Toothpicvic
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Big suprise? Huckabee is the same guy who pardoned a convicted serial rapist because the rapist told him that he had "found Christ" (the man went out and raped and murdered another woman just a few weeks after being set free).
Apparently this insane cop killer believed he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and that the apocalypse was imminent, and was charged just earlier this year in Washington with assaulting officers and raping a child.
But and 9 years ago, this man was serving a 108 life sentence in Arkansas for an older crime spree, and received a full pardon from Gov. Huckabee simply because the man claimed he was a "born-again Christian":
Police fatally shoot cop-slay suspect in Washington - USATODAY.com
SEATTLE — The man suspected of gunning down four police officers in a suburban coffee shop was shot and killed by a lone Seattle patrol officer investigating a stolen car early Tuesday, a sheriff's spokesman said.
Four other people were arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude authorities during a massive two-day manhunt.
Maurice Clemmons was carrying a handgun he took from one of the dead officers when a Seattle policeman recognized him near a stolen car in a working-class south Seattle neighborhood about 2:45 a.m., Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said.
The officer approached the car, then detected movement behind him, recognized the suspect and ordered him to show his hands and stop.
"He wouldn't stop," Pugel said. "The officer fired several rounds, took the person into custody."
Clemmons, 37, had a serious gunshot wound from one of the four officers killed in the coffee-shop shooting.
Police planned to arrest more people who helped Clemmons.
"We expect to have maybe six or seven people in custody by the day's end," said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County sheriff. "Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they're all partners in crime."
Three people were booked into the Pierce County Jail on Monday and early Tuesday for investigation of rendering criminal assistance on four counts of first-degree murder. They are Ricky Hinton, Eddie Lee Davis and Douglas Edward Davis.
Troyer said a getaway driver also was arrested. That person?s identity wasn't immediately known.
On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect's gunshot wound.
"We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up," Troyer said.
Authorities suspect Clemmons of killing the four Lakewood officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Police said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.
EARLIER: Police suspect not in Wash. house
At the scene, several police officers milled around, shaking hands and patting each other on the back after one of the largest manhunts in the region's history.
Authorities said the gunman singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."
Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.
Police surrounded a house in a Seattle neighborhood late Sunday following a tip Clemmons had been dropped off there. After an all-night siege, a SWAT team entered the home and found it empty. But police said Clemmons had been there.
Police frantically chased leads on Monday, searching multiple spots in the Seattle and Tacoma area and at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons.
Authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside. They posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons' arrest and alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse.
But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.
Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.
"The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," a Pierce County sheriff's report said.
As police searched door-to-door in Seattle neighborhoods for Clemmons, law enforcement officials complained that the felon with a history of violence should not have been on the street at all. Clemmons was released early from an Arkansas prison in 2000 by then-governor Mike Huckabee.
He violated parole a year later when he was convicted of robbery and was sent back to prison. He served enough time to be released on early parole in 2004.
At the time of Sunday's shooting, he was free on bail while facing charges of assaulting a police officer and raping a child.
"It's a tragedy," said Larry Jegley, Pulaski County, Ark., prosecutor, whose office prosecuted the 17-year-old Clemmons in 1989 and 1990 on a series of robberies, burglaries and thefts. Clemmons was sentenced to 108 years in prison.
Jegley, a Democrat, said that during Huckabee's 10 years in office, the Republican governor granted clemency too often.
"I can safely say that if what police are saying is true, Clemmons would not have killed four police officers if he were locked up in Arkansas," Jegley said. "I don't think he should have gotten his sentence commuted. I thought he was dangerous and violent." Without clemency, Clemmons' earliest release date would have been 2021, Jegley said.
Huckabee, who cited Clemmons' youth in commuting his sentence, did not return calls seeking comment.
Appearing on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor on Monday night, Huckabee defended his decision, saying a unanimous parole board and the judge overseeing Clemmons' case agreed to the reduced sentence. "I'm responsible for that," he said. He blamed Arkansas prosecutors and Washington state judges for not keeping Clemmons locked up despite an escalating pattern of violence.
