Posted on 12/03/2009 8:51:13 PM PST by Federalist Patriot
Four days in May set stage for Sunday’s tragedy
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 Seattle Times
May 9
It may have been an argument — precipitated by his wife’s discovery that he had a child with another woman — that set Clemmons off.
Whatever it was, Clemmons took his rage out on his Parkland neighborhood, throwing rocks at houses, cars and people, according to police records.
A woman who was visiting family that day says she was leaving the neighborhood when a man hurled a landscaping brick through the driver-side window of her SUV.
“I was just in shock,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified because Clemmons remains at large. “The look in his eyes is something I will not forget.”
The woman called 911 only after rounding a corner a safe distance away.
A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy responded to the disturbance at 12:45 p.m. Outside Clemmons’ home, the deputy encountered two of Clemmons’ cousins.
When the deputy tried going into the house in search of Clemmons, one cousin grabbed the deputy’s wrist. A struggle followed, during which Clemmons emerged from the house and punched the deputy in the face. Clemmons also assaulted a second deputy who arrived to help, according to court records.
Ultimately, all three men were arrested and taken to jail. When being booked, Clemmons refused to cooperate and said, “I’ll kill all you bitches,” according to a psychological evaluation obtained by The News Tribune.
The two cousins pleaded guilty to felony assault and were sentenced to several months in jail.
But the charges against Clemmons would defy such easy resolution.
May 10
After spending one night in jail, Clemmons caught a break.
May 10 was a Sunday, Mother’s Day. Judges rarely work Sundays — but bail-bond agents do.
Pierce County has devised a system that allows people to post bond without ever facing a judge, if it happens to be a holiday or a weekend.
Called “booking bail,” this system works according to a hard-and-fast formula. Clemmons was booked on four felony charges — two for assault, two for malicious mischief — and, by schedule, his booking bail was set at $10,000 per charge, for a total of $40,000.
“If you post booking bail, you can walk out without seeing a judge. And that appears to be exactly what he did,” said Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist. “When it’s booking bail, it doesn’t take into account particular details like somebody’s history. And that’s problematic ... it’s one of the dangers of booking bail.”
If his history had been taken into account, Clemmons would have fared poorly. He had a criminal record dating to his teen years, with at least five prior felony convictions in Arkansas.
Aladdin Bail Bonds posted Clemmons’ bond on Mother’s Day, and Clemmons walked free. Defendants typically pay 10 percent of the bond, with the bonding company on the hook for the rest.
Stephen Kreimer, executive director of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States, said he doesn’t think “booking bail” is common nationwide. In most states, he said, defendants must wait until they’ve seen a magistrate or court representative before being released on bail.
Continued... Nov. 23
In Washington, the courts had to determine bail for the two sets of charges Clemmons faced.
Phil Sorensen, a deputy prosecutor in Pierce County, said his office asked for $100,000 bail in the assault case — an amount higher than normal for such charges — based on Clemmons’ history. The judge, John McCarthy, set the bail at $40,000, Sorensen said.
In the child-rape case, prosecutors wanted $200,000 bail, Lindquist said. The judge, Thomas Felnagle, set bail at $150,000.
Lindquist said he thought both judges set bail too low.
“As prosecutors, we face an uphill battle walking into court,” he said. “We have to show that the defendant is a danger to the community and a flight risk.”
Neither judge could be reached for comment Monday.
In the end, Clemmons needed to come up with $190,000 bail.
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2009/12/01/breaking_news/doc4b15589abb72a794413107.txt
Just like he does with Hoover and Carlson and others. I yell at the tv for this gasbag to shut up so we can hear the opinion of his guest. Maybe we should all bombard his email with letters saying shhhhh let the other guy speak. don’t be a pinhead!
I doubt that liberals value their police very much.
He should have been shot dead on the spot. It would have saved four lives.
Making Bill O seem the shallow fool (he is) is fine with me.
I agree with your statement that Megyn is wrong here. I hate to defend Bill O’Reilly, but in this case I would say he is dead right and Megyn is dead wrong to defend “judicial precedent” as the reason for the low bail. Liberal, rat bastard judges seem to have no problem breaking precedents or establishing new precedents when it comes to implementing their own pro-homosexual agenda, or pro-Islamic or pro-terrorist, or anti-Christian, anti-America ideologies. Bill is absolutely right, when the retard judge in this case, should have looked at the 8 felony charges & rape of a 12 year old girl, and in fact should have denied bail outright, as this black monster thug was a likely suspect to flee. This bastard Clemmons should have been found guilty and executed years ago.
Megan is coming from her law school degree and from that perspective I agree with her. I also agree with Bill that the law should be changed, but if you listen to Megan you will see that she also agrees. The thing that I liked the most was her combative persona. In the past Megan would just let Bill walk all over her. I like Megan’s Postpartum is doing her good. She has that motherly instinct that allows her to kill someone.
Do you really think it would work? He is a pinhead! LOL!
I said that judges care about cops about as much as 0bama cares about the troops.
My dad corrected me by saying it might be true of liberal judges, but not all judges.
No but I thought we could at least shut his website down for a spell...
Did you hear that lunatic O’Reilly call for a “temporary” “deficit buster” 2% national sales tax on everything but food. So says the millionaire who can afford to buy as many loofahs as he wants.
BoR lost me around 04. First he used to rant that one guy in the world sets oil prices (Cavuto and Levin called him on this.) He called for outlawing SUVs too for national security.
He also irked me bringing on defense lawyers and attacking them for defending bad guys. “How can you do such a terrible thing?”. He says things like “My viewers hate you”
Bill, your viewers are morons! The worst criminal has a right to a defense.
Had to cut the phone call short before I could get the names of the groups. I'll need more information before I can post a major report on the Free Republic.
I love Megn Kelly, and cant stand BoR. She is 100 times more intelligent, articulate and informed than him. (and obviously better looking.) I really missed her for the two months she was gone. One of FNCs best!
I was with O’Reilly on many issues. Until today.
I just watched him RECOMMEND a new 2% FEDERAL SALES TAX (to “reduce the deficit”).
O’Reilly can go F himself. I officially, hereby AGREE with Freepers who hate O’Reilly.
Video: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/12/04/oreilly_your_money_is_at_risk.html
BoR flashback to his “Inside Edition” days (warning, language is NSFW):
http://www.black-and-right.com/2009/12/04/flashback-of-the-day-4/
(From Bob Parks’s Black & Right)
Just watched him argue Law with Megn on that clip, that’s BoR, luring morons to his show. This is why I stopped watching him.
Yeah I saw that when it first came out. Classic.
Dance Remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2YDq6FkVE
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