If so, let this be the end of his political aspirations. All I know is he gave Clemmons clemency despite prosecutor pleas to keep him jailed because they felt he posed a threat to society. Of course, others are since responsible for letting him out again and again, but seems to me Huck is no less responsible than Dukakis.
but seems to me Huck is no less responsible than Dukakis.
+1
Huckebee made his lame statement that blamed the criminal justice systems in AR and WA. He could have at least said that he made a mistake in releasing Clemmons: That would have been the mark of a real man. Huckabee is wearing an alabtross around his neck just like Dukakis did.
Huckabee pressured the parole board to release another scumbag who went on to commit murder.
Quote:
‘DEAR WAYNE’
So much for the standard issues of presidential campaigns. The wild card in Huckabee’s record is his position on executive clemency, a power he exercised fairly liberally as governor of Arkansas. In the bus, I ask him about what is perhaps the single most controversial — and unquestionably the most bizarre — episode of his time in the governor’s office.
That’s where things stood when Huckabee took office on July 15, 1996. Huckabee tells me he had his doubts about Dumond’s guilt, and also felt sorry for him over the castration attack. On September 20, just weeks after taking office, Huckabee announced that he intended to set Dumond free, saying that there were “serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt.” On October 31, Huckabee met with the parole board. Not long after, the board voted to free Dumond, but on the condition he move to another state. Huckabee was pleased, in part because — given that the board had voted to free Dumond — there was no need for Huckabee to commute the sentence or pardon him. So Huckabee denied Dumond’s now-irrelevant pardon application while at the same time congratulating him on his freedom. “Dear Wayne,” Huckabee wrote in a letter to Dumond. “My desire is that you be released from prison. I feel that parole is the best way for your reintroduction to society to take place.”
But no state would take Dumond. He remained behind bars for two and a half more years, until the board voted to free him in Arkansas. He was released in October 1999 and returned home. The next year, Dumond left the state, moving to a small town near Kansas City, Mo. Within weeks of arriving, he sexually assaulted and murdered a 39-year-old woman at an apartment complex near his home. The day that happened, everyone knew that freeing Wayne Dumond had been a very, very bad idea.
If so, let this be the end of his political aspirations. All I know is he gave Clemmons clemency despite prosecutor pleas to keep him jailed because they felt he posed a threat to society. Of course, others are since responsible for letting him out again and again, but seems to me Huck is no less responsible than Dukakis.
According to Huckabee there were NO prosecutor pleas to keep him in prison...in fact the parole board and the judge recommend his release...
Doesn't really matter what Huck did tho, since the second time in AR the prosecutors DID fail to file the correct paperwork to put the scumbag back in prison.
Then again in Washington where the judges let him post bail...so in a way Huckabee had a hand in this mess, but really doesn't matter at all...
And he did "man up" and took some responsibility...
__________________
I love Christmas lights. They remind me of the people who voted for Obama. They all hang together; half of them don't work, and the ones that do, aren't that bright.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do
not understand, no explanation is possible.
A golf course is a willful and deliberate misuse of a perfectly good rifle range.
Huckebee made his lame statement that blamed the criminal justice systems in AR and WA. He could have at least said that he made a mistake in releasing Clemmons: That would have been the mark of a real man. Huckabee is wearing an alabtross around his neck just like Dukakis did.
I'm curious if you saw the same interview that I did.
Quote:
HUCKABEE: Well, Bill, first of all -- the tragedy of this -- if I could have known 9 years ago this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would have never granted the commutation.{sounds like an admission of a mistake}
It's sickening. The two people I value most in this country are soldiers and police officers, because they're the only things standing between our freedom and total anarchy. And in the case of this particular individual -- he was sentenced to 108 years for two crimes when he was 16. The post-prison transfer board -- I'll be very brief about this, but to understand -- they recommended to me as governor for his commutation, which didn't release him. It simply cut his sentence to 47 years. That would give him parole eligibility.
That was the commutation. I'm responsible for that. And it's not something I'm happy about, at this particular moment.{sounds like he's taking responsibility for his action}
Huckabee obviously recognizes the mistake. Who wouldn't, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight? But, the guy had gotten a 108 year sentence after being convicted of two burglaries committed when he was 16 years old. And, both the judge who sentenced him and the prison board (5-0) recommended commuting the sentence. Note that the commutation made him eligible for parole, it is not the act that released him. His release was granted by the parole board, not the Gov.
Seems to me that there is plenty of blame to go around here. Didn't the guy also have eight felony convictions in Washington?
Doesn't really matter what Huck did tho,since the second time in AR the prosecutors DID fail to file the correct paperwork to put the scumbag back in prison
Except for the fact he wouldn't have been free to do anymore crimes.
Quote:
Seems to me that there is plenty of blame to go around here.
understatement of the year award.
__________________
You're only one post away from a federal watch list.
Suspect released in Arkansas after claiming he had changed Documents released this morning by the Arkansas Parole Board show police slaying suspect Maurice Clemmons was supposed to remain in prison there until at least 2015, but won his release by claiming he'd changed while behind bars. By Jim Brunner Seattle Times staff reporter Documents released this morning by the Arkansas Parole Board show police slaying suspect Maurice Clemmons was supposed to remain in prison there until at least 2015, but won his release by claiming he'd changed while behind bars.
Clemmons' appeal for clemency was granted in May 2000 by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, who commuted Clemmons sentence and made him immediately eligible for parole.
