Breaking: Seattle Cop Killer is Toast

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Suspected Cop Killer Maurice Clemmons Killed by Police After Two-Day Manhunt

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I don't think Clemmons was the shooter--due to the overly neat/quick wrap-up.

[Peikko 1,575]

That's why it's always a good idea to arrest and take to trial rather than summararily shoot. Of course, the guy may not have wanted to be 'taken alive' but again cops are trained to deal with that sort of situation. It is really tragic all around, it's tragic to the cops who were shot and all their families, and it's tragic for anyone who believes that justice should be delivered equally to all.

[웃 910]

That's why it's always a good idea to arrest and take to trial rather than summararily shoot. Of course, the guy may not have wanted to be 'taken alive' but again cops are trained to deal with that sort of situation. It is really tragic all around, it's tragic to the cops who were shot and all their families, and it's tragic for anyone who believes that justice should be delivered equally to all.

And it's tragic that this maniacal killer was 1 of the 1,033 pardons/commutations that Huckabee granted.

Huckabee on Rapist and Murderer

By KATE PHILLIPS

December 5, 2007, 9:21 pm

NYT

This is an episode in the career of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee that probably will not go away soon. It has all the markings of tabloidian detail that can haunt a candidate, a lawmaker, an elected official, who walks and stalks the halls of criminal justice, who has, as he has said, weighed decisions on whether to impose capital punishment, and has ordered death.

But far more than whether Mr. Huckabee had been briefed on the inner-intel (or simply the public intel) of the newest intelligence report on Iran, the parole release of the convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, who went on to allegedly rape and murder others, will probably dog Mr. Huckabee throughout his campaign. It already is an issue and will be.

People liken this episode to that pumped by Lee Atwater, the late legendary Republican strategist, against Mike Dukakis, a la Willie Horton.

While Mr. Huckabee may enjoy his newfound popularity and rise in the polls, with that comes the inspection, the ultra-flyspecking of his days in Arkansas as governor. Forget taxes for a moment. Far more of a flashpoint for the ordinary citizen is the parole of Mr. DuMond, done under Mr. Huckabee's governorship. No matter whether he personally recommended (or urged to the state's parole board) the man's release or not. If his candidacy moves upward bigtime nationally, you can bet someone will offer commercials that play on this particular criminal's acts, far beyond Mr. Huckabee's control, then and now.

The facts are this, as far as we can discern, from Arkansas papers and other sources:

Mr. DuMond was convicted in 1984 of raping Ashley Stevens, 17, another Forrest City resident and a distant cousin of former Gov. Bill Clinton. He was sentenced to life plus 20 years.

In 1992, Lt. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat and acting governor, reduced Mr. DuMond's sentence, making him eligible for parole.

There is some dispute about the closed session attended by Mr. Huckabee held with the Parole Board, but here's a condensed account from the public record:

Mr. Huckabee became governor in 1996, and met with the Parole Board. It's in dispute as to how much he discussed Mr. DuMond's situation. The case had become a cause celebre among certain conservative activists. According to several accounts, Mr. Huckabee wrote to Mr. DuMond in January 1997: "My desire is that you be released from prison."

Well, Mr. DuMond was released in 1999 and he wound up in Missouri. Shortly thereafter, he was accused and later convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Carol Sue Shields. He was also the primary suspect in the rape and murder of another woman. He died in prison in 2005.

Tonight, after accounts and new documents obtained by other reported victims (forgive that term) that were published at the Huffington Post by Murray Waas this week, and a CBS interview this morning with Lois Davidson, the mother of one of Mr. DuMond's victims, CNN asked Mr. Huckabee about this long, long coattail of a criminal case that shadows his campaign:

Wolf, my only official action in this was I denied his commutation. It was actually given by Jim Guy Tucker when Bill Clinton was governor back in 1992.

It was on my desk. I did consider it. I even thought that he met the criteria for parole in support of it.

I wish I hadn't. But I didn't parole him. And governors don't parole people in Arkansas, nor can they stop a parole. And that's the tragedy, I think, that this went through several years and many different people.

And all of us failed. That's the truth. All of us failed.

As for former parole board members coming forward now who say that Mr. Huckabee, as governor, persuaded them to release Mr. DuMond, the Republican candidate offered this tonight:

That's what is so heartbreaking about this. There are families who are truly, understandably and reasonably grief-stricken. And for people to now politicize these deaths and to try to make a political case out of it, rather than to simply understand that a system failed and that we ought to extend our grief and heartfelt sorrow to these families, I just regret that politics is reduced to that.

We can guarantee you that this will not go away. Mr. Huckabee will be asked and asked about the DuMond case. As he has been. And should his campaign take hold nationally, you can bet scary commercials will be on the horizon. If not already in the can in someone's darkroom.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12...rderer/?apage=2

Edited December 1, 2009 by Confucian

[웃 910]

Is Huckabee soft on Drunk Drivers

By Spiral Posted in 2008

We've heard about how Governor Mike Huckabee wrote that letter expressing his hope that Wayne Dumond be released from prison. He was and he murdered two innocent people.

Now the question is this: Was Governor Huckabee similarly "soft" on drunk drivers? The media is going through the 1000 or so commutations that Huckabee handed out and some of it raises eyebrows.

