Paroled Rapist Could Haunt Huckabee

GOP Candidate's Record As Arkansas Governor Marred By Controversial Parole Of Wayne DuMond

CBS) This story was written by CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli.

"When they're kicking you in the rear, it's just proving you're still out front."

Those are the words of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has emerged from relative obscurity to become a legitimate contender for the GOP presidential nomination - and a target of his rivals.

Last Wednesday, Huckabee’s performance in the Republican debate garnered strong reviews. A new Des Moines Register poll in Iowa, home of the influential Jan. 3 caucuses, shows the likeable Baptist minister leading the field.

But success means scrutiny. The anti-tax Club for Growth has been hammering Huckabee over his record on taxes as governor; the Associated Press has spotlighted the 16 ethics complaints filed against him in Arkansas, five of which were found to be violations; his rivals for the GOP nomination have attacked him over his past support for college scholarships for children of illegal immigrants.

And then there's the story of Wayne DuMond.

In 1985, DuMond was convicted of the rape of a 17-year-old girl with a connection to then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton: She was the governor's distant cousin and the daughter of a major campaign contributor.

As Clinton rose to national prominence, the case came to the attention of his critics. Journalists and talk show hosts questioned the victim's story and suggested that DuMond had been railroaded by the former governor. Steve Dunleavy, a New York Post columnist, took up the case as a cause, calling DuMond’s conviction "a travesty of justice."

The story also came with a tabloid-ready twist: DuMond said that while awaiting trial, masked men broke into his house and castrated him. Though there were doubts about the story, it engendered sympathy for DuMond among Clinton foes.

DuMond's sentence had been set at life in prison, plus 20 years. In 1992, Clinton's successor in the Arkansas governor's mansion, Jim Guy Tucker, reduced that sentence to 39 years, making DuMond eligible for parole.

When Huckabee became governor in 1996, he expressed doubts about DuMond's guilt and said he was considering commuting his sentence to time served. After the victim and her supporters protested, Huckabee decided against commutation. But in 1997, according to the Kansas City Star, Huckabee wrote a letter to DuMond saying "my desire is that you be released from prison." Less than a year later, DuMond was granted parole.

Huckabee's office denied that the governor played a role in the parole board's decision, but there was evidence (exhaustively detailed here) to contradict that claim.

Charles Chastain, a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who was on the parole board at the time, told CBSNews.com the governor met with the board to argue on DuMond’s behalf.

"He thought DuMond had gotten a raw deal," said Chastain, who calls himself neutral towards Huckabee. "He said he'd been born on the wrong side of the tracks and hadn't been treated all that fairly."

"I don't think the governor quite understood about parole proceedings," added Chastain. "I thought of the parole board as a quasi-judicial body that wouldn't be lobbied or otherwise interfered with by anyone outside of it, so I was a little bit surprised by it."

After the meeting, Chastain said, a number of the board members "switched their vote" from the previous year, and DuMond was paroled.

Joe Carter, director of research for the Huckabee campaign, insists that Huckabee did not seek to pressure the parole board. "If it was such an important issue for him, he would have commuted his sentence," Carter told CBSNews.com.

DuMond's release was delayed because a number of states did not want to take him in, but he left prison in 1999 and ended up in Missouri. Not long after he arrived, he was arrested again - this time for sexually assaulting and murdering a woman named Carol Sue Shields. DuMond was also the leading suspect in the rape and murder of another woman. He was convicted of murdering Shields and died in prison in 2005.

In a statement, Huckabee Press Secretary Alice Stewart told CBSNews.com that Huckabee “had no influence regarding the parole board's decision to release Wayne Dumond.”

“Governor Huckabee had no authority to grant parole to Wayne Dumond or anyone else -- governors don’t have that authority in the parole process,” she said.

According to Arkansas Times editor Max Brantley, who has tangled repeatedly with Huckabee over the years, the governor's influence clearly played a role in DuMond's release from prison.

"In the end, he took a series of actions that can be interpreted only one way: That he was an advocate for Wayne DuMond," said Brantley. "And it was bad judgment. And he's never been willing to take responsibility for it."

More?

Paroled Rapist Could Haunt Huckabee - CBS News

I believe Huckabee was an advocate for Wayne DuMond ..

__________________
"Destiny must be shaped and not left to mere chance."..Spencer Collins ..

Does anyone remember Dukakis?

__________________

If memory serves me, what Dukakis and Regan (and most other governors) did was sign parole papers releasing inmates on a routine basis. Some of them continued a life of crime, some did not. Because of overcrowding and mandates, a certain number are released every year.
But what Huckabee is accused of is different. It's actively campaigning for a particular prisoner's release. If this is true and not just blown out of proportion by his enemies, it looks bad for a man who might be appointing a cabinet soon.

