Violent felon granted clemency by Huckabee now sought in Lakewood, WA police ambush; Update: Huck PAC posts statement; Update: Search continues; how Clemmons played Arkansas; Update: Huck whitewashes on O’Reilly (and vice versa); Update: Clemmons is dead
Faces of the fallen: Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Officers Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; Gregory Richards, 42.
Scroll for updates…SWAT team reportedly surrounded a Clemmons family home late Sunday…KIRO TV in Seattle has details…Reward for information leading to arrest now up to $120,000…4:15am Eastern 11/30…hostage negotiator on loudspeaker attempting to communicate with Clemmons…Twitter hashtag for latest breaking developments: #lakeshoot…Live Seattle police scanner stream via KOMO here…4:37am Eastern…residents reporting hearing flashbangs…Officer’s message to Clemmons: “I can tell you this, we are not going away”…11:20am Eastern…Clemmons NOT found in home surrounded by police; area college students, workers warned…12:51pm Eastern. Latest report says Clemmons was seen getting off a metro bus on the UW campus…Beacon Hill park now being searched…Lakewood PD chief scheduled to hold news conference…livestream here…Chief Brett Farrar near tears, says talking to victims’ families was “hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and I hope I never have to do it again”…says he and his fellow police officers “will be there to do our jobs for the citizens of Lakewood”…On police scanner, SPD still searching for fugitive Clemmons…
Huckabee’s Willie Horton II?
A deadly ambush at a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington on Sunday morning left four police officers dead. A vigil attended by an estimated 700 mourners and well-wishers was held Sunday night for the fallen at Champion’s Center church in Tacoma. Read about the lives, loves, and dedication to service of the fallen officers here.
The Lakewood Police Independent Guild profiles their fallen colleagues here Officer Griswold was a passionate Tea Party activist. Officer Richards was a drummer. They were parents working hard for their kids’ future and dedicated officers protecting and serving:
Tina was our conservative friend. She was excited to be a part of the Olympia Tea Parties and proudly stated why she got involved in politics over the past year. Tina was sharp too, only a couple mornings ago we had a great discussion on the future of our Republic and how we felt true limited government conservatives should take back out political party. If you wanted any details over the massive government spending she would have them for you. If anyone thinks these comments are off color then you did not know Tina well. She would tell you where you could go and like Mark you always knew where you stood with her. She was the toughest little cop I have ever known. Tina has two children and a husband who loves her deeply. My gut hurts that I missed your Halloween party this year. Your memory and strength will help guide our movement to retake our party, this I promise you.
Greg Richards was the drummer in a rock band you would never know was a drummer in a rock band. Greg was a great cop who cared about one thing above all else, his family. He was a proud dad to three kids and wanted nothing more than to spend all of his time off with his wife and kids. Greg and I spent some one on one time together recently at an overtime assignment where he talked mostly about his family, he was obviously so proud. I will always remember this summer when you and your band rocked the house for our member with all proceeds going to charity when he was in the hospital. Yantzerpaloza will take on new meaning for us in the coming years. For someone who does not have much hair, you helped me put it down for a night.
As our Department weeps we know our brothers and sisters are in a place where people don’t come in a calm place and take your life because of the shield you wear or the basic oath we took. This will never make sense to us, it can’t. There will never be an explanation that works that will heal us. We can simply hope to take this senseless act of evil and turn it around to motivate our other officers, elected officials, and our entire community to keep make sure these parolees stay in prison and our communities stay safe.
Officer Tina Griswold’s sister pays tribute.
The man being sought by police was granted clemency by former GOP Arkansas Mike Huckabee despite his violent history and vehement protestations from prosecutors and victims’ family members.
He was most recently in jail for alleged second-degree rape of a child.
This isn’t Huckabee’s first Horton moment, as I’ll remind you in a moment.
Keep the officers and their loved ones in your prayers tonight. The monstrous details, via the Seattle Times.
Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers this morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.
Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protestations of prosecutors.
“This is the day I’ve been dreading for a long time,” Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ Pulaski County said Sunday night when informed that Clemmons was being sought in connection to the killings.
Clemmons’ criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. The record also stands out for the number of times he has been released from custody despite questions about the danger he posed.
Clemmons had been in jail in Pierce County for the past several months on a pending charge of second-degree rape of a child.
He was released from custody just six days ago, even though he was wanted on a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas and was staring at eight felony charges in all out of Washington state.
Clemmons posted $15,000 with a Chehalis company called Jail Sucks Bail Bonds. The bondsman, in turn, put up $150,000, securing Clemmons’ release on the pending child-rape charge.
Clemmons lives in Tacoma, where he has run a landscaping and power-washing business out of his house, according to a police interview with his wife earlier this year.
He was married, but the relationship was tumultuous, with accounts of his unpredictable behavior leading to at least two confrontations with police earlier this year.
During the confrontation in May, Clemmons punched a sheriff’s deputy in the face, according to court records. As part of that incident, he was charged with seven counts of assault and malicious mischief.
In another instance, Clemmons was accused of gathering his wife and young relatives around at 3 or 4 in the morning and having them all undress.
A chilling flashback to 2004 from the Arkansas Leader:
Several prosecutors around the state are upset with Gov. Huckabee for grant- ing clemency to violent criminals, but he is blaming the prosecutors for often not seeking the maximum penalty and keeping felons locked up longer.
Until now, Huckabee has refused to comment on his controversial policy of making violent prisoners eligible for parole– they include murderers, armed robbers and rapists, who often return to a life of crime after they’re freed – but in a statement to The Leader this week, he lashed out at prosecutors for not doing more to keep prisoners behind bars – to which Pulaski County Prosecuting Attor-ney
Larry Jegley had this response: “That’s a load of baloney.”
“I’m offended as a prosecutor and as a citizen. He can blame the prosecutors, but ultimately he’s the man responsible,” Jegley says. “He’s the only one who can sign on the dotted line.
