't be hurt by this at all.
 
I was at the 76 as close as the officers would let us go, those news vans were everywhere, huge line of cop cars, no parking at all, we had the Seattle Time, Komo4, King5, Kiro7, Q13, and it was a mess. People already hanged up signs saying "bless out officers" and that. I came there after it happened though.

Now Huckabee, well, people didn't like it when this guy could have been in prison before, for life. Of course, he (is charged with) assault on an officer here and rape of a child (in Washington), but he gets out on bail and soon enough four officers are dead in my area. I don't know how he got saved two times, from what I've heard, should he have even been let out? Huckabee may have done an honest mistake but he isn't owing up to it, it seems.

Man, people around here really feel the loss of Mark, Tina, Ronald, and Greg. I'll guess they don't like Huckabee anymore, blame is being put on him it seems. Also, the focus on Huckabee is upsetting to me, because the local news is more concerned with finding the suspect on the run than Huckabee (though he is here and there); but on the national level it seemed to stray away from the community that was hurt. Well, if Huckabee ran for president, he wouldn't get many votes from Washington state.
 
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