Man granted clemency by Gov. Huckabee suspected of killing 4 cops in Washington

[bgwah]

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.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Isn't this the second notable case of a criminal being pardoned/commuted by the Huckster and then proceeding to commit another serious crime?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Isn't this the second notable case of a criminal being pardoned/commuted by the Huckster and then proceeding to commit another serious crime?

Look like Huck "toughtness on crime" is limited to sending mentally retarded convtict to receive lethal injection

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Indeed, it must be déjà vu for Huckabee.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Isn't this the second notable case of a criminal being pardoned/commuted by the Huckster and then proceeding to commit another serious crime?

Look like Huck "toughtness on crime" is limited to sending mentally retarded convtict to receive lethal injection

Send the retarded to the needle and give the real killers freedom. Wow and my party is stupid enough to come so close to trusting this fool with the White House. What happened? Did his pastor come and convince Reverend Huckabee that "he's changed", "he has rediscovered god". 

[You kip if you want to...]

[Rowan]

Willie Horton 2.0

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Now that picture, makes me think of this:

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It's a good thing that Huckabee will never become President.

[Lunar]

It's important to remember that law-n-order issues were a LOT bigger in the late 80's and early 90's.  It could be more damaging to Palin that she supported TARP than this is to Huckabee as everyone is really OCD about the bailouts. 

However, I'm sure that this would end up in all kinds of nasty robocalls and campaign literature that would be truly damaging.   

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Somehow I don't think Huckabee will be getting the nomination. If he runs, Palin or Romney or Pawlenty will be quick to point out that they did no so such thing as governor.

[Mr. Morden]

Huckabee's PAC has released a statement on this:

http://www.huckpac.com/?Fuseaction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=2907

"The senseless and savage execution of police officers in Washington State has saddened the nation, and early reports indicate that a person of interest is a repeat offender who once lived in Arkansas and was wanted on outstanding warrants here and in Washington State. The murder of any individual is a profound tragedy, but the murder of a police officer is the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within.

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, this commutation made him parole eligible and he was then 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. This is a horrible and tragic event and if found and convicted the offender should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers."

[Lunar]

Why was his original sentence commuted?  Why were his other charges dropped?  I don't think large, violent, psychotic, poor African-American men receive that much soft treatment by our criminal justice system.

[Lunar]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/30/washington.police.shooting/

this answers a lot of my questions

[Sam Spade]

If folks don't see that granting clemency to a convicted killer who kills again absolutely destroys any chance that Huck ever had to win the nomination in 2012, then this forum is more out-to-lunch on politics than I already thought it was.

[Alcon]

If folks don't see that granting clemency to a convicted killer who kills again absolutely destroys any chance that Huck ever had to win the nomination in 2012, then this forum is more out-to-lunch on politics than I already thought it was.

I don't know -- I think Romney just became much better-triangulated among swing voters than before.

[Phony Moderate]

Could this be the reason why he said it was unlikely he would run?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's important to remember that law-n-order issues were a LOT bigger in the late 80's and early 90's.

Of course.

However, it is also important to remember that we're talking about a Republican primary here.

[bgwah]

If folks don't see that granting clemency to a convicted killer who kills again absolutely destroys any chance that Huck ever had to win the nomination in 2012, then this forum is more out-to-lunch on politics than I already thought it was.

I don't think he had killed anybody before. The guy got a really long sentence for crimes he committed when he was a minor. I hate to defend Huckabee, but I don't really think he did anything wrong.

Nevertheless, I agree that this significantly damages any Presidential ambitions he had.

[Lunar]

If folks don't see that granting clemency to a convicted killer who kills again absolutely destroys any chance that Huck ever had to win the nomination in 2012, then this forum is more out-to-lunch on politics than I already thought it was.

I think it probably kills any chances he had (to be honest, I've always thought people SEVERELY overestimated his odds of running in the first place so I glossed over the prognostic aspect of my post).  I just wished to draw differences between the current era, when people are more concerned about the economy, with the Willie Horton era.  

What's most damaging of all about this is its immediacy.  If this had happened twenty years ago, reporters would stop asking questions about it at some point.  I don't see how Huck could successfully launch his campaign in six months with this trailing behind him.

The visuals on this are just all bad for Huckabee in multiple ways.  One of the officers was a woman and they were innocent victims of an ambush not even killed in the line of fire.  Nine children were left behind.  Child-raping psychotic African-American guy thought he had a special connection with Obama of some sort...anyway, an opposing campaign would NOT have a hard time getting those Arkansas prosecutors, or even some of the victims' relatives, to cut an oppo ad.  And that's why Huckabee will not be President of the United States.  Game over (I agree with Sam).

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Why was his original sentence commuted?  Why were his other charges dropped?  I don't think large, violent, psychotic, poor African-American men receive that much soft treatment by our criminal justice system.

I believe it was because he was only 17 when he was convicted.

[Lunar]

Indeed, I suspect there is slightly more to the story than the kid being 17 but that's probably most of the story.  I'm going to let this develop for a week, but it seems the absolute worst injustice was Washington for granting him his bail from "Jail Sucks Jail Bond" (paraphrasing, barely) for child rape considering his history of psychotic behavior and violent crime.

Not that the voters are logical or anything.

Not that any policy could stop ALL re-offenders

I'm not a law-and-order type and can't say for sure I'd have done something different than Huck in that situation.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Why was his original sentence commuted?  Why were his other charges dropped?  I don't think large, violent, psychotic, poor African-American men receive that much soft treatment by our criminal justice system.

I believe it was because he was only 17 when he was convicted.

So ageism strikes again...

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Why was his original sentence commuted?  Why were his other charges dropped?  I don't think large, violent, psychotic, poor African-American men receive that much soft treatment by our criminal justice system.

I believe it was because he was only 17 when he was convicted.

So ageism strikes again...

I'm not justifying it - in fact, Huckabee's stance on law and order issues were one of the main reasons I didn't support him.

[Alcon]

Why was his original sentence commuted?  Why were his other charges dropped?  I don't think large, violent, psychotic, poor African-American men receive that much soft treatment by our criminal justice system.

I believe it was because he was only 17 when he was convicted.

So ageism strikes again...

The idea of treating youthful offenders differently is rooted in brain development differences, and the idea that a life sentence is more severe to them than a 60-year-old.  Neither of these ideas implies that being younger makes one inherently "better."  I'm not necessarily supporting these ideas but you're strawmanning.