…_ In addition, Jegley, Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Herzfeld and others have accused Huckabee of violating the state Constitution when he commutes sentences without explanation. The Constitution requires the governor to give reasons why he grants clemency to criminals.
“He doesn’t do it,” insists Herzfeld, who recently had a clemency overturned because Huckabee did not explain why he commuted a murderer’s life sentence.
…
Jegley cites numerous examples of Huckabee’s freeing felons who go on committing more crimes and wind up back in prison.
Maurice Clemmons received a 35-year sentence in the early 1990s for armed robbery and theft. His sentence was commuted in May 2000, and he was let out three months later.
The following March, Clemmons committed two armed robberies and other crimes and was sentenced to 10 years. You’d think they’d keep him locked up after that, but no: He was paroled last March and is now wanted for aggravated robbery.
If Huckabee decides to set these criminals free, Jegley says, at least “he ought to give an accounting. I can’t imagine why in the world they’d want them released from jail. There’s a good reason we’re afraid of them. The sad truth is that a significant number of people re-offend.”
The victims’ families, Jegley says, “deserve an explanation. I look into people’s eyes who’ve suffered the unspeakable. I believe they deserve justice.
Via the Arkansas Times blog, here’s a 1998 court document from Arkansas detailing some of Clemmons’ criminal history and courtroom threats — including hiding a hinge in his sock that he intended to use as a weapon against a judge and extracting a lock from a jail cell that he threw at his mother during court proceedings:
The circuit court made its foregoing findings and decision to grant postconviction relief based on pretrial events that occurred at Clemmons’s burglary and theft trial held before Judge Floyd Lofton. Clemmons’s defense counsel, Llewellyn J. Marczuk, testifying at the postconviction hearing, related that, at the earlier trial, a security guard had reported to Judge Lofton that Clemmons had taken a hinge from one of the courtroom doors, hid it in his sock, and intended to use it as a weapon. The hinge was found and taken from him before he harmed anyone. In another incident, Clemmons extracted a lock from a holding cell, and he later threw the lock which hit his mother. During this second episode, Clemmons purportedly threatened Judge Lofton. In a third incident, Clemmons reportedly reached for a guard’s pistol during his transportation to the courtroom. Based on these occurrences, Judge Lofton placed Clemmons in leg irons and seated a uniformed officer near him during trial. This court upheld Judge Lofton’s remedial actions in Clemmons. 303 Ark. at 267-269, 795 S.W.2d at 928-929.
This disaster is just one of Huckabee’s ill-considered clemency legacies.
Remember Wayne Dumond?
Again, via the Arkansas Times circa 2005 — a closer look at how Huckabee tried to evade responsibility for setting a convicted rapist free…only to rape again:
Editor’s note, Sept. 1, 2005: Wayne Dumond, convicted of rape in Arkansas and murder in Missouri, died of apparent natural causes in prison Tuesday.
The occasion prompts us to republish Murray Waas’ prize-winning article for the Arkansas Times in 2002 about the extraordinary steps Gov. Mike Huckabee took to help win Dumond’s freedom. He has since blamed others for Dumond’s release to kill again, but his actions over many years demonstrated his support for Dumond and, ultimately, the instrumental role he played in the parole board’s decision to free him.
…New sources, including an advisor to Gov. Mike Huckabee, have told the Arkansas Times that Huckabee and a senior member of his staff exerted behind-the-scenes influence to bring about the parole of rapist Wayne Dumond, who Missouri authorities say raped and killed a woman there shortly after his parole.
Huckabee has denied a role in Dumond’s release, which has become an issue in his race for re-election against Democrat Jimmie Lou Fisher. Fisher says Huckabee’s advocacy of Dumond’s freedom, plus other acts of executive clemency, exhibit poor judgment. In response, Huckabee has shifted responsibility for Dumond’s release to others, claiming former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker made Dumond eligible for parole and saying the Post Prison Transfer Board made the decision on its own to free Dumond.
But the Times’ new reporting shows the extent to which Huckabee and a key aide were involved in the process to win Dumond’s release. It was a process marked by deviation from accepted parole practice and direct personal lobbying by the governor, in an apparently illegal and unrecorded closed-door meeting with the parole board (the informal name by which the Post Prison Transfer Board is known).
After Huckabee told the board, in executive session, that he believed Dumond got a “raw deal,” according to a board member who was there, and supported his release, board chairman Leroy Brownlee personally paved the way for Dumond’s release, according to board records and former members. During that time — from December 1996 to January 1997 — Brownlee regularly consulted with Butch Reeves, the governor’s prison liaison, on the status of his efforts, two state officials have told the Times.
…• Dumond was transferred to the Tucker unit in December 1996, after his request for rehearing. Had he stayed at Varner, he could not have been scheduled for a new hearing before Jan. 20, 1997, Huckabee’s deadline to act on his announcement that he was considering commuting Dumond’s sentence. His transfer — which the Department of Corrections has explained in conflicting ways — allowed him to get on the Tucker hearing schedule, which let the board parole Dumond before Huckabee’s deadline — and thus take the heat for his release.
When the board paroled Dumond in January 1997, he had been in prison since 1985 for the rape of Ashley Stevens, a Forrest City high school student. The board made Dumond’s parole conditional upon his moving out of state, but initially authorities in Florida, Texas, and other states declined to allow him to move there. Dumond was finally released in October 1999, when he moved to DeWitt to live with his stepmother.
In August 2000, Dumond moved to Smithville, Mo., a rural community outside Kansas City. He had married a woman from the community who was active in a church group that had visited Dumond in prison and believed him to be innocent.
Only six weeks after Dumond moved to Missouri, Carol Sue Shields, of Parkville, Mo., was found murdered in a friend’s home. She had been sexually assaulted and suffocated.
