Assuming that Clemmons really is the shooter, this will probably be the end of any remaining presidential ambitions by the Huckmeister - he’d get scuppered in the Republican primaries by the law-and-order crowd.
Apparently, Clemmons attempted to shoot another officer who spotted him in a stolen car this morning around 2:20 AM. The officer shot him. He was carrying a weapon taken from one of the officers shot yesterday.
I agree with this. He’s done. In fact, I believe this is going to add a new item to the Republican Purity Litmus Test for candidates: Must Not Have Pardoned Someone Who Later Kills 4 Cops.
When Clemmons was tried and convicted, Bill Clinton was the governor. You don’t think the Republicans will try to blame him?
Just as an academic matter, I am really curious what has become of all the people the Huckabee pardoned. How many have committed other crimes? 90%? 5%?
And I agree, stick a fork in Huckabee.
Huckster’s trying to divert attention from his commutation by blaming Clemmons’ release on the prosecution’s failure to file the necessary paperwork in time – an accusation the prosecutors in question are responding to with a resounding “Bullshit!”
What, like Huckabee wouldn’t’ve had to have pardoned him if he hadn’t been in prison in the first place?
:dubious:
ETA: And, yeah, I’m gonna send this over to GD.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
For being in office when Clemmons was apprehended and put in prison for 100 years? Why?
Does anyone have any details about what precisely Clemmons did to merit a 100 year prison sentence at 17? I’ve seen it summarized as “Burglary and theft” which seems more then a little harsh, but maybe the specifics would make it make more sense.
He’s a Democrat.
Just to be clear, he didn’t “pardon” this guy.
But yeah, he’s probably out of politics now. Then again, he’s raking in the dough over at FOX, so maybe he doesn’t care. He really didn’t stand much of a chance to win the presidency anyway. Not able to raise much $$$.
This is just a tragic story and I hurt for the families and friends of the officers who were caught up in what appears to be an essentially random act of destruction.
What I want to know more about are Huckabee’s motivations in granting clemency to so many in the first place. He is a death penalty supporter, so avoidance of that is not a compelling reason. I suspect (perhaps unfairly) that the folks he pardoned had undergone a conversion to Christianity and that played a role in his decisions. Is there any evidence to suggest this? I just can’t imagine why else he would do it, knowing what I know about him.
This cinches the 2012 nomination for Palin, if she wants it. She need no longer fear splitting the “Christian” right vote with Huckabee. Now everybody that gets their news and views from Faux and Rash will come out in droves to support her, if she runs.
No, because when Clinton was Gov he was sentanced to 100 years. It was Huckabee who let him out and nothing will change that.
Huckabee didn’t let him out. He just made him eligible for parole. The parole board let him out. Huckabee commuted his sentence because he had been handed a ridiculously long one for crimes (none of them murder or rape) committed when he was a minor. Huckabee obviously had no way of knowing the guy was psychotic. At worst, he is guilty of a naive religious faith in redemption, but yes, that’s probably enough to scuttle his Presidential ambitions. If there’s one thing the Christian right can’t abide, it’s a Christian who actually practices Christianity.
I found this summary of Clemmons pre-clemency crimes on his wikipedia page: “The thefts involved robbery of cell phone and house appliances from an unoccupied house, posession of a firearm and stealing women’s purses.”
I can’t speak to Huckabees general motivation for pardoning people, but in this case it really seems like Clemmons got a raw deal. 100 years for a minor for a spree of petty thefts and possession of a firearm (which doesn’t seem to have been used in any crime other then the illegal possession itself) seems pretty ridiculous, and as John Mace mentions, Huckabee didn’t pardon him, but just used clemency to reduce his sentence enough so that he’d be eligible for parole.
Not that I think it’ll help Huckabee any, but I think he has a good case that a) clemency was warrented in this case and b) the subsequent murders are much more the fault of the Washington and Arkansas justice systems, as they should’ve cracked down much harder on Clemmons after he continued to commit crimes and violate his parole after he was granted clemency.
If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Bill Clinton had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Bill Clinton had thrown it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal.
(with apologies to George Orwell)
I’m having a hard time figuring out the timeline of all his various crimes, but it appears that part of the harsh sentence was related to his threatening the judge in the case, throwing a lock at a bailiff, trying to grab a bailiff’s gun, and hiding a shiv in his sock. The gun possession was for bringing a gun to school.
All apparently done when he was a minor.