Parole officials: Huckabee pushed rapist's release

LA Times ^ | Dec 8,2007 | Richard A. Serrano

[AmericanMade1776]

‘DEAR WAYNE’: GOP presidential hopeful Mick Huckabee wrote to Wayne DuMond. “My desire is that you be released from prison,” the governor wrote. ““I feel now that parole is the best way."

Pastor Jay D. Cole had two close friends. One was an inmate in the Arkansas state penitentiary. There, the minister would sit with Wayne DuMond "and pray and read the Bible." For a while, the prisoner's wife even lived in Cole's home.

Cole's friendship with Mike Huckabee ran deeper, back to when Huckabee was the youngest-ever head of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. The two men produced Bible lessons on videotape. "We worked heavily with him when he got politically involved too," Cole said. l now that parole is the best way."

[SUSSA]

DuMond isn’t the only rapist murderer Huck turned loose.
***

Why parole a monster like Green

Gov. Huckabee probably never read the confession of a demented killer named Glen Green before he made the monster eligible for parole.

Green’s confession is so depraved, its sadistic details so scary that no sane, responsible adult would consider him for parole.

If the governor didn’t read the confession, he is guilty of dereliction of duty.

But if he read the confession and still considers Green deserving of parole, he’s certainly unfit to hold office. Who would free a madman who beat an 18-year-old woman with Chinese martial-arts sticks, raped her as she barely clung to life, ran over her with his car, then dumped her in the bayou, her hand reaching up, as if begging for mercy?

(snip)

Huckabee apparently listened to Green’s minister (and a friend of the governor), who thinks the murder was an accident and Green was forced to confess.

The Jacksonville police, who arrested Green in 1974 after a witness linked him to the crime, think the minister and Huckabee are both delusional, which is the mildest epitaph we can print.

This old police reporter knows a genuine confession when he sees one, and Green’s depravity has the ring of truth.

Green, a 22-year-old sergeant, kidnapped Helen Lynette Spencer on Little Rock Air Force Base, where he beat and kicked her as he tried to rape her in a secluded area. She broke loose and ran toward the barracks’ parking lot, where he caught up with her and beat her with a pair of nunchucks.

He then stuffed her into the trunk of his car and left her there while he cleaned up. Several hours later, he drove down Graham Road, past Loop Road and stopped near a bridge in Lonoke County. Green told investigators he put her body in the front seat and raped her because her body was still warm.

He dragged Spencer out of his vehicle and put her in front of the car and ran over her several times, going back and forth. He then collected himself long enough to dump her body in Twin Prairie Bayou.

This is what the Rev. Johnny Jackson, interim pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Jacksonville, calls an accident, and apparently Huckabee believes him.

###

http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_07_21_04/huckabee5.html

Green and DuMont are only two of the problems he faces in Pardongate. The MSM may not get the truth out in the primaries, but they will be on it like flies on a turd in the general if the Republicans are stupid enough to nominate Huckabee.

[Ann Archy]

What’s with “Dear WAYNE”?? Did Huck KNOW him>

[Bigun]

...or do you deny he praised the parole board for their actions?

I don't, because I don't have the personal knowledge which would allow it, confirm or deny anything but I DO think we ought to get the WHOLE story out there, both sides, rather than out of context snippets that serve the purpose of only one side.

[Bigun]

In the interest of getting BOTH sides of the story out there, here is what Governor Huckabee says about the matter:

Governor Huckabee's Response to the Wayne Dumond Incident

December 05, 2007

This is the transcript from his answer at the press conference today on the Wayne Dumond Case. Governor Huckabee was asked if he had pressured the parole board to release Dumond.

Governor Huckabee: No. I did not. Let me categorically say that I did not. And it's really interesting, if people want to really look into that record. Here's the chronology, and here's the timeline. I'm going to try to do it as briefly as I can, because it's been delved into repeatedly, normally during an election year.

In 1992, Bill Clinton was governor; Jim Guy Tucker was Lieutenant Governor. And during Bill Clinton's governorship, while he was campaigning for president, Jim Guy Tucker signed the papers to commute the sentence of Wayne DuMond to parole eligibility. That's what made him parole eligible in 1992. He had been convicted of rape in Forest City Arkansas, during time of awaiting trial, he was hogtied and castrated; his testicles were later placed in a jar on the desk of a sherriff.

It was a brutal, amazingly, just, complicated case. There were all kinds of questions about the case. Many stories were written; I am sure you can Google all the way back to the 1980s and get more information than you even want on the case. For reasons Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker would have to answer, not me, the sentence was commuted in 1992.

I was not elected to anything at that time; I was a candidate for the United States Senate. I was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1993; in 1996, Wayne DuMond had requested another commutation for time served because the parole board had not granted parole even though he was parole eligible.