In late June 2001, Missouri authorities charged Dumond with the first-degree murder of Shields. The Clay County, Mo., prosecutor’s office asserted that skin found under Shield’s fingernails, the result of an apparent struggle with her murderer, contained DNA that matched Dumond’s.
Missouri authorities also say that Dumond is the leading suspect in the rape and murder of a second woman, Sara Andrasek, of Platte County, Mo., though he has not yet been charged with that crime.
Andrasek was 23. Like Shields, Andrasek had her brassiere cut from her body; Dumond cut Stevens’ bra off before he raped her.
“It’s as if he wanted to leave us his calling card,” a Missouri law enforcement officer said.
***
The Other McCain has details on how to contribute to the slain officers’ memorial fund.
The Lakewood massacre comes on the heels of another fatal police officer shooting in the Pacific Northwest:
The shock, anger and heartbreak unleashed by the shooting deaths of four Lakewood police officers on Sunday came less than a month after the execution of a Seattle police officer.
Police say the suspect in the previous shooting wanted to kill as many members of law enforcement as possible.
It was a Halloween night ambush. Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton and Officer Britt Sweeney were sitting in a patrol car following a traffic stop when a car pulled up next to the cruiser and opened fire.
Brenton died instantly. Sweeney was injured, but survived.
The key clue came from a dashboard camera, which yielded a grainy photo of a Datsun 210.
The crime scene became a place for people to grieve, comfort each other and remember a man known as a dedicated police officer, a husband and a father of two children.
On Nov. 6, as thousands gathered at Key Arena for an emotional tribute to Brenton, police converged on a Tukwila apartment complex where the sought Datsun was found under a tarp in the parking lot.
Police confronted suspected gunman, 41-year-old Christopher Monfort. When he tried to open fire, police said they shot and wounded him.
Inside Monfort’s apartment, police found guns, bombs, booby traps and ammunition.
“His arsenal of weapons suggested both that he was ready to continue his attacks, and that he was preparing to make a final armed stand should he be discovered,” said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.
***
Huck PAC posts a statement on the Lakewood PD massacre (h/t Allahpundit). Note the passive language and blame-shifting to prosecutors with no explicit mention of Huckabee’s role in granting clemency over the objections of prosecutors:
…Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State. He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990, making him parole eligible and was paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him. It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior but was not kept incarcerated by either state.
Update: Seattle Times reported late Sunday night that a home tied to the Clemmons’ family had been surrounded by SWAT and law enforcement.
Update: 11:20am Eastern. Dear Lord. Clemmons is NOT in the home. Area college students and workers, residents, have been warned.
Update 2:00pm Eastern. The Seattle Times has Clemmons’ clemency docs, which detail how he played the Christian card to win his commutation.
Update 3:56pm Eastern.New thread on police search here.
Make sure you watch the video flashback on Huckabee and clemency via Allahpundit. Devastating.
And a few more background links to brush up on before Huckabee’s Fox News appearance tonight:
Prosecutors say Huckabee 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.
Some inmates who benefited from some sort of personal connection:
—James Maxwell, who killed a pastor of the Church of God in Arkansas. Maxwell worked at the Governor’s Mansion when Huckabee announced his intent to reduce his prison sentence.
—Samuel W. Taylor, convicted on a drug charge. A prosecutor said the man had told him Taylor’s sister had gone to school with Huckabee. Huckabee said the sister didn’t influence the decision. Taylor subsequently was arrested on another drug charge.
—Donald W. Clark, convicted of theft. Huckabee’s pastor recommended leniency for Clark, whose stepmother worked on Huckabee’s gubernatorial staff.
—Robert A. Arnold Jr., who was convicted of killing his father-in-law. Arnold’s father, a former mayor of Hope, Huckabee’s hometown, said he was a casual friend of the governor.
—A pastor who promoted Huckabee among blacks urged the governor to grant clemency to John Henry Claiborne, who was sentenced to 100 years for a 1994 armed robbery, according to a 2004 report in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Huckabee made Claiborne eligible for parole after receiving a letter from the Rev. Charles Williams, who told the newspaper he had helped win “many, many” clemencies from Huckabee.
—Denver Witham, convicted of beating a man to death with a lead pipe at bar, had his sentence commuted by Huckabee. The action drew the ire of prosecutors who speculated that Huckabee’s act of clemency was related to Witham, who was lead singer in a prison band, being a fellow musician.
Huckabee has repeatedly faced criticism from prosecutors over his clemency policies. And in 2002, Ashley Stevens, the 1984 rape victim, joined Angela McCoy, the daughter of the Rev. Billy Price Bennett who was shot to death in 1979 by James Maxwell, to campaign against Huckabee’s re-election.
“I just thought that the power of executive clemency was being exercised on the wrong folks,” said Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, a Democrat who also campaigned against Huckabee.
As for DuMond, the convicted rapist initially was sentenced to life plus 20 years for his conviction in the 1984 rape of Stevens when she was a teenager, but Tucker reduced the sentence to 39 1/2 years, making DuMond eligible for parole.
While Huckabee told reporters last week that DuMond’s file was waiting for him when he took office, his interest in the case started two years earlier after he met with DuMond’s wife, Dusty. When he took office, she contacted Huckabee again. “He said if he was ever in a position to look into it he would try to remember it,” said Dusty DuMond in a 1996 interview with The Associated Press.
Stevens met with Huckabee and his staff in 1996 to discuss his intent to grant clemency.
“I could tell he had already made up his mind,” Stevens told the AP last week.
Huckabee argues that it was Tucker’s decision to reduce DuMond’s sentence that made him eligible for parole, and he maintains he had little — if any — role in his release. Still, Huckabee had publicly questioned DuMond’s guilt and met privately with the state parole board.
