Not 1. (But 12)

A defensive-sounding Gov. Mike Huckabee on Today this morning:

VIERA: so the people understand what you're talking about, he says you granted over 1,000 pardons and clemencies while you were governor.

HUCKABEE: not one was walking out of prison who had been a murderer. he brags that he denied them all. one of them was a young kid who at age 13 shot a bb at another kid, department break the skin, hit him in the arm. later that kid worked his way through college, enrolled in the national guard of massachusetts and went to the iraqi war and became a decorated soldier, came home and wanted to be a police officer but needed a pardon to do it. mitt romney refused. i would say that the fact that i gave a kid who was 25 years old the opportunity to go to culinary school because when he was 19 he took a joyride as a passenger in a car, that pardon enabled him to go to culinary school. otherwise, he couldn't have. you let the people of america decide which person you'd rather have president, one who looked at his own political fortunes or one who actually tried to do the job and make decisions that were responsible for the people you're supposed to serve.

But the records show that Huckabee commuted the sentences of 12 convicted murderers.

Comments

Were the commutations of the murders from "death" to "life without parole"? I suppose if that was what the commutations were, that his statement was true.

Do you have a source for the statistic?

Posted by Joel | December 19, 2007 9:55 AM

Huckabee, "not one was walking out of prison who had been a murderer"

yet Marc informs us that:

"But the records show that Huckabee commuted the sentences of 12 convicted murderers."

Ouch!

Posted by GreenGuy | December 19, 2007 9:56 AM

Delicious... absolutely delicious.

I wonder what Christianist Ross and 2X4 Megan have to say about this?

Posted by SavageView | December 19, 2007 10:01 AM

Huckabee's got a good point. I'd like to know the answer to Joel's question to see if Huckabee is disingenuous in addition to having a good point, but on its face, Romney's celebration of having never granted clemency or a pardon is just scary. To me that means he's a heartless SOB.

Posted by drfranklives | December 19, 2007 10:29 AM

Yeah. Huck seems to hand pardons and commutations like they are candy; Mitt refuses any.

Thompson says, let me read the legal decisions and we can determine if it makes sense. He has talked about a commutation for the two border guards because he feels that they did something wrong, but their sentence seems extreme for what they did. I like his balance on this issue.

Posted by Joel | December 19, 2007 10:49 AM

Seriously Marc, were they commutations or death to life without parole? It makes a big difference.

Posted by willie | December 19, 2007 11:30 AM

He said "no murderers were WALKING OUT OF JAIL" he didn't say he didn't commute any of their sentences. You can reduce sentences without setting them free...

Death to "life without parole" or from 3 life sentences to two life sentences would count as a commutation, but not set them free. Slow down on the "gotcha" stuff

Posted by jd9282 | December 19, 2007 11:45 AM

Sounds like Huck embellished the Circosta story. In fact, what are the facts and the timeline.

My assumption is that he was convicted of FELONY assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He had more than a decade to receive a pardon. Now comes the important part. He went to Iraq. He applied for a pardon with the record that included the charge/conviction and included his national guard service. I really can't see a special circumstance for Circosta under the true scenario.

In Huck's version Circosta returned home as a war hero, meet with the governor, and asked for a pardon.

Huck would have been better speaking about his own record rather than embellish another record. He left the question hanging.

Posted by mikeVA | December 19, 2007 12:39 PM

The attacks are working. Rasmussen came out with a new Iowa poll today and Huckabee's lead (16% last week) has evaporated into a tie with Romney!

Posted by Daniel | December 19, 2007 12:41 PM

Or if he believed them to be innocent.

Posted by Phoebe | December 19, 2007 9:21 PM