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Cop Killer was pardoned from a life sentence by Mike Huckabee 9 years ago

Dayton3 said:
A governor is hardly responsible for every minor matter that crosses his desk.
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The commutation of a violent repeat offender's sentence is hardly a minor matter.

But beyond this, I've come across a very interesting article from the Arkansas Times regarding yet another example of Governor Huckabee's deadly habit of freeing violent felons well before their sentence has been completed.

And there is ample evidence that Huckabee finagled the whole thing.

Dumond case revisited
A reminder of Huckabee's role in his freedom

Editor's note, Sept. 1, 2005: Wayne Dumond, convicted of rape in Arkansas and murder in Missouri, died of apparent natural causes in prison Tuesday.

The occasion prompts us to republish Murray Waas' prize-winning article for the Arkansas Times in 2002 about the extraordinary steps Gov. Mike Huckabee took to help win Dumond's freedom. He has since blamed others for Dumond's release to kill again, but his actions over many years demonstrated his support for Dumond and, ultimately, the instrumental role he played in the parole board's decision to free him.

“The reason that I voted as I did was because Mr. Brownlee specifically asked me to vote for the parole. I thought that Mr. Brownlee was acting on behalf of the governor, and I was trying to support the chairman of the board, and I was trying to support the governor ...

“I signed the [parole] papers because the governor wanted Dumond paroled. I was thinking the governor was working for the best interests of the state. So I signed it.”
—Ermer Pondexter, ex-member of the board of pardons and paroles
​
New sources, including an advisor to Gov. Mike Huckabee, have told the Arkansas Times that Huckabee and a senior member of his staff exerted behind-the-scenes influence to bring about the parole of rapist Wayne Dumond, who Missouri authorities say raped and killed a woman there shortly after his parole.

Huckabee has denied a role in Dumond’s release, which has become an issue in his race for re-election against Democrat Jimmie Lou Fisher. Fisher says Huckabee’s advocacy of Dumond’s freedom, plus other acts of executive clemency, exhibit poor judgment. In response, Huckabee has shifted responsibility for Dumond’s release to others, claiming former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker made Dumond eligible for parole and saying the Post Prison Transfer Board made the decision on its own to free Dumond.

But the Times’ new reporting shows the extent to which Huckabee and a key aide were involved in the process to win Dumond’s release. It was a process marked by deviation from accepted parole practice and direct personal lobbying by the governor, in an apparently illegal and unrecorded closed-door meeting with the parole board (the informal name by which the Post Prison Transfer Board is known).

After Huckabee told the board, in executive session, that he believed Dumond got a “raw deal,” according to a board member who was there, and supported his release, board chairman Leroy Brownlee personally paved the way for Dumond’s release, according to board records and former members. During that time — from December 1996 to January 1997 — Brownlee regularly consulted with Butch Reeves, the governor’s prison liaison, on the status of his efforts, two state officials have told the Times.

The Times has also learned that:
• Ermer Pondexter, a former member of the Post Prison Transfer Board, says she was persuaded by the parole board chairman Brownlee to vote for Dumond’s release and because she knew the governor supported it.

• The board did not allow its recording secretary to attend a closed session with the governor regarding Dumond, nor was the session taped, a departure from custom.

• Board chair Brownlee [2005 note: Brownless has since been reappointed to the Board by Huckabee] personally interviewed Dumond in prison and set in motion the reconsideration of the board’s August 1996 vote to refuse Dumond parole. Normally, inmates must wait a year after a decision for a new hearing. Thanks to Brownlee’s efforts, Dumond was granted a new parole hearing Jan. 16, 1997, just six weeks after his request for reconsideration. This time, the board voted to parole. Brownlee later was reappointed to the board by Huckabee.