And from the invaluable Arkansas Leader circa 2004:
If you’re wondering how Gov. Huckabee’s hundreds of clemencies compare with neighboring states, get ready for a shocker. Huckabee leads the pack. He has issued more commutations and pardons than all of the six neighboring states combined.
Governors seldom reduce sentences in other states – and almost never for murderers serving life without parole or for rapists or for habitual drunk drivers, while in Arkansas it’s a regular habit with Huckabee.
Other governors use their clemency power only rarely, while Huckabee has made it routine. As we’ve told you before, he has issued more than 700 pardons and commutations during his eight years in office – more than 137 this year alone – and more than his three predecessors combined.
Here are the figures for neighboring states since 1996, when Huckabee took office (and keep in mind the population of these states is nearly 20 times ours):
___ >> Louisiana – 213.
___ >> Mississippi – 24.
___ >> Missouri – 79.
___ >> Oklahoma – 178.
___ >> Tennessee – 32.
___ >> Texas – 98 (in-cludes 36 inmates released because they were convicted on drug charges with planted evidence).Total: 624 vs. Huckabee’s 703.
Governors in neighboring states almost never grant killers clemency, while Huckabee has commuted the sentences of a dozen murderers.
***
Update 11/30 8:42pm Eastern. Huckabee got softball treatment on O’Reilly. He blamed other prosecutors and judges while downplaying his ill-considered judgment. There was no discussion of Huck’s long, controversial record on mass clemencies that resulted in more innocent victims of brutal crimes. And O’Reilly unbelievably praised Huckabee for his openness in explaning clemency decisions — which should cause the entire state of Arkansas to shake in derisive laughter and revulsion given the former GOP governor’s stubborn refusal to explain his decisions until forced to so by a massive public backlash.
You can watch the brief interview here.
Missing: Any mention of the blood-boiling Wayne Dumond clemency, the statistics cited above on Huck’s reckless clemency mania, and Huck’s direct role in granting clemencies when lobbied by pastor friends who knew which buttons to push.
Update 12/1 8am Eastern. Clemmons is dead. Family members who aided and abetted him may likely be charged. His enablers, as we have seen, are many.
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Big Nannies of the Year
December 29, 2010 10:22 AM by Michelle Malkin
44 CommentsAnother police ambush in Washington state
December 22, 2009 12:10 PM by Michelle Malkin
21 CommentsMemorial for Lakewood PD officers expected to draw 20,000-plus
December 8, 2009 10:50 AM by Michelle Malkin
23 Comments
The war on cops
December 4, 2009 09:22 AM by Michelle Malkin
612 CommentsSeattle Police Department on trail of Maurice Clemmons; Update: Family reportedly aiding Clemmons; Update: Seattle PD officer fatally shoots Clemmons; Update: Suspected getaway driver is former Ark. cellmate
November 30, 2009 03:40 PM by Michelle Malkin
122 Comments
Confirmed: Huckabee is an idiot
May 16, 2008 05:01 PM by Michelle Malkin
87 CommentsMcCain-Huckabee: The GOP immigration drag queen ticket
May 12, 2008 09:02 PM by Michelle Malkin
196 Comments
Categories: Maurice Clemmons,Mike Huckabee
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I grew up in Lakewood and attended Clover Park HS. How horrible.
As as already been said I’m sure: Had it been a Clinton or Sebelius or Granholm or other malfeasant Democrat, there would be no comment in the press. That said, Mike Huckabee never impressed me and this will certainly take him out of the 2012 mix if he ever had visions of grandeur.
This is a wrong thought. I know it.
It took the death of one innocent young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, to save this nation from the disaster that would have been a Kennedy presidency. It took the death of four public servants to spare us McCain’s cheerleader, the Huckster.
I really shouldn’t think that way.
One bad pardon or commutation, I suppose, could happen to any governor, but Huckster seemed to have a soft spot for violent criminals.
Quick update from here in WA ST.
The suspect was not in his home and is still at large.
Looks like it is time for Huck to find a new job. Back to preaching perhaps? Just no more preaching from the public pulpit. BuhBye Huck…. you won’t be missed.
One of the many things that turned me off of Huck early on was his pattern of odd and unexplained clemency actions.
If I choose to forgive someone who has done me wrong I have made the Christian choice. I don’t necessarily see this principle in action when a governor grants clemency to a criminal for the harm the criminal inflicted upon a third party, the victim of the crime. It is not nearly the same.
But, Huckabee clearly bears some of the responsibility for the fact that this man was not incarcerated.
***
HI HAPPYSCRAPPER–Great idea on how to solve our prison overcrowding problems–Devil’s Island style–without costs for prisons or guards.
***
But don’t airdrop food, etc. Just send new prisoners, some fishing hooks, a few Bibles, and 10,000 endangered Polar Bears to save them from drowning on the melting ice! This will result in a few convicts with real survival skills.
***
John Bibb
***
So sad to see this. My sympathy to the families of these officers.
Huckabee’ name resurfaced recently as a contender for 2012. I never much cared for his chances in the last election. I think we can do better regardless of this incident.
Just one more example….We the People…gave to government certain powers, mainly to protect the public good. They the Government….have forgotten that little fact. They the Government don’t have to have no stinking Honor, they believe they have the self given authority to Rule….this leaves them little time to do the job they were assigned…..so They let a violent criminal loose, and of course he killed some more…no big deal mistakes like that happen all the time…..The important thing is that Tiger Woods a private citizen who has committed No Crime will not submit to an interrogation, he will not surrender his computers and all his records (which will be leaked to the press before he is released from interrogation)….no this citizen will not submit….better get a warrant and force him the HONOR of government is at stake.
Liberal presidents, liberal governors, liberal judges and trial lawyers have turn the justice system upside down. Innocent people die and these fools never take the blame. The Constitution of the United States of America has become just a piece of paper.