Let me make it clear, governors in Arkansas cannot parole anybody. The parole process is separated from governor; the governor can commute a sentence to make it parole eligible. The actual parole is handled completely separate from the governor. Jim Guy Tucker had been convicted of Whitewater related felonies, he resigned. When I came into office in July, the file of Wayne DuMond was on my desk and was transferred to me having been sat there for several months prior to my coming of office.

That request for commutation to time served awaited me. I originally considered it, indicated even an intention I that might grant it. There was and incredible outcry over that, I ultimately requested to deny it. Primarily for the reason I believed there needed to be some supervision; I was not completely confident that it would be appropriate for him to get out without supervision. He had a unblemished prison record - an exemplary record in terms of getting along as an inmate. He had met all the qualifications for being paroled, including having a job lined up, a sponsor with a church I think in Houston, TX, originally.

I chose ultimately not to pardon him. I made a visit to the parole board early in my tenure as a governor at the request of chairman, because you gotta remember, every member of that parole board had been appointed by Jim Guy Tucker or Bill Clinton. Not one of them appointed by me. I'm a new Republican governor, they'd never seen one. I think they had real concern on how to interrelate or how to relate to me. And what kind of attitude I had in general to crime, attitude, parole, etc. So at their invitation, I went to the meeting; someone brought up this case.

Frankly, it was simply part of a broader discussion; I did not ask them to do anything. I did indicate it was sitting at my desk; and I was giving thought to it. But this was probably in, I'm thinking maybe September or October when that meeting was held; I can't remember exactly. The parole board, the following year, early 97 approved his parole plan after I had denied the further commutation.

Subsequent to that, he…I can't remember exactly the timing, he left there, went to MO, unfortunately was later convicted for the murder of one woman and awaiting trial for the murder of another when he died in prison.

It was a horrible situation, horrible, I feel awful about it in every way. I wish that there was some way I could go back and reverse the clock and put him back in prison. But nobody, not me, not Jim Guy Tucker, not Bill Clinton, not that parole board, could ever imagine what might have transpired.

For people to say that I was responsible in getting him out makes a few presumptions - number one, it presumes, I had an influence on Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker in 1992. The second presumption, it assumes I had the amazing persuasive power to go into a board of seven people, all of them appointed by Democratic governors before me and persuade them to do something they didn't wish to do.

It also assumes that, not only did I have that power, but that only two of them changed story about what happened and they didn't do so until 6 years later when we were in the middle of an election year. And after, and subsequent to the fact that I had not reappointed them to their $75,000 jobs on the parole board.

Now if you can follow that line and believe that I am solely responsible, then you'll believe that. But you'll believe a lot of other things as well. I am deeply sorry, and I mean, awfully, just horrified of what happened to (inaudible). And there is not a single person that will ever bring those women back to their families. But that's the story, that's what happened.

And yes it will come up in the presidential campaign. It came up in my governor's campaign. There will be people who are victims who will probably be brought forth to make statements but, you know, I can't fix it. I can only tell the truth and let the truth be my judge.

[NRA2BFree]

The prosecutor added that Huckabee and Arkansas evangelicals were conned by DuMond's contention that he had been "saved" -- a common ruse by prisoners.

Proof that Huckster is NOT a good judge of character in people. These guys in prison are call convicts for a reason. They're con_victs, and Demond conned Huckster!

[VOA]

bump

[Walrus]

Am I the only one who sees Clinton surrogates posting here, posing as republicans/conservatives/concerned Arkansans?

Hillary Milhous Clinton is PLENTY worried about Mike Huckabee and the fact that his message is getting through to the people of Iowa.

She has ordered the lib-STASI out to nip this thing in the bud.

Go, Mike. Go, Rudy. Go, Mitt. Go John. Go, Fred.

I, for one, am not going to attack ANY of these guys.

[Bigun]

Am I the only one who sees Clinton surrogates posting here, posing as republicans/conservatives/concerned Arkansans?

For sure, anything is possible on the internet. Regardless of who they are or who sent them, I'm not going to let them get away with telling only one side of ANY story if I can help it.

Unless something greatly changes between now and then I will be voting for Fred Thompson in my state's primary but will, for sure, be voting for last man standing in the republican race over the dim nominee in November.

[NRA2BFree]

Governor Huckabee did not parole Wayne Dumond.

Technically, you're right; however, the Huckster made it known that he wanted him pardoned. Since the Huckster could have fired them and replaced them all, they knew they better give him what he wanted.

This man is a "compassionate" fool. Have you not had enough "compassionate" fools as President? The one in office now has made me want to hurl every time I hear his $$$$ "compassionate" $$$$ speech $$$$. I bet the Huckster thinks that Islam is a "Religion of Peace" too!

