Tacoma Cop Killer of 4 was given clemency by Huckabee

Naturally, lets post the article that gives the least information on why he was granted clemency.

To clarify, this guy was 17 and had a 45 year sentence (or something like that).

So which do you want? Huckabee to be soft on crime or hard on blacks?

 

^^^ All I know is he can kiss the White House goodbye.

 

Well, this guy was just "executed"

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412772_suspect01.html

 

what does him being black have anything to do with this. do you think black people would actually complain about a guy like this being locked up?

 

If you commit murder at 17, certainly you get a bit more leniency than if you were 18.

But what's crazy for me is why is a governor making these decisions? Shouldn't the people who have watched over this guy and know his tendencies be able to say - watch out - he's mentally unstable? Or he still has homicidal tendencies?


This is the problem with the justice system - it's still built upon the idea of "punishing" those who have committed crimes instead of protecting society.

If someone is convicted of a violent crime - especially with this young man's history - it's not that you have to punish the guy, but you have to remove him as a threat to society - he has forfeited the trust society has given him to respect other's life.

There's not set time limit on that. The man should have to prove he is not a threat anymore - not just be granted leniency.

 

Maybe, but we're a LONG way from 2012. I don't think this clemency argument has the same punch it used to have. The enormous size of our prison population is a different beast now that it was in the Dukakis days (or whatever liberal candidate was posterized for clemency.)

I don't think this will make much of a dent in Huckabee.

 

No, I think this murder and his broader clemency record will destroy any presidential bid. It's not simply that he released someone who later murdered. There are at least 2 like that, and a pool of 1000 who can still embarass him.

I don't think Huckabee's approach to clemency is necessarily wrong. When Clemmons was released, he had a ridiculously long sentence for (many) 2-bit crimes and he was just a kid. He had shown signs of reform. There are many other offenders Huckabee granted clemency to because they were young and showed signs of reform that have not yet murdered anyone. Maybe it was the right move for all those other guys. That'd be an article worth reading, if a journalist were to write about the destinies of these 1000 people who got clemency from Huckabee.

 

Huckabee never had a shot at being president anyways. He is way to religious. Americans prefer a religious president in name only.

 

Actually yes, Im sure many blacks complained about it. He was given a 108 year sentence at the age of 17 for a few small crimes. Im not one to screaming racist easily, but the color of his skin probably played a big role.

If we knew all the murderers before they happen, of course we would want them locked up.

 

I don't usually agree with Space Ghost, but I'd think this accurate. Heck, I'd say a lot of non-blacks complained about it too. Plenty of folks get really riled up when you lock someone away for 100+ yrs at age 17 - the whole "rehabilitate" nonsense...

Obviously, I don't agree. He should have been locked up for good. Or worse.

 

okay, I stand corrected

 

Huckabee is an interesting guy and my understanding is that his Christian faith plays in a role in his view of redemption and mercy. He is a true compassionate conservative.

Obviously in Clemon's case this wasn't a good choice and will doom his chances at the Republican nomination but overall I'm not going to fault him for having compassion.

 

The Truth

 

I will. Putting compassion over good judgment lead to a lot of harm to many people.

It's one thing to have compassion, it's another to use your power to fulfill that compassion in a reckless way.

Do people deserve a chance to re-enter society? Possibly, but first they have to prove they won't ever murder again - and I don't think that was clear cut here. The dude just was a sad story so the Mike let him walk???

You don't fault him for that???

 

what was he in jail for in Arkansas?

 

It may hurt him in the Republican primaries, but I can't see it hurting him in a national election.

I think his other political vulnerabilities far outweigh this.

 

hindsight is 20/20

 

Not a bit. You do realize how many people are paroled every day in the US, right? And the % of our population that we jail, compared to any other democracy (or even some non-democratic regimes)?

I mean, once you're governor, the odds are strong that somebody you let out is going to eventually do something awful. The statistics would get overwhelming, I would think.

 

[rquoter]In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery and other charges and sentenced to 108 years. Between 1989 and 1998, Clemmons broke prison rules more than two dozen times — sometimes violently, said state prison system spokeswoman Dina Tyler.[/rquoter]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_re_us/us_huckabee_horton