Huckabee was #2 Republican and Mc Cain won the nomination.
Obama was elected over Hillary.
I almost wish Hillary was elected.
What is wrong with America? Can’t we find some better more honorable constitutional patriots and clear thinkers to run for POTUS?
Huckabee is never in contention for the Office of President. We should look at people like Lt. Col Allen West to put in public office. See http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/sherm/If_this_doesnt_get_you_charged_nothing_will.html and get excited!
No amount of mea culpa could bring back the four police officers, but it might make Huckabee a better person. How about it Huck?
This is one reason I fought against Huckabee during the election. I lived in Arkansas, and Oklahoma during some of this mess, and knew what Huckabee did. I pushed for Fred Thompson, but the news media was behind Huckabee, and then McCain!!
Yep, real great cause of course the UW is a “gun free zone”. We, in WA ST, remeber the last time they had a criminal showed up armed at the UW’s “gun free zone” And that guy was illegally here in the country (from Europe)with a deportation order and was recently released by police due to the fact they were not allowed to check his immigration status.
The basic problem is that the death penalty is no longer used and, therefore, not feared. A couple of hundred years ago, this evil man would have been tried, convicted and hung within a couple of weeks of his first or second crime. Now we build prisons – and we still don’t have enough of them to house inmates as the courts keep making ever more compassionate decisions that virtually give an inmate all of the creature comforts.
There was a recent 48 hour show that talked about a guy named Sells. He murdered 22 people over the course of a number of years. He was finally convicted because he failed to kill a 10 year old girl who went on to identify him. He has been on death row for 9 years according to the program.
Wanna bet his mother was sucking up welfare and daddy wasn’t around?
Tell me again why I should be voting Republican?
Phht.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Sarah Palin
I hope she didn’t commute any murderer’s sentence….
The fact that the Tiger Woods marital dust-up was bigger news than this horrifying massacre shows you how dangerously obsessed with celebrity we’ve become. Good Lord, there’s a crazed killer on the loose who had no business being on the streets.
Stick a fork in the Huck, he’s done. This is the kind of guy who’d grant clemency to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed :O.
So true…Rome had the Coliseum and its circuses to distract the masses. This is our version…
Not defending Huckabee (not a fan of his), but I understand that he reduced this guy’s sentence to 47 years. Unfortunately, he was then made eligible for parole. He violated parole and was arrested. He should have served out the rest of this sentence. He was just released a week ago on rape, and shouldn’t have been released with more outstanding charges. More people than Huckabee screwed this situation up.
I’m pretty sure Huckabee knew that 47 years meant immediate parole.
There are others to blame, but the first release was allowed because Huckabee shortened his sentence by half. Without that he would still be in jail.
Palin book tour only 100 miles from me at Sam’s Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Dec.3rd, from 11AM till 2PM.
I hope to be there, and anyone in range might consider coming down to Fayetteville.
To me, rather than focus entirely on what Huckabee did, it is more significant that a guy with his record, charged with child-rape and facing a warrant from another state, was allowed out on bail.
What idiot judge allowed that? Although it’s been 20 years since I was a criminal prosecutor in NY, an out-of-state warrant was always enough to keep a guy in prison.
Anyway, to me, that judge is even more culpable than Huck in this case.
When will these RINOs learn? I would rather have the media shouting about a governor that executed a murder than about a governor that let one out to kill again. I mean, the media are going to go after Conservatives no matter what, so give them a REAL difference to go after. BE CONSERVATIVE and be representative of our values.
Parole is never guaranteed. You can be eligible for years, and never get it; much like the Manson bunch. A parole board would have had to have a hearing and then approve it. But, this parole thing was back in the past. He had since been in jail and released twice, since then, when he should have never seen the light of day for years. This has become a political thing now, and I am very wary of political games, since the liberals are famous for them.
You are all racists for blaming this victim of poverty.
mmm mmm mmm
The Governor of WA ST (Gregoire) is pathetic on crime. Here is what she proposed a few years ago when early released felons were killing cops, kidnapping and molesting children, and other heinous crimes:
And she was re-elected last year riding on the coat tails of Obama.
May these fine police officers, they who protect and serve us all, RIP.
Lord bless and watch over these families that have been devastated by the actions of this animal…may he find hell very soon.
This one hit close to home for me as well. I’m a reservist at McChord AFB and when I first heard the news from my mother, I thought it was the Forza coffee shop on Bridgeport Way right straight out of the McChord main gate about 2.5 mi. I used to go to that Forza every Friday before drill weekend to use their WIFI to connect to my full-time job and do some work before the start of my duties on base.
Funny thing was I was just telling some friends how I stopped carrying a weapon on drill weekends (Lakewood is notoriously bad news ghetto land) because it was too much trouble (you have to keep your personal weapon in the base armory and check in/check out is a pain). I think I’ll be carrying from now on when I’m billeted off base. This is just getting ridiculous…
Carry it, if legal. Somoe places right off our bases are more dangerous than Afghanistan or Iraq.
There is plenty of blame to share in the case of this monster being loose. The most recent “judge” to free the man bears a great deal of blame. The people who previously set him free bear some of the blame. One could argue for a long time who bears the greatest share of blame for this monster being free.
The simple point is that he should have never been released from jail in the first act of clemency and he certainly should not have been released on bail in this most recent case.
Government no longer serves the people and we had better do something about it shortly or it will cost us all a great deal more to correct the problem later…
Yep it’s legal and I have the card to prove it.
Still, it is sobering to think what I would have done if it had happpened at the Forza I have frequented (less then 4 mi from the one that was the scene of the attack).
At any rate, this man needs the death penalty. This is the 5th police officer “targeted” in such a fashion in about a month here and I think the bad guys are getting ideas. We need to put the fear in them.
To Mike Huckabee: WHY???????
Shoot on sight would seem to be the appropriate approach in this instance.