It was the second time Huckabee supported early release of an inmate who later committed more violent offenses.
In 1999, Huckabee supported the early release of Wayne DuMond, who was serving time for the abduction and rape of a high school cheerleader. Two years later, DuMond was convicted of killing a Missouri woman. He died in prison in 2005.
Huckabee, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, is ranked a leading contender for 2012. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 found that 71% of Republicans would vote for him over Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.
In Lakewood, a Tacoma suburb where the four officers had served since the creation of the police department in 2004, family, police and city officials mourned.
"They were good people and good officers, and we will miss them very much," Police Chief Bret Farrar said, choking up as he spoke.
Mayor Douglas Richardson called the killings an act of "complete cowardice."
"Nov. 29 was a horrific day in Lakewood, but let there be no mistake of our resolve," he said.
Police union President Brian Wurts said Renninger, a married father of three who was originally from Pennsylvania, was one of the toughest cops he knew.
He called Owens, a divorced father of a daughter, a "laid-back, dirt-bike-riding surfer-hair" type.
Richards was a married father of three and a drummer in a band, Wurts said.
Griswold, married and the mother of two, came from a family with a long history in law enforcement, said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, spokeswoman for the Spokane Police Department, where Griswold's sister Tiffiny Ryan works as a records specialist.
"Tiffiny said Tina always wanted to be a police officer," DeRuwe said. "When they would drive in the car, Tina and her dad would rattle off license plate numbers using the phonetic alphabet that police use and see who could do it fastest. ... Tina told Tiffiny, 'If something happens, know I died doing what I love.' "
Contributing: Byron Acohido in Seattle; Marisol Bello and Steve Marshall in McLean, Va.; Donna Leinwand in Washington, D.C., and the Associated Press.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
---
So this is the 2nd serial murderer/rapist pardoned by Huckabee who has raped and murdered more innocents since his release. Think a recall election is in order now, or should we just go by the "three strikes you're out" rule?
Apparently this insane cop killer believed he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and that the apocalypse was imminent, and was charged just earlier this year in Washington with assaulting officers and raping a child.
But and 9 years ago, this man was serving a 108 life sentence in Arkansas for an older crime spree, and received a full pardon from Gov. Huckabee simply because the man claimed he was a "born-again Christian":
Police fatally shoot cop-slay suspect in Washington - USATODAY.com
SEATTLE — The man suspected of gunning down four police officers in a suburban coffee shop was shot and killed by a lone Seattle patrol officer investigating a stolen car early Tuesday, a sheriff's spokesman said.
Four other people were arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude authorities during a massive two-day manhunt.
Maurice Clemmons was carrying a handgun he took from one of the dead officers when a Seattle policeman recognized him near a stolen car in a working-class south Seattle neighborhood about 2:45 a.m., Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said.
The officer approached the car, then detected movement behind him, recognized the suspect and ordered him to show his hands and stop.
"He wouldn't stop," Pugel said. "The officer fired several rounds, took the person into custody."
Clemmons, 37, had a serious gunshot wound from one of the four officers killed in the coffee-shop shooting.
Police planned to arrest more people who helped Clemmons.
"We expect to have maybe six or seven people in custody by the day's end," said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County sheriff. "Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they're all partners in crime."
Three people were booked into the Pierce County Jail on Monday and early Tuesday for investigation of rendering criminal assistance on four counts of first-degree murder. They are Ricky Hinton, Eddie Lee Davis and Douglas Edward Davis.
Troyer said a getaway driver also was arrested. That person?s identity wasn't immediately known.
On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect's gunshot wound.
"We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up," Troyer said.
Authorities suspect Clemmons of killing the four Lakewood officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Police said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.
EARLIER: Police suspect not in Wash. house
At the scene, several police officers milled around, shaking hands and patting each other on the back after one of the largest manhunts in the region's history.
