Maurice Clemmons Demonstrates Reform Just Does Not Work?

There is at least one American golfer that has to be relieved that someone else is hogging the headlines. That some one is Maurice Clemmons. Nine years ago, Clemmons proclaimed that he could change. He wrote in his clemency application, "I come from a very good Christian family and I was raised much better than my actions speak... I'm still ashamed to this day for the shame my stupid involvement in these crimes brought upon my family's name." Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee believed in the 27 year-old Clemmons back in 2000. After all, Clemmons had spent 11 years in an Arkansas prison, convicted of offenses including robbery, burglary, theft and taking a gun to school. Potentially spending 95-years in prison just seemed to harsh for someone demonstrating such remorse.

Who would have thought that nearly a decade later Clemmons would be the subject of an intense manhunt? Was it foreseeable that he would become the prime suspect for the deaths of four Lakewood, Washington, police officers? The officers were gunned down in a coffee shop. Investigators tracked Clemmons to a Seattle home, but he some how eluded police.

Huckabee is now the center of blame for commuting Clemmons' sentence in 2000. Monday night quarterbacks always come out of the woodwork. "It was not something I was pleased with at the time," said Larry Jegley, who prosecuted Clemmons for aggravated robbery and other charges in Pulaski County, Arkansas. But was the commuting the wrong thing to do?

In 1989, Clemmons demonstrated violent behavior. Clemmons apparently hid a piece of metal in his sock at a pretrial hearing. In another instance, before the start of a hearing he grabbed a padlock off his holding cell and threw it at a court bailiff. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Clemmons was arrested for aggravated robbery and theft and taken back to prison on a parole violation in 2001. Clemmons was not served with the new arrest warrants for the robbery and theft charges until he was paroled three years later in 2004. Consequently, the charges were dismissed because too much time had passed. Huckabee claims that Clemmons' commutation was based on the recommendation of the parole board that determined that he met the conditions for early release. Clemency documents

Clemmons was shot and killed when the police finally caught up to him. Now, only his maker can grant a pardon.

12-03-09 Update: Darcus Allen, 38, the convicted murderer who allegedly drove Maurice Clemmons away from the coffee shop waited in the getaway truck while Clemmons committed the crimes. Allen did time with Clemmons in an Arkansas prison. Allen has pleaded not guilty and is held without bail. Possible additional charges may include criminal assistance charges.

Keep in mind that all suspects are to be presumed innocent!

12-04-09 Update: Seattle police officer Benjamin L. Kelly is considered a hero by most. Like Sherrif Pat Garrett (he killed Billy The Kid) Kelly single-handedly shot and killed Clemmons. The man who allegedly killed four Pierce County officers was stopped in his tracks.

Update 12-10-09: Latanya Clemmons was the seventh person charged in connection with the November 29 police killings and manhunt for Maurice Clemmons. Latanya Clemmons, Maurice's sister, was charged Wednesday with rendering criminal assistance, according to Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.