Seattle cop-killer shot dead; Huckabee wounded by events
It’s being reported this morning that Seattle police have shot and killed the man who murdered four Tacoma-area police officers in a coffee shop on Sunday morning.
Looks like my guess of a gang initiation was wrong. (Not that it was important.)
There’s little to add about this horrible murder and the good news of the murderer’s death except that the murderer, Maurice Clemmons, is likely to be Mike Huckabee’s Willie Horton, with Huckabee having commuted Clemmons’ 108-year prison sentence for a string of crimes committed when Clemmons was a teenager.
Other remarkable parts of the story revolve around how this man was repeatedly able to get out of prison (commuted sentence, parole, or bail bonds) despite a record that showed him to be a clear and present danger to society. While Huckabee will be greatly damaged by this, the Washington State justice system also has a lot of explaining to do.
Beyond all that, allow me to just apologize now to those of you who (probably correctly) think it’s rather crass of me to be talking about the political implications of the deaths of 4 people and 1 monster. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 12/01/09 at 07:10:42 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
Yours truly
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12/01/09 @ 07:32:08 pm
The information I have read (and heard from Huckabee during an interview with him) is that the killer committed two burglaries when he was 16, neither involving a weapon or injuries. For this he received a 108 year sentence, which, after 11 yrs, Huckabee commuted to 47 years. The prison board voted 5-0 for parole, and there were no judicial or victim objections recorded. With this info in front of him, the commutation from 108 yrs to 47 yrs was granted.
The killer was not granted parole - the killer was still behind bars. However, the commutation allowed him to apply for parole, which was granted - again, with no judicial or victim objections recorded.
Huckabee says that, considering what he had in front of him at the time, he would still commute the sentence. No one can predict the future. Two non-violent crimes did not, in Huckabee's eyes, deserve essentially a life sentence for a 16 year old.
Huckabee is being reviled by 20-20 hind-sighters and revisionists.
12/01/09 @ 07:33:06 pm
I said, " The prison board voted 5-0 for parole..." when I should have said " The prison board voted 5-0 for commutation..."
12/01/09 @ 07:39:35 pm
Greg,
The stuff I read said that he violated the terms of his probation following commutation and was sent back to prison, after which he was paroled. But it could have been wrong.
Whatever you think of Huckabee's actions, my point is that this will almost certainly be held against him if he chooses to run for president again, whether it's 20-20 hindsight or not.
Furthermore, what makes Huckabee particularly vulnerable is that this wasn't a one-time thing. He commuted a lot of felons' sentences. I think it's a death sentence for his political chances, or at least extremely damaging.
12/02/09 @ 07:38:24 am
Ross,
Yes, after his sentence was commuted and then after he was paroled, he did violate the terms of his parole and was sent back to prison.
You are probably right about this hurting his political chances, but frankly I'm not real big on Huckabee anyhow.
12/02/09 @ 07:41:25 am
I was never big on Huckabee. The last thing this country needs now is a preacher as president.
12/02/09 @ 11:30:08 am
On InTrade.com (where you can bet on politics), over the past month, Huckabee has gone from about 15% chance of being the GOP's nominee to about 9% chance.