• Dumond was transferred to the Tucker unit in December 1996, after his request for rehearing. Had he stayed at Varner, he could not have been scheduled for a new hearing before Jan. 20, 1997, Huckabee’s deadline to act on his announcement that he was considering commuting Dumond’s sentence. His transfer — which the Department of Corrections has explained in conflicting ways — allowed him to get on the Tucker hearing schedule, which let the board parole Dumond before Huckabee’s deadline — and thus take the heat for his release.
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The article is much longer (see link above), but I encourage everyone to read it to the end. It shows to what great lengths Mr. Huckabee was willing to go to win freedom for a violent felon.... who then went on to rape and murder again.
 
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Glinda said:
The commutation of a violent repeat offender's sentence is hardly a minor matter.

But beyond this, I've come across a very interesting article from the Arkansas Times regarding yet another example of Governor Huckabee's deadly habit of freeing violent felons well before their sentence has been completed.

And there is ample evidence that Huckabee finagled the whole thing.

The article is much longer (see link above), but I encourage everyone to read it to the end. It shows to what great lengths Mr. Huckabee was willing to go to win freedom for a violent felon.... who then went on to rape and murder again.
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Oh what the **** man. Great lengths to remove a violent felon? You make it seem like Huckabee and this guy were great friends. Fact of the matter is Huckabee did what most people in his position and his beliefs would have done. He thought nobody should go to jail for 70-80 or even 100 years for beating somebody up when they were 17.

I would have done the same thing. It's a bad judgement call but most people DO believe that the system can indeed work if given time and rehabilitation is possible. I am ****ing living proof that people can indeed change their ways. However, sometimes the system doesn't work and people don't change. Huckabee gave clemency to HUNDREDS of individuals and the percentage of them that never made themselves newsworthy vs. the percentage that did is a landslide. Will you hold your self righteous liberal cross to Huckabee's head for the number of people who didn't nearly 10 years later end up killing cops? Of course you won't.

You act as if Huckabee had some magic ****ing crystal ball being able to see the future of every felon he gave clemency to. Give it a ****ing rest.
 
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Hatuey said:
Oh what the **** man. Great lengths to remove a violent felon? You make it seem like Huckabee and this guy were great friends. Fact of the matter is Huckabee did what most people in his position and his beliefs would have done. He thought nobody should go to jail for 70-80 or even 100 years for beating somebody up when they were 17.

I would have done the same thing. It's a bad judgement call but most people DO believe that the system can indeed work if given time and rehabilitation is possible. I am ****ing living proof that people can indeed change their ways. However, sometimes the system doesn't work and people don't change. Huckabee gave clemency to HUNDREDS of individuals and the percentage of them that never made themselves newsworthy vs. the percentage that did is a landslide. Will you hold your self righteous liberal cross to Huckabee's head for the number of people who didn't nearly 10 years later end up killing cops? Of course you won't.

You act as if Huckabee had some magic ****ing crystal ball being able to see the future of every felon he gave clemency to. Give it a ****ing rest.
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He shouldn't be granting clemency to anyone, even if it was his right to do so....
He drowned out the voice of the people's judgement, & the voices of the victim's as well......;)
The animal should have stayed locked up.....
I blame this state for dropping the ball, just as much, maybe more.....
There should be astronomical bail for anyone arested after several felony convictions......;)
 
Partisan said:
He shouldn't be granting clemency to anyone, even if it was his right to do so....
He drowned out the voice of the people's judgement, & the voices of the victim's as well......;)
The animal should have stayed locked up.....
I blame this state for dropping the ball, just as much, maybe more.....
There should be astronomical bail for anyone arested after several felony convictions......;)
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Playing devil's advocate....

Didn't "The People" vote Huckabee into his position?

Position that has the power to grant clemency?

So couldn't it equally be said that The People Executive drowned out the Peoples judgement?

Should he have instead dropped the Peoples Elbow...?

Sorry, couldn't help it.
 
