Former Governor Mike Lowry on Mike Huckabee: "I Sympathize"

• Ceasar you are on the right track, the law needs to be changed. Either, by legislation or the will of the people. I've broken the law more times than I can count. I've been arrested at least a half dozen times for falure to appear in court on traffic violations and a couple of times for marijuana. Each time I was read my rights, put in jail,posted bail or released on an "O R". Whats the big deal? The police are simply performing their duties. They are not the Judge or Jury. Okay, they try and make the prosecutors job easier by getting you to incriminate yourself. They know what they are doing you can't fool them. So, shut up until you speak to a lawyer. Every dog gets his day in court. To assault or worse target them for murder is crazy. I used to believe the death penalty was wrong. Only God had that right. But after seeing what I saw, and knowing what really happened. I would gladly pull the switch on Trott and have no problem standing before God afterwards. The police are here to serve and protect. If you take their life, what other choice do we have? How else can we protect ourselves from people like that. Maurice got what he had coming and we should do the same for others like him. There was no doubt as to his innocence. He murdered those cops in cold blood for no reason. He and others like him are nothing less than animals. Spare us a trial, and exercise swift justice. If we exspect our police to protect us at all cost. Than we need to change the law. Frankly I believe it should be the death penalty without exception.

• We need to change the law. If a person willfully kills, or causes the death of, a Police Officer while in the performance of his or her duties, they should receive either an automatic life sentence with no parole or the death penalty. Period.

• Trott was put into an institution for about 18 months and then I received notice from victim/witness protection that he was released. want to know more? you can reach me at brettconry@yahoo.com

• I thought Trott was released from prison and transferred to a mental institution. Do you have any info that this is incorrect?

• Mike Huckabee needs to accept responsibility for what he did. Had he not granted clemency those four officers would be alive today. Maybe 108 years is stiff for a 16 or 17 year old but he should not have been let out after ten years. Is Mr. Huckabee ever going to say "I alone am responsible for what has happened" or is he going to be vague and say "the criminal justice system failed".

• Scott, your rant is laughable. Romney hasn't slung any mud on Huckabee regarding Maurice Clemmons. Larry King asked Mitt Romney about Huckabee's poor judgement tonight on CNN and Mitt was very gracious in his response regarding Huckabee. And, if you want to talk about someone who points a finger and screams, Huckabee wrote a book recently that includes plenty of pointing and whining... toward Romney.

• Huckabee made possible through his commutation of Maurice Clemmons the slaughter of four police officers. For this, he may receive forgiveness in heaven, but not here on this earth. There is no way that I or anyone I know would ever vote for Mike Huckabee as president. The idea itself is laughable, in light of the trail of dead bodies he left around the country as the legacy of his disastrous governorship.

• "This is an issue of mud that Romney would have been wise to not fling" Romney is a mud slinger, he can't help it, Romney feels if he points the finger enough, yells and screams, take out ads, pay his cronies off to undermine, people will be so busy protecting themselves no one will check into Romney to see what a complete jerk he is. His daddy taught his boys well on how to cover up on kids hurt in their church, so many were, harassed, lives destroyed, all so the public never knew the dirty things going on inside.