No ACLU victim status for this guy.
Hopefully this keeps the Huckster on the sidelines in 2012. I am looking for a fiscal conservative and Huck has proven he is not that. I wish social cons would get over him. But after reading how the criminal “justice” system in Washington treated this guy, I don’t think Huck is the only one with blood on his hands.
Stand aside Tacoma and Seattle. The winner again and lapping the field in the “murder spree weekend” is that old reliable… CHICAGO!
True enough, but he was supposed to be in for 95 years (not 35) when Huck sprung him. This turd should never have seen the light of day again. The gutless CYA statement on Huckster’s site is pathetic. He needs to own this regardless of whoever else dropped the ball.
*My thoughts and prayers go out to these fallen officers, their families, and numerous friends.
*As for Huckabee, his political career is all in the past tense, as he would be toast in 2012 against any GOP challenger; He should be practicing up on Harrisons’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, or at the very least stop with the CYA and begin with the sincere apologies like the good Christian he professes to be!
The Swiss have been a roll this weekend,
first a Swiss woman kicked the crap out of a golfer and the Swiss people told tthe deathcult to get lost.
Lets all celebrate with some Swiss chocolate or cheese;)
I was never a fan of Huckabee’s to begin with. This seals it.
Hmmm… homicidal maniac on the loose, known to be armed with everything short of a bazooka.
Anybody in Seattle still support a 7-day waiting period before you can get a handgun NOW? Anybody still think that a 3 months FID process is the way to go?
I sure am glad that the Second Amendment isn’t a personal right, but is really just to allow the state of Washington to have a National Guard. That really would help me sleep at night, given that this lunatic is on a tear…
The blood of those officers is on the hands of Huckabee.
I’ll drink to that…
I’m sure former Governor Huckabee feels horrible about the tragic death of those officers, but he is not responsible for their death. Clemmons is. I can only hope and pray this scumbag dies in a hail of bullets and that no other officers are killed.
Sounds like a similar M.O. of certain politicians as of late…
If that’s the best you can do, count me out.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
If this isn’t an argument in favor of changing criminal sentences so that most if not all violent felons are hanged within 30 days of conviction, I don’t know what is.
Second, if Mr. Huckabee had any amount of common decency, he would travel to Washington state, surrender to local authorities, and face charges as a direct accessory to all four murders. If he was truly an honorable man, he’d subsequently plead “guilty” at the trial…
Praying for the slain officers’ families!
M/M Thanks for your honest reporting. If the conservative/libertarian movement has ANY chance, we MUST clean house.
Keep up the good work!
Swede,
Try reading the whole post before you reply. The point you made was exactly my next paragraph in the original post…
Huckabee is truly bizarre when it comes to his history of interventions in criminal cases in Arkansas. And his actions are dangerous to Americans living all over the nation as events have proven.
A classic example of why honorable individuls should be armed. POS like the above get out of jail, get a illegal weapon, and use it.
The Huckster is a RINO. Just come out, and annouce you’re a Demorat boy. You act like one.
I think I was agreeing rather than replying, I think.
Fox Report and Shep have been dodging the story, and when they mention it no reference to Huck. Not surprising I guess, but dissapointing.
Word is Huck will be on O’Reilly. Let’s see if he gets a pass from “Mr. No Spin”. Now that would be outrageous.
You are incorrect. He is responsible, indirectly. Clemmons is the one directly responsible, but Huckabee sought out the responsibility and power of the Governorship of Arkansas, and then he used that power to benefit Clemmons and his own feelings and perhaps what he thought at the time was his political advantage.
If it had been one isolated ‘mistake’ of that kind, then we might be able to call it an honest mistake. But it was not. It was just the most gruesome.
The man is unfit to hold any kind of political power because he clearly does not understand the role of ‘Caesar’ in protecting the citizenry from predators.
It is long past time for us to stop being tolerant of unfit, emotionally self-indulgent jackasses who seek power over us but do not take their responsibility to protect us seriously.
We all counted you out a long time ago, RWR. You are just a noisemaker trying to bleed off conservatives from the real struggle to keep our country from sinking further into the pit.
No one is counting on you. You are part of the problem, not part of the solution. You always will be part of the problem. If a candidate you liked ever got close to mattering, you would turn on him.
We can count on you for that.
Roland chooses to ride the horse with brain cancer, ridiculing anybody not also getting on said sick horse.
Reagan had as his “litmus test” an “80% same”. With the current R party, I think they are 80% same as the D’s and only 20% same as conservatives.
I never understood why someone could kill someone else and only get 7 years prison. The dead person was given no life and no parole. The killer should never get out. I don’t care if they feel rehabilitated or no longer pose a threat. They took life. They should never be released. Give them a green job in prison.
O’Reilly gave Huckabee a pass. Coulda happened to anybody. Then he went off on the Oregon judges who let Clemmons bail. No spin zone? Yeah right. Really seems like Fox is covering for their own. “Fair and ballanced”? “You decide”.
Huckabee wasn’t a strong contender for ’12 anyway, and now has no chance so in a way it’s good for conservatives. He may have won Iowa again and screwed up the field for a better candidate.
I have been on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean away from the news and reasonably priced internet service. Then compound that with ONLY having CNN for my news source, I am in news deprivation hell. CNN is torture to watch. They have barely covered this tragedy. I don’t know how these police officers were ambushed or why.
I am sad that Tina was killed along with the others. I remember reading some of her writings about tea party activities.
However, if there is an upside to a dark, ugly happening, it is that this should knock Huck out of the running for any future office. I am glad for that. As this whole episode shows, he lacks judgement for hard decisions.
*As I had mentioned earlier, the Huckster is toast in politics; The excessive clemency issue was there in 2008, but none of the others had needed to bring it up; He would get beat like a drum with it now; Another (misplaced)compassionate conservative like W we do not need!