Hatuey said:
You make it seem like Huckabee and this guy were great friends.
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I have no idea if Huckabee and Dumond were "great friends." What I do know is that Huckabee worked around the system, defied Arkansas law to hold secret meetings on the matter, and peddled his influence to get Dumond released.

Hatuey said:
Fact of the matter is Huckabee did what most people in his position and his beliefs would have done.
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Do you have some documentation to support this assertion?

Hatuey said:
He thought nobody should go to jail for 70-80 or even 100 years for beating somebody up when they were 17.
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Dumond didn't "beat somebody up when he was 17."

On August 8, 1972, DuMond was charged with murder in Lawton, Oklahoma where DuMond and two accomplices beat a man to death with a claw hammer. DuMond was 23.

On October 19, 1973, DuMond was charged with molesting a teenage girl in the parking lot of a shopping center in Tacoma, Washington. DuMond was 24.

On September 28, 1976, DuMond was charged with raping a woman in DeWitt, Arkansas. DuMond was 27.

DuMond received his second sexual assault conviction from a rape perpetrated in Arkansas in 1984. The victim, Ashley Stevens, was a 17-year-old cheerleader. DuMond was 35.

For these crimes, DuMond received a sentence of life plus 20 years. Lieutenant governor Jim Guy Tucker reduced the sentence to 39 years.

THEN, when he became governor, Huckabee wrote a nice letter to DuMond:

Huckabee, addressing DuMond as "Dear Wayne," wrote to DuMond in January 1997: "My desire is that you be released from prison." The letter explained why the governor had denied commutation but instead was recommending parole on the grounds that parole would result in supervision, which Huckabee was said to have felt was important.

The details of how much assistance Huckabee provided to DuMond remain uncertain, in part because the governor met in "executive session" with five of the seven parole board members to discuss the issue, and the administrator who normally took notes was removed from the room. This is a violation of Arkansas law as such secret executive sessions are limited by statute to discussions regarding personnel decisions, specifically to avoid the appearance of undue influence from the Governor's office. --Wiki
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Hatuey said:
I would have done the same thing.
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Really? You would have released DuMond from prison because a sentence of 39 years for murder, child molestation, and two rapes is excessive?

:shock: Wow.

I guess I just have a lot more respect for the law (and more common sense) than you do.

*shrug*

Hatuey said:
You act as if Huckabee had some magic ****ing crystal ball being able to see the future of every felon he gave clemency to. Give it a ****ing rest.
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One does not need a magic ****ing crystal ball to know that a repeat rapist/child molester/murderer shouldn't be set free to commit more violent crimes. :roll:
 
Zyphlin said:
Playing devil's advocate....

Didn't "The People" vote Huckabee into his position?

Position that has the power to grant clemency?

So couldn't it equally be said that The People Executive drowned out the Peoples judgement?

Should he have instead dropped the Peoples Elbow...?

Sorry, couldn't help it.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter what you think...

Sorry, had to do that.
 
Zyphlin said:
Playing devil's advocate....

Didn't "The People" vote Huckabee into his position?

Position that has the power to grant clemency?

So couldn't it equally be said that The People Executive drowned out the Peoples judgement?

Should he have instead dropped the Peoples Elbow...?

Sorry, couldn't help it.
Click to expand...

You are correct....:(
This pardon business should be ended IMO.....;)
At least he didn't sell pardons like some others....:roll:
 
Glinda said:
I have no idea if Huckabee and Dumond were "great friends." What I do know is that Huckabee worked around the system, defied Arkansas law to hold secret meetings on the matter, and peddled his influence to get Dumond released.



Do you have some documentation to support this assertion?



Dumond didn't "beat somebody up when he was 17."

On August 8, 1972, DuMond was charged with murder in Lawton, Oklahoma where DuMond and two accomplices beat a man to death with a claw hammer. DuMond was 23.

On October 19, 1973, DuMond was charged with molesting a teenage girl in the parking lot of a shopping center in Tacoma, Washington. DuMond was 24.

