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 ...
How about Huckabee read the facts before he considered commuting Clemmons' sentence to just the right amount that the parole board would let him out about one month later:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-22564-Des-Moines-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m12d4-Huckabee-is-lying-about-cop-killers-criminal-record-in-Arkansas
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.
This is prior to the 2000 commutation. Clemency or commutation should be grated when there repentance present in the individual which doesn't seem to be the case in Clemmons' case because these aren't the only instances of bad behavior for Clemmons.
Dear Yomin Postelnik,
Twenty-six years for a string of eight felonies including several VIOLENT assaults and robberies compounded by multiple acts of violence, attempts to procure or make weapons and serious threats against juducial personnel while awaiting trial, seems a little light to me, although in the ballpark.
Eleven years, however, mocks justuce, as do you and Mr. Huckabee.
Parole was not quite automatic Arkansas at the time, but nearly so. It was a matter of weeks from the commutation to the freeing of this already-vicious felon.
sitetest
Thanks.
How’s the band doing , Huck?
Nice of you to pop-up here defending your actions.
Too bad you don’t have the cahonies to attend the dead officers services... maybe even grab a mic to explain your self and how you had nothing to do with any of the events of that day.
The trial judge was for the commutation - as nothing of the sort happened for 10 years since the 17 year old facing life blew up in court.
Again, once he raped the kid last May, Clemmons should have been executed, not let out pending trial. But the failure to give short stints of hard labor to young offenders (as well as first time offenders - separate from this case) is what has bred thousands of Clemmons’ and that has to stop.
Did you even think about this response? This is so intellectually absurd you cannot possible be serious.
16 year olds sentence to LIFE do not get to commit additional crimes because they spend their lives IN PRISON, unless a Governor, like Huckabee, pardons them.
His release of this violent thug did NOTHING but PROMOT violence, it did NOTHING to curb violence.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2401600/posts?page=1
Before singing any more hymns to the Huckster you all might want to read this article.
Oh no, not at all. Huckabee is much, MUCH worse. He's a leebral with good intentions. You know... what the road to hell is paved with. The very same 'good intentions' and liberal warm, fuzzy feeelings that prompts parole boards to allow pedaphiles back onto the streets of America every day. Pedaphiles that are known to re-offend, since they can't be rehabilitated.
Huck's a liberal schuck, IMO. And to add insult to injury, he's hiding behind the cloak of Christianity....just AS other liberals do (Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jackson, Rev. Wright).
1) Does it mean Huckabee's a bad person?
No.
2) Was it the right thing to do?
It really wasn't. I can see shortening the sentence if there was going to be proper follow up -- no immediate parole, an effort to see to it that the criminal wouldn't be a danger to anyone be a danger to any one.
It's iffy, but I could understand Huckabee's action in that case. But without that kind of safeguards what he did was definitely wrong.
3) Does he deserve to be president?
On this alone, I'd say no, but I wasn't planning to vote for him any way.
In any case, I can see a parallel to Romney. Mitt is a better person than his critics give him credit for being. I'd even venture to say a better person than a lot of his critics are.
So I stick up for him against the cheap shots. I can't see abandoning him early on after giving George W. Bush so many chances to make good.
But Mitt wouldn't make a good president. The criticism has a valid point, if it doesn't degenerate into mere bashing and smears and abuse.
meet Slick II from Hope, Arkansas.
I happened to watch HUCKABEE the TV show last night,
and his opening explanation about his clemency for Clemmons was SLICK.
No doubt about it, Mike Huckabee is trying to coyly orchestrate his way to the GOP nomination. He proved last night that he can out spin the meisters.
Actually, what led to the horrific police killings is LIBERALISM. The very same liberalism that lets other convicted felons go free after serving only a minor portion of their legal sentences.
As for your statement: “Huckabee’s approach prevented much violent crime and radical Islamic recruitment. Those who criticize him promote more of the same.”
That is pure OPINION on your part. And an asinine one, at that (which is MY OPINION of your opinion), especially since it can’t be proven. Just more liberal BS from a liberal Huckabee apologist.
Here is the sequence:
You: Washington state gave him parole after he raped a child - something that no sane person, least of all Huckabee, would have done.
Me: You are incorrect. WA did NOT parole him.
You: Untrue - at least read the facts before commenting
Now, you are calling me a liar. Please provide ANY proof that WA gave him parole. Thank you.
Huckabee actively sought this guys release. Without Huckabee’s intervention, he would never have gotten out of jail.
You got that one right. Huckabee was a sucker for felons that 'found God' in prison.
The liberals and indpts were never going to vote for him, and this hasn’t made that any more likely, and he has lost a good number of conservatives. The smarmy huckaphoney is even LESS electable than he was last go-round.
There has always been an exceptionally high SMARMINESS factor about him, that’s only gotten worse with the spinning over clemmons.
You’re so right. I’ve always found it strange Minister Huckabee decided politics was the “higher calling.”
“Huckabee actively sought this guys release. Without Huckabee’s intervention, he would never have gotten out of jail.”
I fully understand that but it seems there is a propensity to blame only Huckabee (including by Washington). When something like this happens it normally progresses through several points where it could have been stopped, Washington had the dubious distinction of being the last. Doesn’t necessarily make them more culpable, or Huckabee less so, but it does put them right up there with him.
So long as he is in ANY measure culpable, and in combination with the extremely high number of clemency grants, the relevant point is that he is soft on crime and not suitable as a Republican presidential candidate. Honestly, the libs have every bit as much right to tout this as Huckabee’s willie horton, as we did to use Willie Horton on Dukakis. That’s why Huck is toast, and rightfully so.
None the less, Huckabee was the only one that went out of his way to get Clemmons back on the street.
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