*Fox is in a pickle, as their cred will suffer if they don’t lay the story out straight, and don’t think the other weinie networks won’t milk this story to damage them, even though they are more closely aligned with the cop killer.
O’Reilly’s credibility is going down almost as fast as Huckabee’s…O’reilly has become a definite spinmeister when he wants, has he not?.
Even we know Huckabee has his prints over this decision, but yet Fox has hesitated to even discuss Huckabee’s role because he is an employee of Fox now…very slick.
On November 30th, 2009 at 11:04 am, Ed Mahmoud abu al-Kahoul said:
Huckster has a softspot for Huckster. Huckster pardoned people for the same reason Clinton did – MONEY, VOTES, and POLITICAL FAVORS.
It may be a blessing in disguise that you are no longer connected to the “O’Reilly Factor”, Ms. Malkin…at least you have the integrity that Bill O’Reilly does not and may never have had to begin with.
I haven’t heard BOR’s voice in the longest time. And I am a much better person for it.
Doesn’t matter. Nothing can save Gomer now, certainly not O’Reilly. Gomer is now desperate to keep his goofy show and radio gigs.
I recommend ending his career with a spectacular stunt for the ages. Volunteer to be the surprise substitute bassist for the late John Entwistle of “The Who” at the Superbowl. Show the whole world that he’s a fraud as a musician too, not just politics. He’s the whole package. Leave the audience gasping in astonishment at the spectacle of it all. “Wow! Now THAT’s an a-hole! And he could have been president!”
I understand your point. Some elected officials enact/legislate our laws, not enforce.
If hukabee had any honor at all he would submit himself to each of the four families. To atone for his part in the murders, for his part is a large one…..he has no honor…he cannot stand with honorable men…he is as if he does not exist to us.
Sounds like more than Huckabee screwed up here. Why was a man with that record even given bail when facing child rape charges.
Too young to remember the swiss non-involvement in WWII? I’ll pass on all things swiss TYVM
Huckabee has lost me totally. He’s morally bankrupt because he will not accept responsibility for what happened. If he hadn’t commuted, this guy would still be in jail and those cops would be alive. At least one child, probably more, might not have been raped. Huck is just another freaking man who doesn’t care if women and children are brutalized. Men too, but that’s almost incidental.
Once a man rapes a child, that should be the end of the world for that guy’s freedom, forever. Huckabee is blaming everyone but himself, but if HE, HUCKABEE, HE had kept this guy in jail, at least four cops would be alive tonight!! He needs to own up to that! I fear his evangelical religion might have led him to be too damn forgiving. I’ve seen it before. I’ve known evangelicals who put others including their children in harms way by bringing dangerous people they ‘forgave’ in contact with innocents. It’s naive and can be brutal and lethal. Forgiveness is really up to God and the specific victim. Sure, forgive to the extent that it it heals the forgiver, but never let the criminal out, not if you truly care about innocent future victims. Huckabee may be anti-abortion but he’s not pro-life. He has blood, not to mention child-rape on his hands, and he does nothing but duck it. It’s absolutely shameful.
Right, so obviously Huckabee killed these cops. Let’s keep playing “but for” here: if he hadn’t been granted parole, this wouldn’t have happened. So it’s the parole board’s fault too. If he hadn’t been let out pending charges on rape and eight other felony charges, this wouldn’t have happened. Where’s a prolonged targeting of the judge who let this guy out? Seems to me you don’t let a guy out on bail if he’s charged with rape and EIGHT OTHER FELONIES. But it’s all Huckabee’s fault. I’ll be this guy was really framed and Huckabee himself drove up to Washington to do the dastardly deed with his own hand.
You’d think someone who had been unfairly smeared for contributing to the death of a census worker might be a little more cautious of playing the blame game in something this serious.
No matter what happens now, its all behind the curve.
More good people dead the only justice is a bad guy dead.
Singing feel good pastors don’t make principled Governors.
The statement above seems to imply that only the person who pulls the trigger is responsible. If Huckabee had broken Clemmons out of prison instead of abusing the clemency laws to get him out, would he still have no responsibility for the killings? How about the person who hires another to kill for him? Is he blameless because he didn’t pull the trigger?
It’s true that what Huckabee did was not illegal. Those who allowed for clemency in the law assumed governors would use good judgement in executing the law. But even if what he did was legal, it doesn’t mean that he bears no responsibility for the consequences of his decisions.
Huck was the one who decided that, despite the risk to society and despite his violent history, a criminal deserved to get a second chance. And in giving Clemmons his second chance, Huckabee shares responsibility for denying four police officers their first chance. It’s not even close to an even trade.
I’d be really interested to know if Clemmons joined any gangs in prison, & if he converted to islam, as so many black American prisoners have been doing lately.
Someone else along with Clemmons needs to pay for this.. Any officials responsible should lose their jobs. He should have never been let out in the first place. If not, it will just keep happening.
There are a lot of people who share the blame for not upholding their obligation to protect the public. But Huckabee was the one who got the ball rolling. There is a big difference between a conviction and “pending charges”. Huckabee cannot hide behind a presumption of innocence, as can others, because he had a jury verdict of guilt and chose to set it aside.
Huckabee presumed to know better than the judge and jury who heard the testimonies and weighed all the evidence. He did this without having any new evidence that put doubt on Clemmons’ guilt. By setting aside the conviction on a whim, Huckabee took responsibility upon himself for the consequences.
He put other peoples’ lives up as collateral on his bet that Clemmons deserved a second chance. He lost the bet. Yet he does not admit his mistake but chooses to point the finger at others who also made mistakes in the case. We cannot legally hold Huckabee responsible for what he did. But we can certainly make sure that he never gets another chance to risk innocent lives on such a fool’s bet again.
Or Presidents.