On September 28, 1976, DuMond was charged with raping a woman in DeWitt, Arkansas. DuMond was 27.

DuMond received his second sexual assault conviction from a rape perpetrated in Arkansas in 1984. The victim, Ashley Stevens, was a 17-year-old cheerleader. DuMond was 35.

For these crimes, DuMond received a sentence of life plus 20 years. Lieutenant governor Jim Guy Tucker reduced the sentence to 39 years.

THEN, when he became governor, Huckabee wrote a nice letter to DuMond:





Really? You would have released DuMond from prison because a sentence of 39 years for murder, child molestation, and two rapes is excessive?

:shock: Wow.

I guess I just have a lot more respect for the law (and more common sense) than you do.

*shrug*



One does not need a magic ****ing crystal ball to know that a repeat rapist/child molester/murderer shouldn't be set free to commit more violent crimes. :roll:
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I take back the pardon selling comment after reading that.....:doh
 
Dayton3 said:
IIRC, Texmaster is a libertarian.

Or at least an internet libertarian.

Big difference.
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Wrong again. Take a look at my profile.

Reading comprehension just isn't your thing is it?

Still waiting for you to show where I was lying.

You don't get to make a charge like that and run away like an 8 year old.
 
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texmaster said:
Either back that up or take it back.
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You said that Mike Huckabee was not a conservative.

His opposition to abortion and gay rights is pretty well known.

By any accepted standard that makes him a social conservative.

As for the above, don't use the Arkansas Times as a source for anything.

The staff at the Arkansas Times are refugees from the left wing Arkansas Gazette which were forced to leave that paper after it was bought out by the Arkansas Democrat about 20 years ago.

They've been staggeringly hostile to any and all Republicans for two decades.

If Mike Huckabee walked on water the Arkansas Times headline would be that Mike Huckabee can't swim.

In regards to Wayne Dumond, the widespread consensus in Arkansas was that he was sentenced to an excessively long jail term because of who his victim was.

Not being a distant relative of Bill Clinton, no one cared about that.

But being a relative of the powerful (and corrupt) St. Francis County Sheriff.

Finally, much has been made of Huckabee pardoning, commuting, or granting clemency more than his three predecessor's combined.

Republican Frank White was only in office two years and had little chance to do anything.

Democrat Bill Clinton was in office for ten years, but from 1987 onward, Clinton was angling to run for president (he planned to in 1988 but a sexual relationship with a Little Rock woman caused him to put it off). So for the last five years of his time in office Clinton was positioning himself for a presidential run and thus avoided anything that he though might make him look "soft on crime".

Democrat Jim Guy Tucker (after Clinton, before Huckabee) spent much of his time in office trying to stay out of prison himself and thus wanted to avoid being seen as "soft on crime".

So there were real political reasons that Huckabee's predecessors tried to avoid using the pardon and clemency powers.

That doesn't make what they did right any more than what Huckabee did makes him wrong.
 
Dayton3 said:
You said that Mike Huckabee was not a conservative.
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He's not.

His opposition to abortion and gay rights is pretty well known.

By any accepted standard that makes him a social conservative.
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Wrong again.

There are plenty of pro life democrats so your theory that you can meet just a few criteria and that makes you a conservative couldn't be a better example that you have no clue what a conservative stands for.

BTW, McCain was pro life and against gay marriage. You want to call him a Conservative too? Talk about Epic Fail

As for the above, don't use the Arkansas Times as a source for anything.

The staff at the Arkansas Times are refugees from the left wing Arkansas Gazette which were forced to leave that paper after it was bought out by the Arkansas Democrat about 20 years ago.

They've been staggeringly hostile to any and all Republicans for two decades.

If Mike Huckabee walked on water the Arkansas Times headline would be that Mike Huckabee can't swim.
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So you have no proof their information was false. Got it. A

In regards to Wayne Dumond, the widespread consensus in Arkansas was that he was sentenced to an excessively long jail term because of who his victim was.