Clemmons wrote in an appeal to Huckabee that he'd been sent to prison after an extended crime spree that started in 1989 when he was a teenager — and that he was a different person now.
At the time of the crimes — which included aggravated robbery, firearms possession and burglary — Clemmons claimed he was 16 years old and had moved from Seattle to a high-crime neighborhood in Arkansas.
"I succumbed to the peer pressure and the need I had to be accepted by other youth in my new environment and fell in with the wrong crowd and thus began a seven (7) month crime spree which led me to prison," Clemmons wrote in his application to Huckabee.
Clemmons wrote that he came from "a very good Christian family" and "was raised much better than my actions speak (I'm still ashamed to this day for the shame my stupid involvement in these crimes brought to my family name.)"
"Where once stood a young (16) year old misguided fool, who's (sic) own life he was unable to rule. Now stands a 27 year old man, who has learned through 'the school of hard knocks' to appreciate and respect the rights of others. And who has in the midst of the harsh reality of prison life developed the necessary skills to stand along (sic) and not follow a multitude to do evil, as I did as a 16 year old child."
Clemmons added that his mother had recently died without seeing him turn his life around and that he prayed Huckabee would show compassion by releasing him.
The documents indicate Clemmons' release from prison was supported by Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Marion Humphrey, who cited Clemmons' age at the time of his crimes and called his sentence excessive. His release was unanimously approved by the parole board, while the Pulaski County prosecutor's office twice objected to parole recommendations for Clemmons.
"For us to prosecute a 17-year-old, and for him to get a 95-year sentence without a homicide — you've got to be a bad little dude to draw that kind of a sentence," said Mark Fraiser, who prosecuted the earlier cases against Clemmons in Pulaski County.
"He had an obvious propensity for future violence," Fraiser said today. "To wake up this morning and turn on the news and hear his name, I can't even imagine the suffering of those families and the suffering of people in those communities."
Humphrey said Monday he remembers Clemmons and believed he was genuinely remorseful and wanted to change.
"I figure young people make some mistakes," he said. Also a Presbyterian minister, Humphrey said he believes in giving people a second chance.
Humphrey in 2004 also officiated Clemmons' wedding when he married his fiance Nicole Cheryleen Smith, according to a copy of the marriage certificate.
"It would be the furthest thing from my mind that he would go out and kill four police officers, if in fact he did," Humphrey said. "Certainly if that's true, I would much rather that he'd stayed in prison... my heart goes out to the officers' families." Huckabee also cited Clemmons' young age at the time of his crimes in an official proclamation commuting Clemmons' sentence. The proclamation said Clemmons faced a 95-year sentence but corrections officials in that state said he likely would have served far less than that.
Clemmons was released from prison in August 2000, but was sent back to prison on a parole violation — a robbery charge — in July 2001, according to Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
He received a 10-year sentence, Tyler said, but records show he was paroled in March 2004. He was to remain on parole until 2021.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley said that by his count, Clemmons would have been in jail until 2021, but was released from prison in August 2000.
"Mr. Huckabee made him parole-eligible 21 years before he would have been," he said, "otherwise, he'd be cooling his heels in the Department of Corrections."
Clemmons moved to Washington state while still on parole. He spent the past several months in jail on a child-rape charge but was released last week after posting a $15,000 bond. His release here came despite seven other pending felony charges, according to court records.
Huckabee, a Republican presidential contender in 2008, issued a statement Sunday night mourning the deaths of the four Lakewood police officers and suggesting that if Clemmons is responsible "it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."
Huckabee's statement noted that Clemmons' release was approved by the parole board and that prosecutors in Arkansas failed to file additional charges against Clemmons after his parole violation in 2001, which could have extended his time in prison. Staff reporter Susan Kelleher contributed to this report.
Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com
I can tell you first hand about convicts. I had a prison ministry or many years, and I've heard all the stories there is. I can't tell you the countless jail house conversions that when released went back to prison. There have been a few to the exception, but as a rule most that got out on fire for God, went back on fire for drugs or a life of crime.
I'm sure the Huckster is having a hard time dealing with his decision! Is it gonna ruin his chances to run for president?.. I sure hope so, I like him but not for president.
I can tell you first hand about convicts. I had a prison ministry or many years, and I've heard all the stories there is. I can't tell you the countless jail house conversions that when released went back to prison. There have been a few to the exception, but as a rule most that got out on fire for God, went back on fire for drugs or a life of crime.
Worked for a short while in a prison in WV. Often sat in the room as security when the parole board was in session. One inmate came before the parole board with his Bible, quoting Mark. The guy made parole. The board called the inmate back into the room to inform him of their decision. On his way out of the room the inmate threw his Bible into the trash can: "I won't be needing this anymore."
The man was back in prison for multiple armed robberies within 60 days of his release. This was his magic third offense and he got 15 years to life, plus 50 years.
The only similarity between Dukakkis and Huckabee is that Horton and Clemmons both committed additional crimes. Horton was in for murder and was granted a week end release. Clemmons was in for robbery and burglary and just (bad word?) had his sentence shortened. Prison recidivist rates speak for themselves. Institutionalized inmates view parole as a vacation before returning home. The big problem is the states (the feds too) are afraid of the ACLU and think large expensive prisons are the only answer to incarceration. Joe Arpaio in Arizona has the ticket, it's called "CBR" (crushing big rocks). You can put them in tents, feed them bologna sandwiches and require them to work for their board. High risk prisoners can be shackled to something, ...... I'm such an Ogre.
Is Clemmons Huckabee's Willie Horton?