Over the course of more than a decade as governor, Huckabee granted over 1,000 commutations and pardons, and they’re currently being examined closely by journalists. The latest to draw national attention is a commutation of Eugene Fields, who had multiple drunk-driving convictions.

The question is if there was there a connection between his wife Glenda Fields’s five-figure political donations and Huckabee’s action. On April 14, 2004, then-Gov. Huckabee commuted the sentence of Mr. Fields — then a four-time driving-while-intoxicated offender — granting him early release from prison. Fields, a resident of the western Arkansas town of Van Buren, was a habitual offender. He had already been convicted of DWIs in 1996, 1998, and 2000, but his 2001 felony-DWI conviction resulted in the maximum six-year prison sentence and a $5,000 fine.

The political contributions by the Fields family — large by Arkansas standards — went unreported at the time Huckabee granted Eugene Fields executive clemency. The size of the donations places the Fields family in the top tier of the state GOP’s donors, alongside Arkansas aristocracy like the scions of the Fords and Stephens families.

So, is this just the beginning of a wave of commutation controversies surrouding Governor Huckabee? Is this what is going to bring Huckaboom to Huckabust?

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Only a lib would think its "tragic" that a cop killer has met his end. tsk tsk..

They need reality checks on multiple levels.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Only a lib would think its "tragic" that a cop killer has met his end. tsk tsk..

They need reality checks on multiple levels.

Hey everybody look, it's the return of stupid. Any loss of life is a tragedy, even when you don't like them. Furthermore, him dying like this, we'll never know what was his motive and the victims family will never get closure.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

That's why it's always a good idea to arrest and take to trial rather than summararily shoot. Of course, the guy may not have wanted to be 'taken alive' but again cops are trained to deal with that sort of situation. It is really tragic all around, it's tragic to the cops who were shot and all their families, and it's tragic for anyone who believes that justice should be delivered equally to all.

The only way for a cop killer to get a trial is for that person to themselves in. Give the cops a chance to justify shooting you and you're dead meat. There was a guy here in FL that shot a cop back in 2006 then went hiding into the woods. He didn't come out alive and I must say that that wasn't a surprising outcome. Dude was actuall shot an impressive 68 times - the other 30 some odd rounds fired at him missed.

I can't blame the police for taking such a suspect out. If you're falsely suspected, turn yourself in and get your day in court. If you run, you're essentially dead.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Only a lib would think its "tragic" that a cop killer has met his end. tsk tsk..

They need reality checks on multiple levels.

Hey everybody look, it's the return of stupid. Any loss of life is a tragedy, even when you don't like them. Furthermore, him dying like this, we'll never know what was his motive and the victims family will never get closure.

Childish...

I don't care what his motives are. He's dead and won't kill another cop. You know nothing about the family.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Only a lib would think its "tragic" that a cop killer has met his end. tsk tsk..

They need reality checks on multiple levels.

Hey everybody look, it's the return of stupid. Any loss of life is a tragedy, even when you don't like them. Furthermore, him dying like this, we'll never know what was his motive and the victims family will never get closure.

Childish...

I don't care what his motives are. He's dead and won't kill another cop. You know nothing about the family.

Ignorant.....

It is about the victims and their surviving families. I take it from your infantile response that you've never had to deal with a murdered family member. I envy you. This has nothing to do with you and your bloodlust.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Only a lib would think its "tragic" that a cop killer has met his end. tsk tsk..

They need reality checks on multiple levels.

Hey everybody look, it's the return of stupid. Any loss of life is a tragedy, even when you don't like them. Furthermore, him dying like this, we'll never know what was his motive and the victims family will never get closure.

Childish...

I don't care what his motives are. He's dead and won't kill another cop. You know nothing about the family.

Ignorant.....

It is about the victims and their surviving families. I take it from your infantile response that you've never had to deal with a murdered family member. I envy you. This has nothing to do with you and your bloodlust.

You're a pro at the "you've never experienced" cop out. You're practice is paying off! You've brought so many to your side!

[The_Dude 1,142]

Only a lib would think its "tragic" that a cop killer has met his end. tsk tsk..

They need reality checks on multiple levels.

Hey everybody look, it's the return of stupid. Any loss of life is a tragedy, even when you don't like them. Furthermore, him dying like this, we'll never know what was his motive and the victims family will never get closure.

Childish...

I don't care what his motives are. He's dead and won't kill another cop. You know nothing about the family.

Ignorant.....

It is about the victims and their surviving families. I take it from your infantile response that you've never had to deal with a murdered family member. I envy you. This has nothing to do with you and your bloodlust.

You're a pro at the "you've never experienced" cop out. You're practice is paying off! You've brought so many to your side!

Joe, once again, you demonstrate your ignorance. Your bloodlust for some form of vengeance clouds your logic. Justice is a broader term that isn't satisfied with the perpetrator dying.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

why doesn't this surprise me? Vigilante justice, not cool.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

why doesn't this surprise me? Vigilante justice, not cool.

He was shot by cops, not vigilantes.

[The_Dude 1,142]

why doesn't this surprise me? Vigilante justice, not cool.

It's not necissarily vengeance on the cops part. I'll reserve judgement until the facts are in.