But being a relative of the powerful (and corrupt) St. Francis County Sheriff.

Not being a distant relative of Bill Clinton, no one cared about that.
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Never said anything about Clinton. Looks like you are confused again.

Finally, much has been made of Huckabee pardoning, commuting, or granting clemency more than his three predecessor's combined.

Republican Frank White was only in office two years and had little chance to do anything.

Democrat Bill Clinton was in office for ten years, but from 1987 onward, Clinton was angling to run for president (he planned to in 1988 but a sexual relationship with a Little Rock woman caused him to put it off). So for the last five years of his time in office Clinton was positioning himself for a presidential run and thus avoided anything that he though might make him look "soft on crime".

Democrat Jim Guy Tucker (after Clinton, before Huckabee) spent much of his time in office trying to stay out of prison himself and thus wanted to avoid being seen as "soft on crime".

So there were real political reasons that Huckabee's predecessors tried to avoid using the pardon and clemency powers.

That doesn't make what they did right any more than what Huckabee did makes him wrong.
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Absolutely none of that dribble takes away from the FACT that Huckabee commuted more sentences than 6 states combined and until you can prove they are lying your excuses for who runs that paper mean zero.

Prove the numbers wrong if you want to be taken seriously.

He is not a conservative but the very fact you think to be a conservative means you only need to be pro life and pro traditional marriage shows you don't have a clue what a conservative truly is.

Time for you to take back the lie accusation because you failed miserably to prove it.

Face the facts. He wouldn't have even been eligible for Parole with Huckabee interfering. He stated the ball rolling.

Yes others also let this guy out early but it began with Huckabee.

And he still is not a conservative. I see you ducked his stance on illegal immigration.
 
Dayton3 said:
The staff at the Arkansas Times are refugees from the left wing Arkansas Gazette which were forced to leave that paper after it was bought out by the Arkansas Democrat about 20 years ago.

They've been staggeringly hostile to any and all Republicans for two decades.
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Your opinion regarding the personal politics of the staff at the Arkansas Times means nothing here. How about addressing the facts of the DuMond case? Did Huckabee go out of his way - even break laws - to get Dumond released, or did he not?

Dayton3 said:
for the last five years of his time in office Clinton was positioning himself for a presidential run and thus avoided anything that he though might make him look "soft on crime".
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Can you actually document this, or is this your supposition?

Dayton3 said:
Democrat Jim Guy Tucker (after Clinton, before Huckabee) spent much of his time in office trying to stay out of prison himself and thus wanted to avoid being seen as "soft on crime".
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Soooo.... Reducing a repeat rapist/murderer's sentence from life plus 20 years to 39 years is a way to "avoid being seen as soft on crime?"

Really? :confused:
 
Glinda said:
Your opinion regarding the personal politics of the staff at the Arkansas Times means nothing here. How about addressing the facts of the DuMond case? Did Huckabee go out of his way - even break laws - to get Dumond released, or did he not?
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Considering the governor has the power to pardon, I'd have to say no, he didn't break laws. He could have simply said, "Pardon him and let him go" and there would have been nothing illegal about it.
 
jallman said:
Considering the governor has the power to pardon, I'd have to say no, he didn't break laws. He could have simply said, "Pardon him and let him go" and there would have been nothing illegal about it.
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The laws broken concern Huckabee having secret/undocumented "executive sessions" to discuss Dumond's case with the parole board.

Such meetings are limited by statute to discussions regarding personnel decisions, specifically to avoid the appearance of undue influence from the Governor's office.
 
Glinda said:
I have no idea if Huckabee and Dumond were "great friends." What I do know is that Huckabee worked around the system, defied Arkansas law to hold secret meetings on the matter, and peddled his influence to get Dumond released.



Do you have some documentation to support this assertion?



Dumond didn't "beat somebody up when he was 17."

