Posted on 12/07/2007 12:30:16 PM PST by dotnetfellow
From "Right Smart"
http://rightsmart.blogspot.com/2007/12/more-on-case-of-wayne-dumond.html
All would agree the Wayne Dumond case ended in tragedy. Unfortunately, this case has been turned into a political hatchet job by Arkansas Democrats and possibly by GOP rivals to Huckabee. Consider the following evidence...
In 1997, Parole Board member Charles Chastain said Huckabee did not lobby him regarding Dumond:
"Dr. Charles Chastain voted against the parole last week. Chastain said Huckabee talked to board members about Dumond last fall, but the governor's office didn't lobby him to vote for parole." Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 1/23/97 The next day, Parole Board member Deborah Suttlar concurred with Chastain that Huckabee did not pressure the Board:
"Suttlar added that she 'can assure you' that Huckabee never approached a board member to sway opinions about Dumond." Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 1/24/1997 The 1998 elections come and go with no complaints by these Board members. In 2000 and 2001, respectively, Chastain and Suttlar are not re-appointed by Huckabee. With the 2002 elections looming, the stories of these Democrat-appointees suddenly change.
"The state's Post Prison Transfer Board paroled convicted rapist Wayne DuMond based on clear signals and implicit pressure from Gov. Mike Huckabee favoring DuMond's release, a former board member said Monday. ... 'There was a signal,' Suttlar said." Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 7/3/2001 Suttlar changes her story; Chastain follows the next day...
"Three members of the state parole board when it voted in 1997 to parole convicted rapist Wayne DuMond offered conflicting accounts Tuesday on whether Gov. Mike Huckabee pressured the board to free DuMond.
One said he didn't. Two said he did.
Post Prison Transfer Board member Railey Steele of Gentry, who was reappointed by Huckabee to the $ 68,000-a-year job days before he voted to parole DuMond, denied that Huckabee exerted any pressure. 'I never felt any pressure,' said Steele, who voted to parole DuMond.
Former board members Deborah Springer Suttlar and Charles Chastain, both of Little Rock, insisted that the vote was based on clear signals and implicit pressure from Huckabee favoring DuMond's release. Chastain on Tuesday corroborated Suttlar's account, given Monday to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and Suttlar reaffirmed her version Tuesday.
'The governor made it clear what he'd like to happen,' Chastain said, referring to an Oct. 31, 1996, meeting between Huckabee and the board.
All three originally were appointed to the board by former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat. Huckabee reappointed Steele in 1997, but not Suttlar and Chastain, whose terms expired this year and last year, respectively. ...
[Huckabee spokesman Rex] Nelson said Butch Reeves, now the governor's chief lawyer and then his criminal justice liaison, also attended the October 1996 meeting and agrees with Huckabee's version." Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 7/4/2001
At the very least, the changing stories of Chastain and Suttlar calls their credibility and motives into question.
This 2001 article also indicates that Butch Reeves stood by Gov. Huckabee's account that the "parole" of Wayne Dumond did not come up in their meeting with the Parole Board. This refutes the December 5th drive-by posting in the Huffington Post by Murray Waas.
Reeves reaffirmed his account of this meeting (and Huckabee's) in this press release issued on Dec. 6, 2007 by the Huckabee campaign: http://thepage.time.com/former-huckabee-aides-comments/
“’There was a signal,’ Suttlar said’
Kinda like someone tapping his foot in the stall?
Huckabee is the Republican Jimmy Carter.
Hatchet job or not, but if it looks like a pile of crap, and smells like a pile of crap...... I don't need to take a bite out of it to make sure. This is the Willie Horton moment of this election.
There is no boogey man in the closet, or in this case, Jimmy Carter, as FH’s are fond of falsely analogizing.
Huckabee is getting a bum rap on this issue, but he should have been better prepared for it. It was obvious that the Democrats would use it to attack him, but he failed to anticipate that it would be an issue during the primaries.
Huck delivers liberal ideas with a social conservative’s smile, and that could be much worse.
The huckster wanted the murder/rapist release and that is what he achieved, and people died because of it.
However, here is the real record, from contemporaneous accounts:
September 1996:
Arkansas governor plans to free man, citing questions about rape conviction
Author: Associated Press, Publish Date: September 21, 1996
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday that he plans to free convicted rapist Wayne Dumond from prison.
Mr. Huckabee cited "serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt." He also said Mr. Dumond's castration while awaiting trial "more than has given whatever punishment is necessary, particu larly for a crime that is very questionable he committed."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D6D3C83AFB67&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
October 1996:
Victim, friends plan to rally against rapist's release
Author: Associated Press, Publish Date: October 1, 1996
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Friends of rape victim Ashley Stevens plan to rally Tuesday outside the state Capitol to persuade Gov. Mike Huckabee not to release her convicted attacker.
Mr. Huckabee announced Sept. 20 that he intended to free Wayne Dumond because Mr. Dumond has served and suffered long enough. Mr. Dumond, 47, has been in prison since his 1985 conviction.
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0ED3D6D8195A5DAF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
December 1996:
Arkansas governor expected furor over idea to free rapist
Author: Associated Press, Publish Date: December 9, 1996
LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee says he wasn't surprised by the hullabaloo that followed his announcement he was considering freeing convicted rapist Wayne Dumond from prison.
Mr. Huckabee announced on Sept. 20 that he was considering clemency for Dumond, serving a 391/2-year sentence for the 1984 rape of a Forrest City teenager. His announcement was followed by a storm of protest from the girl's family and others in her hometown.
January 1997:
Man who raped Clinton's cousin to be freed - Arkansas parole board ignites furor with vote.
