Pawlenty: I would not have granted clemency to suspected police shooter

[sabra]

Source: The Hill

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty became the first likely GOP presidential candidate to criticize Mike Huckabee's pardon of a suspected killer during his time as Arkansas's governor.

Pawlenty said that he would not have granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons, who was suspected of fatally shooting four police officers in Washington state on Sunday before being shot and killed by police in Seattle Tuesday morning.
Asked by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham if he would have granted clemency under the same circumstances, Pawlenty replied, "No. On those facts, no, Laura, I would not."

He continued, "In Minnesota, I don't think I've ever voted for clemency. We've given out pardons for things after everybody has served out their term, but again, usually for more minor offenses. But clemency, certainly not. Commutation of sentence, certainly not."

Huckabee, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, is considered a 2012 contender. Huckabee commuted Clemmons's sentence in 2000 after he served over 10 years of a 95-year sentence for various felony convictions. Clemmons was 18 years old in 1990 when he was sentenced.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/69921-pawlenty-i-would-not-have-granted-clemency-to-clemmons

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Can you say "Schadenfreude"?

[Dr.Phool]

26. Nope.

Can't spell it either.

[Zoeisright]

2. Yeah, instead you vetoed MNDOT funding so the 35W bridge fell down.

So you killed 13 people with your policies instead of 5-6.

Gee, WHAT a guy.

I hate that cross-eyed little weasel.

[dpbrown]

7. Bingo!

Pawlenty is the worst kind of politician.

[stlsaxman]

25. Well, how about THAT, Timmy... you gonna answer for the 13 you killed by neglect?

huh, Timmy?

[Blue_Tires]

27. +1

[glinda]

28. so true

[izquierdista]

34. Now, now......

Wait for him to smack Chucklebee over the head a couple more times with the shovel before you lay into him. It's not nice to break up Republican cat-fights. :toast:

[AndrewP]

3. TPaw is running for the nomination in 2012 I bet, so he had to look "tough"

[Ken Burch]

4. Now why would Pawlenty POSSIBLY be expressing an opionion on this?

Anything from Caribou Barbie yet?

[elehhhhna]

13. yEAH LIKE SOMEONE'S GONNA TAKE THE OPPOSITE POSITION.

oops sorry aou the caps.

[Ken Burch]

14. Well, defending the release of the guy would make you stand out from the field

:sarcasm:

[bluestateguy]

5. The Clemmons pardon was Hucklebee's Willie Horton

The I-35 bridge collapse will be Pawlenty's dirty Boston Harbor.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Timmy the Tool hops right on that ol' presidential bandwagon.

HE wouldn't have granted clemency to that bad guy, nuh-uh. Not him, no way. In fact, Timmy doesn't believe in clemency, ever, for anybody. Especially poor people who can't afford medical care -- the latest victims of Timmy's budget cuts. But Republicans like the most merciless bastards they can find, and Timmy has to establish his merciless bastard bona fides. It's just so convenient for him that Huckleberry granted clemency to a psychopath who pretended to have gotten right with Jesus.

[Arkana]

11. You forgot infrastructure improvements, Timmy's favorite kind of budget cuts.

That's why Minnesota's bridges are the soundest in the country!

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. That's a ballsy stand, Tim. You've got my vote.

:sarcasm:

WTF else could you have said, you moran?

[icnorth]

9. Prescient little twit ain't he?

Laura texted him the question prior to the interview and he came up with the answer sitting astride Inspiration Peak. :eyes:

[Arkana]

10. The vultures are circling, Mr. Huckabee.

[Bitwit1234]

12. And he cut Health care funding and

school breakfast and funding to hospitals. Typical republican they should love this guy. Phewlenty sounds so right.

[Bozita]

15. Tim should show his toughness by executing some old lady with an expired handicapped parking sticker

GOPers need to be tough.

Like John Wayne.