On August 8, 1972, DuMond was charged with murder in Lawton, Oklahoma where DuMond and two accomplices beat a man to death with a claw hammer. DuMond was 23.

On October 19, 1973, DuMond was charged with molesting a teenage girl in the parking lot of a shopping center in Tacoma, Washington. DuMond was 24.

On September 28, 1976, DuMond was charged with raping a woman in DeWitt, Arkansas. DuMond was 27.

DuMond received his second sexual assault conviction from a rape perpetrated in Arkansas in 1984. The victim, Ashley Stevens, was a 17-year-old cheerleader. DuMond was 35.

For these crimes, DuMond received a sentence of life plus 20 years. Lieutenant governor Jim Guy Tucker reduced the sentence to 39 years.

THEN, when he became governor, Huckabee wrote a nice letter to DuMond:





Really? You would have released DuMond from prison because a sentence of 39 years for murder, child molestation, and two rapes is excessive?

:shock: Wow.

I guess I just have a lot more respect for the law (and more common sense) than you do.

*shrug*



One does not need a magic ****ing crystal ball to know that a repeat rapist/child molester/murderer shouldn't be set free to commit more violent crimes. :roll:
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Looks like he was charged with many things, so how many convictions?
 
Glinda said:
Your opinion regarding the personal politics of the staff at the Arkansas Times means nothing here. How about addressing the facts of the DuMond case? Did Huckabee go out of his way - even break laws - to get Dumond released, or did he not?



Can you actually document this, or is this your supposition?



Soooo.... Reducing a repeat rapist/murderer's sentence from life plus 20 years to 39 years is a way to "avoid being seen as soft on crime?"

Really? :confused:
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Are you ready to go to a prosecutor and bring Huckabee up on charges? If not, I suggest you shut up about him breaking the law. You're on a Huckabee witchhunt, and that's your agenda. Not any murders, because all you talk about is Huckabee. Here's what happened, Huckabee thought the man was too harshly convicted because he was black. So does that make you a racist?

washingtonpost.com
 
RyrineaHaruno said:
You know what Dayton, I am a daughter of a cop I find you defending Huckabee sicking. I find anyone defending Huckabee and the cop killer sicking,
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Who in the hell are these people defending the cop killer??????????????

People putting blame on Huckabee for events that happened 9 years AFTER the clemency is utter stupidity.
 
American said:
Are you ready to go to a prosecutor and bring Huckabee up on charges? If not, I suggest you shut up about him breaking the law. You're on a Huckabee witchhunt, and that's your agenda. Not any murders, because all you talk about is Huckabee. Here's what happened, Huckabee thought the man was too harshly convicted because he was black. So does that make you a racist?

washingtonpost.com
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Thanking American makes me feel all dirty inside, but sometimes it has to be done.
 
Reverend_Hellh0und said:
You claim to be a libertarian.... What was this person sentenced to "105 years" for?

:roll:
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There appears to be a large influx of fake Libertarians joining in the past week.
 
American said:
Are you ready to go to a prosecutor and bring Huckabee up on charges?
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Nope. As I've already stated, I consider Huckabee to be a nothing and a nobody. But it is interesting that he knowingly and intentionally broke Arkansas law to get Dumond freed, isn't it?

American said:
You're on a Huckabee witchhunt, and that's your agenda. Not any murders, because all you talk about is Huckabee.
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:rofl This is rich! Huckabee doesn't even blip my radar screen - I'm a LAW AND ORDER LIBERAL; that's my soapbox.

Tell you what, I challenge you find ANY thread ANYWHERE where I even mention Huckabee prior to this incident. Go on. We'll wait.

In fact, why don't you go to the place I used to hang out before I came here (Political Forum), and do a search for Glinda and the word Huckabee.

Now tell us what you've found. :doh
 
Strucky said:
I didn't name names.
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You responded to a post that was directed to me. In the future, I suggest you find how who a post is directed to before making such blanket statements.
 
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