Authorities said the gunman singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."
Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.
Police surrounded a house in a Seattle neighborhood late Sunday following a tip Clemmons had been dropped off there. After an all-night siege, a SWAT team entered the home and found it empty. But police said Clemmons had been there.
Police frantically chased leads on Monday, searching multiple spots in the Seattle and Tacoma area and at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons.
Authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside. They posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons' arrest and alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse.
But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.
Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.
"The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," a Pierce County sheriff's report said.
As police searched door-to-door in Seattle neighborhoods for Clemmons, law enforcement officials complained that the felon with a history of violence should not have been on the street at all. Clemmons was released early from an Arkansas prison in 2000 by then-governor Mike Huckabee.
He violated parole a year later when he was convicted of robbery and was sent back to prison. He served enough time to be released on early parole in 2004.
At the time of Sunday's shooting, he was free on bail while facing charges of assaulting a police officer and raping a child.
"It's a tragedy," said Larry Jegley, Pulaski County, Ark., prosecutor, whose office prosecuted the 17-year-old Clemmons in 1989 and 1990 on a series of robberies, burglaries and thefts. Clemmons was sentenced to 108 years in prison.
Jegley, a Democrat, said that during Huckabee's 10 years in office, the Republican governor granted clemency too often.
"I can safely say that if what police are saying is true, Clemmons would not have killed four police officers if he were locked up in Arkansas," Jegley said. "I don't think he should have gotten his sentence commuted. I thought he was dangerous and violent." Without clemency, Clemmons' earliest release date would have been 2021, Jegley said.
Huckabee, who cited Clemmons' youth in commuting his sentence, did not return calls seeking comment.
Appearing on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor on Monday night, Huckabee defended his decision, saying a unanimous parole board and the judge overseeing Clemmons' case agreed to the reduced sentence. "I'm responsible for that," he said. He blamed Arkansas prosecutors and Washington state judges for not keeping Clemmons locked up despite an escalating pattern of violence.
It was the second time Huckabee supported early release of an inmate who later committed more violent offenses.
In 1999, Huckabee supported the early release of Wayne DuMond, who was serving time for the abduction and rape of a high school cheerleader. Two years later, DuMond was convicted of killing a Missouri woman. He died in prison in 2005.
Huckabee, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, is ranked a leading contender for 2012. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 found that 71% of Republicans would vote for him over Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.
In Lakewood, a Tacoma suburb where the four officers had served since the creation of the police department in 2004, family, police and city officials mourned.
"They were good people and good officers, and we will miss them very much," Police Chief Bret Farrar said, choking up as he spoke.
Mayor Douglas Richardson called the killings an act of "complete cowardice."
"Nov. 29 was a horrific day in Lakewood, but let there be no mistake of our resolve," he said.
Police union President Brian Wurts said Renninger, a married father of three who was originally from Pennsylvania, was one of the toughest cops he knew.
He called Owens, a divorced father of a daughter, a "laid-back, dirt-bike-riding surfer-hair" type.
Richards was a married father of three and a drummer in a band, Wurts said.
Griswold, married and the mother of two, came from a family with a long history in law enforcement, said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, spokeswoman for the Spokane Police Department, where Griswold's sister Tiffiny Ryan works as a records specialist.
"Tiffiny said Tina always wanted to be a police officer," DeRuwe said. "When they would drive in the car, Tina and her dad would rattle off license plate numbers using the phonetic alphabet that police use and see who could do it fastest. ... Tina told Tiffiny, 'If something happens, know I died doing what I love.' "
Contributing: Byron Acohido in Seattle; Marisol Bello and Steve Marshall in McLean, Va.; Donna Leinwand in Washington, D.C., and the Associated Press.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
---
So this is the 2nd serial murderer/rapist pardoned by Huckabee who has raped and murdered more innocents since his release. Think a recall election is in order now, or should we just go by the "three strikes you're out" rule?
