Huckabee on Clemmons commutation: "I would make the exact same decision"

The Examiner ^ | 12/2/2009 | Kevin Hall

[bigred08]

Huckabee's astounding record of leniency on felons:

--1,103 total clemenices in 10 1/2 years as Arkansas Governor

--Almost 1 out of every 10 criminals who asked for clemency received it

--At least 9% of those who received clemency were later convicted and sentenced for new felonies

--12 murderers received reduced sentences.....

[bigbob]

Thank you Huck, you can go now. That’s all we need to know.

[USAFJeeper]

This stuff was brought up about the Huckster during the primaries. People were so enamored of his Aw Gee Shucks routine that he sucked a lot of votes away from other candidates.

I think 2008 was a loss no matter who we ran, so I am not blaming him for that. I am just saying he would not be a “front runner” today for the next election if people had really looked at his record.

[Tennessee Nana]

This is sad...

[Little Ray]

Thats not as bad as I thought it would be...

[mamelukesabre]

9% isn’t that much. I expected much much higher...like 75%.

[Kirkwood]

Stunning. Huck is a one-man crime wave.

[TWhiteBear]

Devastating facts on this contemptible mans record of failure.
He cannot recognize all the pain and misery he has caused to the innocent victims of his pious vanity.
SS

[omega4179]

Admitting he would do it again, ok huck off now Huck.

[Clint Williams]

9% isn’t that much. I expected much much higher...like 75%.

No fan of Huckleberry, but that low rate indicates he might have been trying to cherry-pick for the best -- and in this case lost big-time.

[rod1]

Huck’s political futur, is any, is in the party of criminals....The RATS.

[Tanniker Smith]

Huckabee is an *ss. Okay. I agree.
Now, as far as this one commutation (not clemency) goes: someone let me know if the following is incorrect--

A 17-year who committed a robbery (not an "armed robbery") was sentenced to over 100 years in prison.
That was commuted to 40+ years by Huckabee with no objections on record from anyone.

People are throwing words and terms and stuff along and we're jumping on it like red meat at DailyKos. I'd like to have the facts at hand before I (metaphorically) whack Huck over the head. Thank you.

[hoagy62]

Thank you Mr. Huckabee.

And Mr. Clemmons would still have committed the same heinous crime.

And four Lakewood police officers would still be dead.

And four families would be without their spouses, daddies, and mommies.

And you claim to be a “Christian brother”? I think NOT! More like “brainless scum-sucking PIG”!

[TalBlack]

“Huckabee on Clemmons commutation: “I would make the exact same decision”

‘Course you would, you clown, because it was never about right or wrong....it was always about YOU and how infallibly GOOD you are

[mamelukesabre]

MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRYING???

What are you, dense? No one hands out pardons at random. A 9% failure rate tells me huck is much better at picking out the good ones than the corrections system is.

jeezes, use your brain. And no, I’m not a huckster fan either. I can’t stand him.

[umgud]

At least Bill Clinton had the presence of mind to sell most of his pardons, clemmencies and commutations. You, Huck, just gave them away......... to people that didn’t deserve them. You might be compassionate and want to give your fellow man a break, but don’t do it on our backs.

[Jeff Head]

Clemmons had a long history of crime in Arkansas as a teenager that was a little more involved than what Huckabee has explained on Hannity or on O'Reilly.

By 1990, when he was 18 year old, Clemmons had been sentenced to the 108 years in prison for eight felony charges from those teenage years in Arkansas. The total prison term stemmed from multiple sentences, some of which were concurrent and others consecutive The largest sentencing came in 1990, when he was given a 60-year prison term for breaking into an Arkansas state trooper's home and stealing about $6,700-worth of items, including a gun. Clemmons was also sentenced in 1989 to 35 years in prison for robbing a woman at midnight in the parking lot of a Little Rock hotel bar. Clemmons pretended to have a gun in his pocket and threatened to shoot her if she did not give him her purse. When she reportedly responded, "Well, why don't you just shoot?", Clemmons punched her in the head and ran off with the purse, which contained $16 and a credit card. This is the incident that Huckabee talks about Clemmons getting such a long sentence for just stealing $16 dollars. Among Clemmons other sentencings were six years for weapon possession based on an arrest when he was a junior at Hall High School for carrying a .25-caliber pistol on school property; and eight years for burglary, theft and probation in Pulaski County on September 9, 1989. All in all Clemmons was not to be eligible for parole until 2015 or later.

This is the individual and set of criminal circumstances that Huckabee says any of us would have commuted. I disagree...with this string of crimes, and particularly his last one where he stole the large amount of material and the weapon (and being known for being arrested for either carrying weapons or claiming to while committing his crimes), I would have stood by the long sentence to keep this increasingly violent person off of our streets.

AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS OF HISTORY

[behzinlea]

Huckafool doubles down.

[GregoTX]

Most all of the violent crimes in this nation are committed by repeat offenders. Its all the same criminals with mile long rap sheets that prey on society. The Police do their jobs and arrest them (otherwise the crooks would not have arrest records), but soft District Attorneys, weak Prosecutors, liberal Judges, Probation Officers, Parole Boards, crooked Politicians and Clemency-Happy Governors continually set these maniacs free into society with NO CIVIL LIABILITY what so ever.

Go to the dog pound and adopt a vicious dog and see if you are held responsible when it mauls someone.
Even a bartender can be arrested or sued for serving a drunk driver that hurt someone.
These people that continually set free offenders do so irresponsibly with no thought of the people they will victimize, and no fear of being held criminally or civilly responsible.

I say, if you are in a position to grant parole or clemency to someone, you should be held criminally and civilly responsible for setting free a violent offender when that offender commits a violent crime during the time he would otherwise be serving a sentence.
Example... If a Parole Board or Governor sets Offender Scumbag free 20 years early, then the Parole Board and Gov should be liable for the next 20 years if Scumbag victimizes someone that would have not been victimized if Scumbag was still behind bars.

Im tired of citizens being held liable for their decisions while bureaucrats recklessly endanger us all with impunity.

[surfer]

Yeah that is exactly the problem...most RINO’s don’t learn.