STAR TIMES HONORS THE BEST IN FALL SPORTS SPORTS > C4-C7 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009 FOG, CLEARING High, 46. Low, 33. >B8 $1.00 outside King, Pierce, Independent and locally owned since 1896 seattletimes.com 75¢ Snohomish, Kitsap counties 1.6 million readers weekly in Western Washington, in print and online FRUSTRATED POLICE SCOUR THE REGION Suspect leaves trail but eludes capture; questions about legal system grow THE SUSPECT Maurice Clemmons DESCRIPTION Age: 37 Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Weight: 235 pounds Features: Black hair; brown eyes; mole on left cheek $125,000 REWARD A reward has been offered for information that leads to the arrest of Clemmons. Tipline: 866-977-2362. FIVE PAGES INSIDE HUCKABEE LINK TED S. WARREN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS How Clemmons won Lakewood police officers become emotional at a press conference Monday. Four fellow officers were shot to death Sunday as they sat in a coffee shop. clemency from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2000 and POLICE BELIEVE the political fallout for Four days the former Republican CLEMMONS HAS presidential candidate RECEIVED HELP in May > Close-up A3 FROM HIS FAMILY set stage AND FRIENDS for tragedy BY SARA JEAN GREEN AND CHRISTINE CLARRIDGE BY NICK PERRY, MAUREEN Seattle Times staff reporters O’HAGAN, JONATHAN MARTIN AND KEN ARMSTRONG PARKLAND, Pierce County – Seattle Times staff reporters Maurice Clemmons is likely des- perate: He is believed to be Over four days in May, Mau- THE REACTION armed, but he’s running out of rice Clemmons’ behavior and friends to help him stay ahead of mental state deteriorated. Fam- Tens of thousands of police. And the gunshot wound ily members worried he had Facebook users to his gut probably hasn’t gone crazy, that he was verging worldwide express stopped bleeding. KEVIN P. CASEY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on collapse. His conduct became words of support after “It’s unfortunate he’s been a Seattle police SWAT members leave a house in the Leschi neighbor- so erratic — punching a sheriff’s the slayings of the step or two ahead of us,” Pierce hood Monday after finding no sign of suspect Maurice Clemmons. deputy, forcing relatives to strip officers; a candlelight County sheriff’s Detective Ed naked, according to police re- vigil is planned Troyer said Monday, nearly 36 ports — that authorities eventu- Wednesday night > A6 hours after Clemmons is accused ally charged him with eight felo- of executing four Lakewood po- nies, including one count of child THE CONCERNS lice officers in a Parkland coffee rape. African-American shop. But, Troyer said, the num- Still, at the end of those four leaders worry that the ber of people willing to help him days, Clemmons wound up on furious manhunt for is dwindling fast. the loose — a delusional man Clemmons could Detectives have detained sev- with a propensity for violence, increase the potential eral of Clemmons’ friends, family who had managed to escape the members and acquaintances — grip of authorities. for racial profiling > A6 and could arrest and book many What happened in those four NICOLE BRODEUR of them into jail for helping days — and in the months that Halloween ambush of Clemmons elude capture, Troyer followed — reflects a system gov- Seattle officers, all-night said. On Monday night, the Sher- erned by formula and misguided iff’s Office launched a series of incentives. police stakeout of tactical operations targeting the That legal system, both in Ar- Clemmons relative’s homes of relatives and friends kansas and Washington, failed to home exact a heavy toll believed to be helping Clem- account for the entirety of Clem- on Seattle’s Leschi mons, Troyer said. ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES mons’ violence and his disdain neighborhood > A9 He said police are going after An officer wearing a gas mask exits the East Superior Street home in for the law. Individual crimes, See > MANHUNT, A7 Seattle’s Leschi neighborhood. Police staked out the home all night. See > RAGE, A8 ą Index DEATHS, FUNERALS NWTUESDAY B4 Classified ads 2009 Seattle Times Co. 60% of our newsprint contains Obama’s Afghanistan message ASK AMY NWTUESDAY B7 EDITORIALS A13 Listings do not appear in print recycled fiber, and inks are reused. NICOLE BRODEUR A9 LOCAL NEWS NWTUESDAY B1 today. Find them online every day The president today will unveil his plan for BUSINESS, STOCKS A10-12 LOTTERY, CORRECTIONS A2 at www.nwsource.com/classifieds the war in a 5 p.m. address to air on the CLOSE-UP A3 SPORTS ON TV, RADIO SPORTS C2 PUBLIC NOTICES C3 networks and cable news channels >A5 COMICS, PUZZLES NWTUESDAY B5-7 WEATHER NWTUESDAY B8 TUE CROSSWORDS NWTUESDAY B6 YOUR TUESDAY NWTUESDAY B3 7 59423 22000 6 3 ROP 1 ROP TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009 News