The tragic murder of four Seattle-area police officers didn’t have to happen. The man who allegedly committed this horrendous act should have been serving at least 95 years in prison in Arkansas. But then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.
In 1990, Clemmons, then 18, was sentenced in Arkansas to 60 years in prison for burglary and theft of property, according to a news account in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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When Clemmons received the 60-year sentence, he was already serving 48 years on five felony convictions and facing up to 95 more years on charges of robbery, theft of property and possessing a handgun on school property. Records from Clemmons’ sentencing described him as 5-foot-7 and 108 pounds. The crimes were committed when he was 17.
Clemmons served 11 years before being released.
News accounts say Huckabee commuted Clemmons’ sentence, citing Clemmons’ young age at the time the crimes were committed.
Clemmons is not the first felon pardoned by Huckabee to go on to do such evil acts. Just Google Wayne DuMond for more. Here’s a little video that we put together here at Virtucon just about 2 years ago citing Huckabee’s lack of judgment in issuing these pardons, which led us to coin the name “Mike Dukakabee” (h/t Pedro’s Dwarf) given the similarities between former MA Gov. Mike Dukakis and Mike Huckabee.
It seems that Huckabee tends to believe the best about people, perhaps from his time as a Baptist minister. But there is apparently a pattern of such cases of poor judgment.
According to good old Huck, the fault still lies elsewhere, presumably with that nebulous “system.” How could anyone believe that he would let a vicious killer and rapist walk free? It is all too believable, if only because Huckabee continued to exercise his powers of clemency and commutation just as foolishly and frivolously for years after he should have learned better from the DuMond mistake. He bestowed those favors on prisoners he happened to meet, on prisoners with personal connections to him or his family, and especially on prisoners recommended to him by pastors whom he happened to know from his own previous career as a Baptist minister and denominational leader. As with DuMond, whose case was pleaded by a preacher named Jay Cole, prisoners guilty of heinous crimes could be washed clean in Huckabee’s estimation if a pastor of his acquaintance importuned him. Among the thugs to whom he granted clemency was a robber who had beaten a man to death with a lead pipe.
I have no tolerance whatsoever for anyone — Republican or Democrat; federal, state or local — who lets a criminal walk free with the likelihood that they will commit a violent crime. What Huckabee did during his career as Gov. of Arkansas is unforgivable.
Filed under: 2012 Elections, Mike Dukakabee
Before anyone is released from prison, there should be a transition plan in place that will provide job training and re-socialization of the convict.
Here in America, we generally merely release convicts back into the same environment that created the criminal behavior in the first place.
Other countries have transition and re-socialization programs and they have much lower recidivism rates.
If this fellow was just a psychopath, no program would have fixed his problem, but more likely, he could have been helped onto the path to a more productive life.
He doesn’t get any slack for being Black, or having had a “disadvantaged” background, or even if he had a good reason for killing those cops, but I hope that the cops don’t murder him, merely for the sake that we might learn what made him decide to kill those cops in the first place.
Had this man been a soldier, facing four armed adversaries, would be considered great bravery. Since he killed the four cops, one has to wonder what could motivate someone to face four armed cops, draw a gun then kill each of the four, knowing that the odds are great that you will be killed in the process. For some reason, he escaped, apparently only wounded.
I want to know why he felt that he had to kill those cops. Was it personal, or had he decided that anyone wearing a badge deserved to be a target? If the cops take their usual revenge and murder him, then we may never find out waht was really behind these murders.
Cops taking revenge, good reason for killing 4 police officers doing morning paper work on a computer, shut the hell up and go fall on a knife you idiot.
I have been telling people for years that Huckabee’s tax and spend record, populist strategy, and his clemency activities were reason that I could not support him for elected office ever. Now that four officers lives are lost partly due to his reckless actions I would suggest that his contract with Fox should be canceled. Additionally, Huckabee should donate his entire Fox Channel salary to the officers fund in Seattle. He should also go back to Arkansas and open his personal files and notes that deal with all the other criminals he granted clemency and disclose what precipitated those decision, We need to know if any more ticking bombs are out there. He is a disgrace because he will refuse to any of these suggestions.
“Had this man been a soldier, facing four armed adversaries, would be considered great bravery. Since he killed the four cops, one has to wonder what could motivate someone to face four armed cops, draw a gun then kill each of the four, knowing that the odds are great that you will be killed in the process. For some reason, he escaped, apparently only wounded. ”
The felon ambushed the four cops while they were on break and not expecting any problems. If a member of the Taliban had ambushed four US Navy SEALS while they on break and not expecting any trouble, you get good odds in Vegas that if the Taliban did not panic, he would plug the four SEALS before they knew what happened. The fact that the felon decided on the plan, and executed it, says volumes.
And speaking of SEALS…SEALS have a saying that no SEAL ever dies in the field accidentally – it always is because somebody responsible for something screwed-up. In the case of the late cop-killer, it was Huckabee and his getting this felon out of prison that was the screw up. Hence it is his responsibility.
Guess he and Norman Mailer now have something in common – they both managed to get convicted felons out of prison who then went on to murder someone.