Huckabee responds to criticism over clemency decision Play Video

By The Associated Press

Posted: Dec 1, 2009 5:32 AM
Updated: Dec 1, 2009 3:10 PM

   Huckabee said today that some of the criticism he's received for commuting Clemmons'  sentence is "disgusting," saying opponents are trying to use his decision as a political weapon against him. In an interview on Joe Scarborough's radio show on WABC-AM in New York, Huckabee said that the focus should be on the families of the four officers.

 On Monday, Huckabee said he takes responsibility for making Clemmons eligible for parole and called the case a failure of the justice systems in Arkansas and Washington. Huckabee cited the length of Clemmons' sentence and a state judge's recommendation that it be reduced as factors in his decision.

"If I could have known nine years ago that this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would have never granted a commutation. It's sickening," Huckabee said on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor."

Clemmons was among 1,033 people who were pardoned or had their sentences reduced during Huckabee's 10 years as governor. Bill Clinton, Frank White and Jim Guy Tucker granted 507 clemencies in the 17 years they served. Mike Beebe, Huckabee's successor, has issued 273 commutations and pardons since taking office in January 2007. All but one of them were pardons after the completion of the inmates' prison terms.

 Clemmons' crimes were committed in Pulaski County.

 Clemmons, 37, was shot and killed about 2:45 a.m. today by a police officer who found him in a stolen vehicle in a Seattle neighborhood.

  The officer spotted the car, recognized Clemmons and ordered him to show his hands and stop. Clemmons wouldn't stop and the officer fired several rounds, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

 Troyer said Seattle police had been given addresses of Clemmons' possible hiding spots.

  Authorities suspect Clemmons of killing four Lakewood officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. Police have said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. He had been re-arrested recently and was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months. Police theorize that Clemmons targeted the coffee shop because it was frequented by police.

  Police said Clemmons was carrying a handgun taken from one of the dead officers.

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