IMO, he's as guilty of murdering those two women as if he had done it himself. As a "preacher" he should know that the Bible tells us to "test the spirits." Had he done so, he would have known this man was running a con job on him. Con_victs are con artists! He has NO spirit of discernment, which is pathetic for someone who calls himself a "preacher."

Just because that murderer "said" he was a Christian didn't make him one, any more than Huckster claiming to be a "Preacher" makes him a man of God! The Bible is VERY clear that sin has consequences, and had Huckster let that murderer pay for his sins, he would never have been free to kill the last two women.

As heartbreaking as this story is, it's not all of the Huckster's problems. He has enough problems showing that it should raise the red flag for intelligent voters. He's for raising taxes, for legislating the food we eat, and wants legislation to prevent people from smoking. I'm NOT a smoker, but I don't want a nanny for my President, and that's exactly what Huckster would be.

That said, his stand on open borders and granting illegals free college tuition along with other welfare probrams put the final nail in his coffin for me.

I want my President to be PRO AMERICAN (for a change)! I want my President to be STRONG and to be able to hold his own against the RATS, liberal judges and their liberal courts. I want my President to be able to stand up against the UN and the ACLU, and that's NOT Huckster!

[mountainbunny]

Was Huckabee in favor of Dumond being paroled? That is a pretty simple yes or no question.

Did Huckabee do anything at all that would make it easier for Dumond to receive parole? Phone calls? Letters? Anything at all?

[JCEccles]

So the truth is, Huckabee did everything in his power to keep this killer and rapist behind bars but the parole board steamrollered Huckabee and released Dumond anyway?

Is that God's own anointed candidate for the presidency wants us to believe?

[ellery]

It’s obvious what happened here. Huck wanted DuMond out, but owing to public outrage, realized he needed it done under someone else’s signature. So he scrapped his plans to grant clemency and came up with the idea to get the parole board to do it. Sleazy.

At the very least, your analysis is consistent with contemporary 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

August 2005:

Wayne DuMond Found Dead in Missouri Prison

AUGUST 31, 2005 - Posted at 2:17 p.m. CDT

FORREST CITY, AR - Wayne DuMond, who was paroled from a rape sentence in Arkansas and was later convicted of murder in Missouri, has been found dead in his jail cell.

DuMond was castrated while awaiting trial for the 1984 rape of Ashley Stephens of Forrest City. He was initially sentenced to life in prison. But in 1992 then-Governor Jim Guy Tucker commuted the sentence to 39 years and six months, making DuMond eligible for parole.

After his release in 1999, DuMond moved to the Kansas City area, where he was convicted of killing a woman in her Kansas City apartment.

Yesterday, DuMond lost an appeal in that case. DuMond was 55.

A Missouri prisons spokesman says DuMond was found dead in his cell this morning. Officials say DuMond had been diagnosed two months ago with throat cancer and that his death appears to have been natural.

Shortly after taking office in 1996, Governor Huckabee said he intended to reduce DuMond's sentence to time served, about eleven years at the time. The governor ended up rejecting DuMond's parole request, which would have freed DuMond without convictions. But Huckabee signed the decision just moments after the state parole board granted DuMond a parole on condition that another state take him.

http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=3789689&nav=0jshdyoh

[ellery]

DuMond is just the tip of the iceberg.

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

[Doofer]

Please insert Huckabee's face into this picture.

I'm not great at this but here you go.

[AmericanMade1776]

Thank you it is perfect.. Perfect..

[AmericanMade1776]

Did you see this pic...

[Scotswife]

While this makes me less likely to support Huck, I am amused at the MSM’s treatment of this issue.
When GW was running, they couldn’t do enough stories about the death sentence in Texas, and what a killing machine George was.
Now they want us to be upset that Huck was soft on crime.

[AmericanMade1776]

Huckabee Was a Commutation and Pardon Machine

___ Here are the figures for neighboring states since 1996, when Huckabee took office (and keep in mind the population of these states is nearly 20 times ours):
___ >> Louisiana – 213.
___ >> Mississippi – 24.
___ >> Missouri – 79.
___ >> Oklahoma – 178.
___ >> Tennessee – 32.
___ >> Texas – 98 (in-cludes 36 inmates released because they were convicted on drug charges with planted evidence).

___ Total: 624 vs. Huckabee’s 703.

___ Governors in neighboring states almost never grant killers clemency, while Huckabee has commuted the sentences of a dozen murderers.

http://holycoast.blogspot.com/2007/12/huckabee-was-commutation-and-pardon.html

[Scotswife]

I’m not disputing your portrayel of Huckabee...I’m just noting the media bias (once again)...we were supposed to be upset years ago about GW’s history with the death penalty in his state. Now they want us to be upset with Huck’s leniency.
They cannot stop contradicting themselves.