__________________
Frugal tip: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

How to Fold a Shirt

Salty's Blog

I remain concerned with this story,Huckabee has now taken a defensive posture on this but I'm unconvinced with his version of the story.I'm sure we will hear more on this in the near future.

__________________
"Destiny must be shaped and not left to mere chance."..Spencer Collins ..

Huckabee: Politicization of rape victims' deaths 'heartbreaking'

Huckabee's Response

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said it was "heartbreaking" that the deaths of women killed by a convicted rapist who was released from prison after Huckabee supported his parole had become politicized.

On Wednesday, the mother of the woman the convict later murdered pledged to campaign against the former Arkansas governor.


"There are families who are truly, understandably and reasonably, grief stricken," Huckabee told CNN. "And for people to now politicize these deaths and to try to make a political case out of it rather than to simply understand that a system failed and that we ought to extend our grief and heartfelt sorrow to these families, I just regret politics is reduced to that."

The case of the rapist, Wayne DuMond, began in 1985, when he was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl. He was later convicted and sentenced to a life term.

Before trial, DuMond was attacked in his home and castrated, and the local sheriff kept the severed testicles in a jar. No charges were brought in the attack.

In 1996, Huckabee, during his first term as Arkansas governor, expressed support for the parole of DuMond in a letter to him. The Arkansas parole board, which has the final say on such matter, later approved DuMond's parole. Watch Huckabee deny he pressured the board to approve DuMond's parole »

Less than a year after his release from prison in 1999, DuMond was accused of raping and murdering Carol Shields, a woman in Kansas City, Missouri. DuMond was convicted of the crime in 2003. He died in prison in 2005.

Huckabee on Sunday confirmed to CNN he had sent the letter to DuMond.

The murdered woman's mother, Lois Davidson, said she will "absolutely campaign against" Huckabee, and said she decided to come forward when he started doing well in the polls.

"It's because he is a serious contender," Davidson said. "I didn't think he had a chance, but now he's right up there in Iowa."

Huckabee said he had considered granting DuMond clemency in 1996, but he dropped the idea in response to public outcry and because he wanted to ensure DuMond was supervised when he was released from prison.

"Had I granted his commutation, then there would have been no supervision at all," Huckabee said, "I wasn't comfortable with that."

When he spoke about the case, Huckabee suggested his role in the decision to parole DuMond was limited.

Huckabee said it was the decision by former Arkansas Govs. Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker that made DuMond eligible for parole, and Huckabee declined to reduce DuMond's sentence further.

"I've never made a decision about the DuMond case other than the decision to write the letter" to DuMond, Huckabee said. "That was my decision, but I didn't parole him, because governors don't parole people in Arkansas."

However, Charles Chastain, a parole board member at the time, told ABC News he felt pressure from Huckabee when the board considered DuMond's parole in 1996, and the Arkansas Times reported in 2002 that two other board members said they were influenced by Huckabee to parole DuMond.
Huckabee denied he asked the board to approve DuMond's parole.

"No, I did not," Huckabee said Sunday. "Let me categorically say I did not."

Huckabee noted that the three board members who said they were pressured were appointed to the board by Democrats Clinton and Tucker.

Huckabee said Wednesday his discussion with the parole board in 1996 was a general discussion about clemency, not about the DuMond case.

But a former Huckabee aide, Butch Reeves, tells CNN that the DuMond case was discussed during the meeting with the parole board, but that it was the board members who asked Huckabee about the case. Reeves said Huckabee did not pressure the board to approve DuMond's parole.

More?

Huckabee: Politicization of rape victims' deaths 'heartbreaking' - CNN.com

I'm not sure this story will still have legs next week,there seems to be some contradictions and we may never know all the details.

__________________
"Destiny must be shaped and not left to mere chance."..Spencer Collins ..

It sounds like there's too many political operatives in this to get the full story...

__________________
"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

I'm not sure this story will still have legs next week,there seems to be some contradictions and we may never know all the details.[/quote]

If Dumond was castrated how did he rape another woman?

__________________
Frugal tip: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

How to Fold a Shirt

Salty's Blog

If Dumond was castrated how did he rape another woman?[/quote]

Could he have been medically castrated? I mean they can do that now right? With a pill.

__________________

Spencer Collins post this thread quoting CBS:"The story also came with a tabloid-ready twist:
DuMond said that while awaiting trial, masked men broke into his house
and castrated him. Though there were doubts about the story, it
engendered sympathy for DuMond among Clinton foes."

Spencer Collins this thread quoting CNN: "Before trial, DuMond was attacked
in his home and castrated, and the local sheriff kept the severed testicles
in a jar. No charges were brought in the attack."

__________________
Frugal tip: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

How to Fold a Shirt

Salty's Blog

One can only conclude that the pickled testicles were reattached..

Or-there are other "ways" to commit rape without penal penetration..

__________________
"Destiny must be shaped and not left to mere chance."..Spencer Collins ..