From: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) Date: January 18, 1997
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A political furor raged in Arkansas on Friday, one day after the state parole board voted to release a criminal serving a life sentence for the rape of President Clinton's cousin.
State law required Gov. Mike Huckabee to declare by Sunday whether he would commute Wayne Dumond's sentence. The parole board's action relieved Huckabee of the decision, although he termed the board's action ``justifiable and responsible.''
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67649128.html
I would bet that what they (supposedly) did would be a violation of their oath of office, assuming there was one.
All that being the case, the survivors in Missouri should have a good legal case on them.
Further, if Dumond was an model prisoner as I have read, and now the template is he shouldn't’t have been released, then from now on no other prisoner should be released ... ever.
You mean macaca moment.
Prosecutor wants moratorium on clemencies
Friday, Jul 16, 2004
By Rob Moritz, Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley on Thursday asked Gov. Mike Huckabee to stop granting clemencies for violent criminals because of the unprecedented number of early prisoner releases during the governor's eight years in office. Jegley said Huckabee has granted 669 clemencies since he became governor in 1996.
The previous three governors, Bill Clinton, Frank White and Jim Guy Tucker, granted a total of 507 clemencies during their 18 years in office, Jegley said. "In eight years the governor has granted 31 percent more (clemencies) than the previous three governors did in 18 years in office," Jegley said.
The prosecutor said he sent a letter to the governor Thursday asking for a moratorium on issuing of clemencies until the Legislature meets next January to reconsider the provision in the constitution that gives the governor that power. Jegley said he would like to see the constitutional provision changed to require the governor to explain his reasons for granting a clemency.
"Our fellow citizens are deserving of better," Jegley said. "They want transparency and accountability in this process. I know they deserve it."
Jim Harris, spokesman for the governor, criticized Jegley Thursday for releasing the contents of the letter to the media before Huckabee had had an opportunity to read it. The governor was in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday, attending a meeting of the Education Commission of the States.
"There are a number of good prosecutors in this state who are working closely with the governor," Harris said. "They contact him in a professional, businesslike manner and don't send their message to him through the news media."
Last week, Huckabee issued proclamations granting clemency for Denver Witham, who is serving life in prison for a 1974 murder in Saline County, and for John H. Claiborne, who is serving 375 years in prison for a 1994 kidnapping and armed robbery conviction in Pulaski County. Both men are still in state custody and are waiting parole hearings before the state Post Prison Transfer Board. A board spokeswoman said those hearings probably would be in August.
Also last week, the governor announced he planned commute Dennis Lewis' sentence of life in prison without parole to time served contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-release program. Lewis was convicted of capital murder in Washington County Circuit Court in 1975, for shooting a Fayetteville pawnshop owner. Earlier this month, Huckabee issued notice of intent to grant clemency to Glen Martin Green of Jacksonville, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1975 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
Jegley, who has criticized the governor several times over the years for granting clemencies for other violent offenders, said Thursday that he decided to write Huckabee after talking to the son of the victims who were kidnapped and robbed by Claiborne.
The son said his mother is still alive and is "scared to death" that Claiborne may be released soon, Jegley said. "The jury didn't sentence Claiborne to 340 years in prison so he could be released in 10 years for good behavior," Jegley said. "They sentenced him to 340 years in jail so he would stay their awhile."
Jegley said he would like the Legislature to change the current rules concerning the governor's power to grant clemency to include more public disclosure. "We the people have the right to an accounting from the governor when he chooses to go contrary to the people's decision to pardon a violent offender or commute a well-deserved punishment," Jegley said.
The prosecutor sent a copy of his letter to the governor to all legislators and asked them to consider his request. "The unprecedented number of pardons and commutations granted by this administration have greatly increased victims' fears, anxieties, and mistrust of the process," he said. According to the information he received from the secretary of state's office, Jegley said White, a Republican, granted 39 clemencies during his two years in office; Tucker granted 42 during his four years in office and Clinton granted 426 during his 12 years in office.
Last year, the governor was criticized for granting clemency to James Maxwell, a convicted murderer who worked as a trusty at the Governor's Mansion. Maxwell was later released. Earlier this year, Saline County Prosecutor Robert Herzfeld sued Huckabee when Huckabee granted clemency to Don Jeffers, also a convicted murderer. That clemency was voided after it was revealed that proper procedures weren't followed. Jeffers has reapplied for clemency.
In 2001, the governor granted clemency to Willie Way Jr., a convicted murderer, and to Donald Clark, a convicted burglar. Way had worked as a trusty at the mansion, and Clark was the stepson of a governor's office employee. In 1999, the governor supported the release of Wayne DuMond, convicted in the 1984 rape of a woman in Forrest City. DuMond later was convicted of killing a woman in Missouri.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/07/16/News/257786.html
In addition to showing poor judgement with the jar on his desk, that sheriff was corrupt. He went to prison later on unrelated matters.
These parole board positions are little more than a political twinkie for those that are in the club. They pay well and the work is not that much. Most like the nice paychecks and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize their appointments and so wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds them. The Governor appoints them. It's not rocket science.
The two board members in question were appointed by Clinton, did not claim to have been pressured by Huckabee during their tenure on the board, later were not chosen to be re-appointed by Huckabee, where following the board members announced they had been pressured by Huckabee, leaving too many holes and oppotunities to be believed.
Thank you so much for your sterling research. There are few things in life more frightening to me than a social worker in preacher’s garb. Then, when that social gospel preacher gains political power, hell follows after him.
Huckabee should have been acting on a Hollywood movie set instead of actually being a Governor, if he wanted to be President.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.