Jeff Jacoby
Huckabee's deadly gamble
by Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
December 9, 2009
http://www.jeffjacoby.com/6672/huckabees-deadly-gamble
Four caskets arrive for the Dec. 8 memorial service for four slain police
officers in Tacoma, Wash. (photo: Seattle Times)FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR MIKE
HUCKABEE wasn't mincing words last week when he blasted criticism of the
clemency he granted Maurice Clemmons in 2000 -- clemency that ultimately led to
the Thanksgiving weekend murder of four Washington state police officers -- as
"disgusting," or when he deplored "how sick our society has become that people
are more concerned about a campaign three years from now" -- the 2012
presidential campaign -- "than those grieving families in Washington."
"Disgusting" and "sick" are strong words. But this isn't the first time
Huckabee has lashed out at critics of his clemency decisions.
In 2004, when the then-governor's commutation enabled Eugene Fields -- who had
been given a six-year sentence for his fourth drunk-driving conviction -- to
walk free after less than eight months behind bars, the director of Arkansas
Mothers Against Drunk Driving complained. "We are deeply disturbed," she said,
"at the message this sends to those who faithfully enforce, prosecute,
adjudicate, serve on juries, and suffer the consequences of drunk driving
offenders." Huckabee fired off an angry letter accusing MADD of trying to "fan
the flames of controversy" and pandering to "the unusual curiosity of certain
media members."
Even more supercilious was the reply received by prosecutor Robert Herzfeld,
who wrote a letter calling Huckabee's clemency policies "fatally flawed" and
suggesting that it would be "more respectful to the people of Arkansas" for
Huckabee to explain his reasons when issuing a pardon or commutation. >From
Huckabee's office came a mocking rejoinder: "The governor read your letter and
laughed out loud. He wanted me to respond to you. I wish you success as you cut
down on your caffeine consumption."
Huckabee holds himself out as an exemplar and judge of good character -- two of
his books are titled Character Makes a Difference and Character IS the Issue --
but so far he has not mustered the integrity to admit that Herzfeld was right:
His promiscuous approach to executive clemency has indeed proved indeed fatal.
During his 10½ years as governor, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of an
astonishing 1,033 criminals (including 12 convicted murderers) -- more than
twice as many grants of clemency as his three immediate predecessors combined.
Had Huckabee been less eager to usher Clemmons to an early release, Mark
Renninger, Tina Griswold, Gregory Richards, and Ronnie Owens -- the four police
officers gunned down in a Tacoma, Wash., coffee shop last month -- might still
be alive.
There is no telling how many innocents have been victimized by Huckabee's
parolees. The shocking massacre in Tacoma made headlines nationwide, but what
about the other violent criminals set free thanks to a Huckabee commutation?
How many of them went onto commit new rapes, new armed robberies, new assaults?
How many of them will do so in the years ahead?
Huckabee defends himself by pointing out that the Clemmons whose sentence he
commuted in 2000 was not yet a rapist and murderer. "If I could have possibly
known what Clemmons would do nine years later," Huckabee insists, "I obviously
would have made a different decision."
Thousands of mourners salute as coffins bearing the four slain police officers
are carried out of the Tacoma Dome following the memorial service on Dec. 8.
(Photo: Seattle Times)But that doesn't explain why Huckabee saw fit to overrule
the Arkansas judges and jurors who saw Clemmons up close, tried his criminal
cases, heard the evidence for and against him, sized him up as a dangerous,
violent, unrepentant thug, and concluded not only that he was guilty, but that
he deserved to be sentenced to a combined 108 years in prison. The original
judges and jurors were no more prophetically endowed than Huckabee, but they
were right about Clemmons. Huckabee, along with Arkansas' parole board, was
wrong. He should have the backbone to say so.
It doesn't take a seer to know that when criminals are released early, more
crime follows. In 2002, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, summarizing data from
the largest recidivism study ever conducted in the United States, reported that
more than 67 percent of former inmates released from state prison are
rearrested for at least one serious new crime within three years. Between 1994
and 1997, criminals paroled in just 15 states racked up 744,000 new arrest
charges. "These charges," the bureau noted, "included almost 21,000 homicides,
200,000 robberies, 50,000 rapes and sexual assaults, and almost 300,000
assaults."
Other than in cases of manifest injustice, when a judge and jury say a criminal
belongs behind bars, clemency should be all but unthinkable. Governors have no
business gambling with the lives and safety of their constituents. Huckabee
"laughed out loud" when a prosecutor warned him that early release can be
fatal. And now he calls his critics disgusting?
(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)
-- ## --
Follow Jeff Jacoby on Twitter.
Join the Fans of Jeff Jacoby on Facebook.
Related Topics: Crime and punishment
You are subscribed to this list as fbelli...@yahoo.com.
To edit your subscription options, or to unsubscribe, go to
http://www.pundicity.com/list_edit.php
To subscribe to the Jeff Jacoby mailing list, go to
http://www.pundicity.com/list_subscribe.php
Pundicity
--
This is a Free Speech forum. The owner of this list assumes no responsibility
for the intellectual or emotional maturity of its members. If you do not like
what is being said here, filter it to trash, ignore it or leave. If you leave,
learn how to do this for yourself. If you do not, you will be here forever.