A3 CloseUp Persuasive appeal helped Clemmons win clemency A CHANGED MAN | the suffering of those families and the suffering of people in those Criminal history The repeat felon communities.” Humphrey said Monday he re- Highlights from Maurice convinced Gov. Mike members Clemmons and believed Clemmons’ criminal history in Huckabee and the he was genuinely remorseful and Arkansas. wanted to change. November 1989: At age 17, Arkansas Parole “I figure young people make some mistakes,” he said. Also a sentenced to 35 years for Board he had learned Presbyterian minister, Humphrey aggravated robbery and theft in from his mistakes. said he believes in giving people a Little Rock after he stole a purse second chance. from a woman, claiming he had Humphrey in 2004 also officiated a gun and punching her. BY JIM BRUNNER Clemmons’ wedding, according to a January 1990: Sentenced to 60 AND SUSAN KELLEHER copy of the marriage certificate. Seattle Times staff reporters years for burglary and theft for “It would be the furthest thing aurice Clemmons like- from my mind that he would go out stealing about $6,700 worth of ly would still be sitting and kill four police officers, if in fact items, including a gun, from an in an Arkansas prison he did,” Humphrey said. Arkansas state trooper’s home. cell if he hadn’t con- Huckabee also cited Clemmons’ February 1990: Sentenced to six Mvinced former Gov. Mike Huckabee young age at the time of his crimes years for possessing a .25-caliber and the state’s parole board that in an official proclamation commut- pistol at Hall High School, where he’d reformed while behind bars for ing his sentence. The proclamation he was a junior. Clemmons told a teenage crime spree. said Clemmons faced a 95-year sen- Clemmons, a suspect in Sunday’s tence but corrections officials in police he brought the gun to slaying of four Lakewood police of- that state said he likely would have protect himself against “dopers” ficers, had been sentenced to about served far less than that. who had chased and beaten him. 100 years in prison for several felo- The proclamation was one of August 2000: Released from nies, including bringing a gun to 1,033 commutations and pardons prison after then-Gov. Mike school and a robbery in which he Huckabee issued during his more Huckabee commutes his punched a woman in the face. than 10 years as governor. That’s sentence. He would not have been eligible about twice the number issued by for parole until 2015 or later, ac- his three predecessors combined. July 2001: Sentenced to 10 years cording to Arkansas court docu- in prison on a robbery charge. Back in prison ments and prosecutors. March 2004: Paroled again from But Clemmons was set free in Clemmons was released from prison. Later moves to 2000 — over the objections of pros- prison in August 2000 but was sent ecutors — after Huckabee commut- back on a parole violation — a rob- Washington state. ed the long prison sentence, making bery charge — in July 2001, accord- Sources: Clemmons petition for clemency; Arkansas him immediately eligible for parole. ing to Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for Democrat-Gazette archives In his appeal to Huckabee, Clem- the Arkansas Department of Correc- mons apologized for his actions but tions. complained he’d received overly He received a 10-year sentence, harsh sentences. Tyler said, but records show he was after arranging for a bail-bond com- Clemmons said he started his paroled again in March 2004. pany to post his $150,000 bond. His crime spree at 16, after he had WEB EXTRA Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry release here came despite seven moved from Seattle to a high-crime Jegley said that by his count, Clem- other pending felony charges, ac- neighborhood in Arkansas. Huckabee’s order mons should have been in jail until cording to court records. “I succumbed to the peer pressure View the entire commutation document and Maurice Clemmons’ 2021. Huckabee, a Republican presi- and the need I had to be accepted request for clemency at seattletimes.com “Mr. Huckabee made him parole- dential contender in 2008, issued a by other youth in my new environ- eligible 21 years before he would statement Sunday night mourning ment and fell in with the wrong the purse off her shoulder, accord- time of his crimes and called his have been,” Jegley said. the deaths of the Lakewood police crowd and thus began a seven ing to court records. cumulative sentence excessive. Clemmons’ volatile behavior in officers and saying that if Clem- month crime spree which led me to He was sentenced to 35 years in Clemmons’ release was unanimous- court gave officials little reason to mons is responsible “it will be the prison,” Clemmons wrote in his prison for that incident. ly approved by the parole board. show leniency. result of a series of failures in the clemency application to Huckabee.