Looks like O’Reilly’s handlers are part of the anti-Palin crowd, and the kid-glove treatment of Huckabee just reflects that.
Huckabee went mad with power as governor – just imagine what he would do as President, with no restraint.
And like Adam and Eve, he always seems to look elsewhere for blame.
Huckabee’s spin is like leaving the stove on in your own house then blaming the fire department for arriving too late to stop it from burning to the ground.
Clemmons has been shot dead by police.
Good riddance to bad rubbish!
Link?
Send Huck the bill.
WOW! Obama will need the last two years of his Presidency to keep up with Huckabee on all of his coming commutations and pardons. Obama looks like a right wing extremist compared to Mike “Pardon Me” Huckabee. So, anytime you pass by Huck or his buddy Chuck, make sure to brush up against them, with a surprised look give a wink and say, “Pardon Me” with a chuckle.
One of the many things that entertains me about liberals:
Bill O’Reilly openly claims to NOT be conservative.
Conservatives openly state that Bill O’Reilly ISN’T a conservative.
Liberals claim that he’s slightly to the right of Barry Goldwater.
If they weren’t so dangerous in their ignorance, liberals would be funny.
Huckabee is a dope. He was a dope yesterday, and he’ll be a dope tomorrow. If O’Reilly is soft-balling him, then O’Reilly is – to use his own term – a pinhead.
And the fact that he’ll be able to find a few eMails by Huckabee supporters that ask “WHY WERE YOU SO MEAN TO HUCKABEE?” means nothing.
O’Reilly is very, very good at his job – which is getting people to watch. That doesn’t mean that he’s a good interviewer.
Good, the world-at least the Northwest-is a better place this morning.
===
No, I hope few if any of us think this is all Governor Huckabee’s fault-the pressures to relieve prison populations is immense everywhere and on everyone involved. But this case does show a lack of judgment; his deflecting does not inspire confidence.
A friend of mine is an administrator in Arizona’s Department of Corrections. First of all he resents the title Department of Corrections-they are not correcting anybody-these people are not convicted of poor grammer or poor math skills (they have several Mensa International “correctees”).
But this administrator says they are caught between air head judges and prison rights activist on one hand and air head legislatures which want to be tough on crime. So we end up with overly expensive and overly violent prisons where the truly violent career criminal games the system and the one time less dangerous dumb ass ends up as meat.
This administrator wants a Prison Visitation Year for air head judges, prison rights activist and air head legislatures. He is not pleased.
Oh you know the bleeding hearts will start in with the hand wringing…why did he do it, we must study and understand bla bla bla.
I can tell you exactly why he did it.
When he was young, and got caught doing something wrong, they slapped him on the wrist. When he continued to do something wrong, we continued to slap him on the wrist and say it wasn’t his fault. He was black, everyone was against him and other social bable.
Until we start PUNISHING people when they do wrong, they will continue to do wrong. Punish these thugs. And I don’t mean by putting them in prison, where they get good food (considering going hungry), a place to sleep (instead of living on the street), free “health care”, can lift weights, exercise, read from a library of books, watch tv.
I mean, make prisons more like the movie “Cool Hand Luke” and perhaps if we made prison a place you never want to go to again, people would start acting like good members of society.
Our Arkansas prisons are filled with those incarcerated for petty drug offenses, behind on child custody payments, tax evasion, excessive traffic tickets, dui, etc., and Huck commutes a sexual predator…and a couple of murderers (one who went on to murder again). Could he not release those who are not necessarily a danger to the public instead of Clemmons-types?
It just boggles the mind
Good news of the day – so far.
Where is Al $harpton? Why, here bashing police.
This is why chain gangs and fast lane public executions worked much better than our current form of 24-hour daycare/state foster care for years on end.
As I posted on the other thread, Oregon has the death penalty, but a grand total of 2 executions since 1976, and 35 on death row at present. This would have dragged on indefinitely.
Now there is some closure for the families, and the world is clearly a better place without Mr. Clemmons in it. Good work Seattle PD officers!
Well, maybe now they can stop using the word “ALLEGED” to describe the murderous crimes committed by the allegedly dead Clemmons.
Texas used to be the leader in fast-track death penalty cases, but has recently gone soft. Like our current military ROE’s, police are better off (as well as taxpayers and the public in general – no help from rogue governors) to shoot to kill and forget court.
Clemmons is dead. And so are the 4 police officers he murdered. But Huckabee and the idiot Washington State judge who released him are sitting back, enjoying life.
Will either of these two idiots meet with these families? Will either of these two idiots ever be held accountable for their actions which led to these many additional crimes and 4 deaths?
Local news here is also reporting Seattle PD is detaining several of the perp’s enablers as well.
Good work SPD. I’m glad this very lame excuse for a human is out of the gene pool.
Very cold, but those police officers may have saved the taxpayers of Washington State untold $$$$$$ in costs for a trial and incarceration costs x who-knows-how-many-years.
…waiting for the Mumia supporters to complain about the killing of Clemmons…
Sounds like the cop may have shot and killed Clemmons while Clemmons was not brandishing a gun….send in Jesse and Al and even Obambi.
I am so grateful the cop saved us from seeing the worthless POS again.
Huck would do well to donate ALL of the procedes of his new Christmas book (and tour) to the officers’ families – just for starters. That would be the least he could offer to do.
Huckabee probably has and no doubt will… use the defense that “as Christians, we must clothe the poor, feed the hungry and comfort those imprisoned.”
We’ll, comfort them all you want, but it’s NOT Christian at all to release a violent person from jail and thereby putting the public at risk of being his next victim.
Huckabbee threw all law abiding citizens under the bus when he commuted this criminal’s sentence. Seems like his Values are somewhat selective… and perhaps self-serving.
Huckabee? He’s no better than the door-to-door Bible salesman/conman that seeks to become President in King’s book ‘The Dead Zone’.