• Why did Huckabee reduce sentences of over 1,000 criminals? I researched that question two years ago for my own information. Here's what I dug up back then: HUCKABEE�S CLEMENCY RECORD CANDIDLY ADDRESSED Before granting clemency, the Governor issues a notice of intent and opens a 30-day public comment period in which people can protest the decision. Very rarely does the public oppose a clemency because almost all are granted for minor offenses, involve reductions in fines, or reduced prison sentences that were longer than the average for a particular crime. During the 10 � years Mike Huckabee was governor the number of government agencies and businesses that conducted background checks increased at an incredible rate. The terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, have resulted in increased concerns regarding security. Potential job candidates and long-time employees considered for promotion are under increased scrutiny. Before the mainstream use of background checks, most people could have some youthful arrest, change their lives and become good, tax-paying citizens without that earlier arrest coming back to haunt them. Governor Huckabee found during his time in office that each year the number of people needing clemency to clear their record increased. Denying their request prevented them from continuing to earn a good living and pay taxes. The majority of the clemency requests he granted were for this reason. (Hucks Army Truth Squad) (Joanne�s personal example of above statements: After one of my blind rehabilitation students had completed over two years of training with me and was ready to return to the work force, she was refused employment of a job she had been offered based on a very old, yet minor infraction (public fighting at age 18 � with a close friend who is still her friend 25 years later! The conviction tarnished her record. Her irrelevant crime cost her the job and the related medical benefits that she so badly needed for her family. It also cost the taxpayers as she continued to receive public support for a longer period of time than necessary. These minor cases that keep people from becoming self-supporting and cost taxpayers real money comprise the majority of Huckabee�s �clemencies.� INFORMATION REGARDING CLEMENCIES OF MORE SEVERE CRIMES A smidgen of Arkansas history: Changes in sentencing laws regarding maximum penalties occurred in 1969 and 1976-77. Most clemencies granted by Huckabee were granted for minor offenses. However the reductions for more serious crimes involved reducing prison sentences to be in conformity with the current sentencing laws. For instance, prisoners who had served 20, 25, 30 years or more for the exact same crime that others (under current laws) were receiving sentences of 10 years might receive clemency to bring the sentence in line with the current criminal code of making the punishment fit the crime. Number of clemencies requested from Huckabee due to the changes in criminal law: 8,698 (12% granted) Number of clemencies requested from Mitt Romney: 272 Excerpts from a Very Long Arkansas Clemency Article Written by a Criminal �I knew that the national average parole on life terms even for murder was seven years, everywhere except in Arkansas. Although I was guilty of the $264 toy gun robbery for which I was given life without possibility of parole, I felt I should be granted clemency because I had earned it after seven years, or after ten or twelve; or after 15 or 18 years since. Particularly since the 1969 lifers who were convicted of even multiple murders or recidivist rapes were paroling all around me. I also deserved it because some of my own jurors later stated that they had no intention of sentencing me to die in prison; that they had just wanted me to serve the "six or seven years" they thought I would have to serve on a life sentence before being able to parole (Side Note: juries over-sentencing of 40yrs to life for smaller crimes while expecting a release in six or seven years was addressed earlier in this article as a point of law). �� �However, by 1984 and 1985 even the Executive Clemency Board soon reached a point where the majority of its members found it more and more difficult to morally and in good conscience justify summarily rejecting clemency applications for the masses of prisoners who had served decades and who did deserve clemency by anyone's fair reckoning. On the other hand, the lawmakers at the Capitol refused to deal with the injustice, and the governor could not deal with it without sealing his own political fate. �Now, several years later still, now that all the pre-1969 lifers are dead or close to dying; today when the 1969 lifers are all paroled or dead; and since the post-1977 lifers first served their seven then twelve years, followed by the one-to-three-years-to-reapply time now in fact Governor Huckabee has inherited this wonderful Arkansas legacy; twelve-thousand plus prisoners, at least a hundred of whom truly deserve clemency are perpetually knocking at his door (Arkansas Exeuctive Clemency Carrot, a 25-year Nightmare, by: Linda Tant Miller, WA tantsy1@msn.com http://www.maxpages.com/darkevilworld/The_Clemency_Carrot_Part_III) Excerpt from Mike Huckabee�s own words regarding another case: (Please note the consistency between Huckabee�s words and the above criminal�s words about the juries� reasoning for imposing unusually harsh sentences): "The death penalty is the only decision that I make as a governor that is totally irrevocable. Once an execution is carried out, a life has ended. I kept a box of files near by desk to review them in the days prior to the execution. One unsettling part of the evidence [in the Fretwell case] were interviews conducted with Fretwell & his brother. The description of their family life revealed a childhood of abuse, humiliation & degradation. I was moved to tears, but that did not alter the crime. However, a juror said he had been told that if Fretwell was found guilty, he would get life in prison without parole and that was the reason he voted for a guilty verdict. The problem I then faced was that I was unwilling to be a man who had ignored late evidence in a death penalty case to avoid the complications that come with clemency. If the justice system would not work for the "least of these among us," then neither would it work for me or anyone else. I commuted the sentence to life in prison." Source: From Hope to Higher Ground, by Mike Huckabee, p. 83 Jan 4, 2007 Putting the Wayne DuMond Case to Rest Once and For All I dug as deep as I could to articles the original case at the time it was happening and only found Huckabee�s name mentioned one time (although Clinton�s name was connected to some very interesting information). Here�s what I found: 1). Huckabee was a brand new governor and found the DuMond file waiting for him day one. 2). As a governor, Huckabee did not have the authority to parole people. 3). Mike Huckabee publicly considered, but ultimately refused to commute Wayne DuMond�s sentence. HUCKABEE AND METH SENTENCES Yes, he did reduce sentences slightly by making meth crime prisoners eligible for parole after serving 50% (rather than the previous 70%) of their 10-year sentence. Mitt Romney meth sentences all were under five years without regard to parole. This is an issue of mud that Romney would have been wise to not fling because Huckabee�s state still had stiffer penalties then Romney�s. That said, why did Huckabee open the possibility for an earlier release? Because he had to do something about the overcrowding of prisons and this was a common-sense solution. This information was entirely compiled by me and is solely separate from the Huckabee campaign.

• I am not exactly a fan of Mr. Huckabee however, before you point the finger at him. Ask yourselves in the good State of Washington who is responsible for Michael Trott's release? I was with Seattle police officer Nick Davis when, Trott pulled him from his patrol car, attacked and disarmed him. Officer Davis was shot twice while trying to protect me from harm. The 2nd shot was to the back. Trott served less than 20yrs and sent free. No parole, no probation. Free to kill again, if he hasn't already. I saw him do it and doubt he'll have any trouble doing it again. Who will take responsibility then?

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