Posted on 12/05/2009 11:19:27 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik
There is currently a move underway to discredit Mike Huckabee over the rightful pardoning of a then 16 year old who had been sentenced to 108 years on robbery charges. I make this statement as someone who fully supports the death penalty for murderers and for child rapists, but also as someone who recognizes that getting tough on crime means fostering sensible rehabilitation, not turning first time offenders into violent career criminals.
Yes, Governor Huckabee pardoned more people than most governors do. That’s because Gov. Huckabee isn’t thoughtless, callous or cruel and recognizes that public service actually entails service to the public. Sentencing a 16 year old to months of hard labor generally serves as the greatest deterrent (except in cases of murder and the like). By contrast, sentencing a teen to years in prison has almost inevitably bred nothing more than a violent menaces to society.
(Excerpt) Read more at americandailyreview.com ...
that's crazy logic... if he were incarcerated, he would not have committed those crimes... read up on him... you will find that he was violent before he spent time in prison... it was not the actual effects of a long prison sentence that made him violent... and again, had he served his original sentence, he would not have had the opportunity to rape a child and murder four officers...
at least be intellectually honest as a Huckabee supporter...
You’re an all around class act. You’re sure you’re not related to Clemmons?
But he was RELEASED on bail after being charged for second-degree rape of af a child and WAS facing seven additional felony chares in Washinton state, so the point is valid... Washington also bears responsibility and was the last to fail.
It should also be recognized that people like Clemmons are experts at manpulating people like Huckabee. More at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010385617_webmansought29.html
I quit listening to anyone who is so damned ignorant that they believe that if they pretend to not know the difference between ‘bail’ and ‘parole; and try to confuse ‘pretrial ironclad evidence’ with ‘proven guilty in a court of law’, that they will fool us into falling for their line of BS.
Ah, I get it now.
It’s “the system” that’s responsible for the crimes of Clemmons’ and others like him and leaving them in prison to rot is what lets them out to rape, rob, murder and terrorize.
I am being intellectually honest. I’m looking at the root cause - which Huckabee’s actions would prevent. The long sentence at 16 did nothing other than turn him into a maniac. Harsh labor for a short stint has often saved such people, when they know there’s an “after.” The sentence he got has almost always led to horrific results. We need to recognize it and address it.
I'll remind you of this: In neither of the articles you link us to (I include your “America’s Greatest Terror Threat – A Threat From Within and Its Easy Solution”) do you provide any statistics or studies that even start to say your “societal sense” makes for any “common sense.” In fact, you appear to be devoid of any logic, as well.
Your position is ridiculous and you show no merit to your reasoning. This is just “you” being “stupidly compassionate” seemingly for no apparent purpose save to spout off your mouth about your own words and your own dreamed up idea about saving hardened criminals, again with no proof.
It seems your belief that Clemmons is a class act—it’s just that he hasn’t yet been properly allowed to show his true colors.
After all, you are the one saying he’d be a fine man if only he hadn’t spent a couple years of a 108 year sentence behind bars, prior to The Huckster letting him go free.
Get real.
He was ALL READY A MANIAC AT 16 and Huckabee did his part to set him loose on us! Some people are just sick, evil, twisted and broken (whether it be from mental illness or environment) and should not be free.
Talk about misleading. I said nothing about him being executed nor did the article that I linked to.
I don't think you even read it. It outlines numerous violent incidents he was involved in in his eight felony convictions and his outbursts in court.
He was already a “maniac”. He attacked people in the courtroom during his hearings.
No one’s being misleading.
I didn’t say you said. I said I believe he should (now) have been executed.
He was 17 and facing a life sentence for crimes committed at 16 during his violent outbursts in court - before that, just petty theft. It doesn’t take much to see what changed him.
Service to the public means protecting the public. He did not. Huckabee is finished.
Records matter. Obama has re-taught the electorate that.
* Sentenced to 5 years for robbery in Pulaski County, Aug. 3, 1989.
* Sentenced to 8 years for burglary, theft and probation revocation in Pulaski County, Sept. 9, 1989
* Sentenced to an indeterminate amount for aggravated robbery and theft in Pulaski County, Nov. 15, 1989
* Sentenced to 20 years each for burglary and theft of property in Pulaski County, Feb. 23, 1990.
* Sentenced to 6 years for firearm possession in Pulaski County, Nov. 19, 1990.
The record shows Clemmons went on a crime spree in 1988-89. In November 1988, Clemmons punched a 7th grader in the face and stole his necklace. That resulted in the initial 5-year sentence.
Clemmons turned 17 years old in February 1989. In April of that year, he broke into an Arkansas state trooper's home and stole $6,700 worth of items, including a gun. A couple of weeks later, Clemmons was arrested for bringing a gun on school property.
Less than two weeks later after the gun incident, Maurice Clemmons and an accomplice were arrested for two separate robberies on the same night. They robbed a woman in front of an Arkansas bar. Clemmons claimed he had a gun. The woman said, "Well, why don't you just shoot?". Clemmons punched her in the head and snatched her purse.
35 minutes later, Clemmons and his friend hit a man in the head and stole his $500 gold chain in front of a convenience store. They were also questioned about two other similar robberies and one attempted robbery that occurred the same night.
There were also three separate courtroom incidents in 1990 where Clemmons tried to use a weapon against a judge, threw a padlock at a bailiff, and tried to take a guard's pistol. A judge ordered Clemmons be placed in leg shackles because he felt Clemmons has threatened him. Clemmons also displayed very erratic behavior during the trial, mumbling loudly throughout the proceedings. He also made an obscene gesture toward a state trooper testifying against him. There is a definite pattern of showing a complete lack of respect, and a lot of hostility, toward authority figures.
Clemmons would not have been eligible for parole until 2015. Mike Huckabee's commutation in 2000 made him eligible immediately. Clemmons was granted parole just one month later. He was sentenced to 108 total years for 8 different felonies. Clemmons served only 11.
I see burglary, theft and firearm possession before and far worse after. That’s my point.
That’s my point too. He should have remained behind bars so as not to have been permitted far worse.
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