[Archae]

16. Sarah Palin was going to be the first.

But she quit. :D

[RedCloud]

17. Keeping Minnesotans with only one senator was your doing, asshole!

[JI7]

18. what a whore

[TygrBright]

19. Timmy the Tool: "I'm relevant!! I'm RELEVANT, dammit!! Pay attention to ME!!!" n/t

[rantormusing]

20. Sounds like a receipe for Republican infighting

Warms my heart, it does. I hate the first few lines, where Pawlenty insinuates that he would never use his pardon power. A president or a governor shouldn't be scared to use it, any cursory glance at the problems plaguing our criminal justice system would see that the pardon power is desperately needed as a last check against injustice.


C'mon Obama pardon more than a turkey.

[rantormusing]

21. when you have time

LOL

I can imagine the dirty linens that the daily grind brings, but when a slow season hits, i hope you think about it.

[OHdem10]

22. Is it not marvelous how people can "do the right thing" in HINDSIGHT.

Such pandering.

[onehandle]

23. Even his 'outrage' is boring. Forget it. It's Mittens 2012. nt

[Dr.Phool]

24. Take that, Huckleberry!!!!

Nyah Nyah

[DebbieCDC]

29. Don't you just love it when the pukes go picnic-ing on each other?

I know I do.

[villager]

30. And so the Repubbie primaries begin!

n/t

[MineralMan]

31. Pawlenty: I wanna be presenitedstates so bad

I can taste it. Whatever I can do, I'll do. Jebus, I wanna be presenitedstates.

[Scruffy1]

32. T-Paw

This narrow visioned piece of shit couldn't even get a majority of votes in Minnesota with all the Texas money and the tame media shilling for him. Worst governor ever in Minnesota with no chance at reelection. His Presidential ambitions are a joke. He's just not very bright or adept at anything and he only consorts with like minded people. Forget him he aint worth the ink. No leadership at all-just butt kissing the high and mighty champ.

[Mz Pip]

33. Thanks for sharing, Timmy.

Now please just go away.

[BAPhill]

35. Ahhhh...they begin to eat their own.

Let them tear each other apart!

[LuckyLib]

36. Timmy, you need to be home figuring out a way to pay for basic societal needs.

Governor "No new taxes" raised every fee in the state while cutting city and county budgets so drastically that folks are losing basic services, from police to teachers. You're a fine leader, Tim.

[annm4peace]

37. Wow, guess Timmy forgot about early release of Alfonso Gonzales Jr

and his killing of Dru Sjodin.

During the early evening hours of November 22, 2003, Sjodin finished her shift at the Victoria's Secret store located in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Dru shopped at the mall's Marshall Field's department store and then left the mall. While walking to her car, she spoke with her boyfriend, Chris Lang, on her cell phone. Dru was saying "okay, okay," and the call ended without any sense of urgency at all, just like any other dropped call, so Lang thought nothing of this. About three hours later, Lang received another call from her cell phone, but only heard static and the sound of buttons being pressed. It was reported by authorities this second phone call originated somewhere near Fisher, Minnesota, but that has remained unsubstantiated. With this second call and Dru Sjodin not showing up at another job later that evening, there was concern for her whereabouts.

On December 1, a suspect, 50-year-old registered level 3 sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., was arrested in connection with Sjodin's disappearance. According to police reports, Rodriguez admitted being near the Columbia Mall the day Sjodin disappeared, allegedly watching the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico. That movie was not playing at any theater in the area. The police also found receipts of purchases Rodriguez had made at stores near the mall. Rodriguez apparently had two tool kit knives that could only be purchased at a particular home center store which was about one mile from the mall, but they were not purchased the day Sjodin disappeared and a purchase date for the knives was never established. Police also found a tool kit knife in Rodriguez's car that was soaking in some type of cleaning solution inside a rear wheel well. Rodriguez had been released from jail in May 2003 after completing a 23-year prison term for stabbing and trying to kidnap a woman. Rodriguez had also previously pleaded guilty to raping another woman.

Sjodin's body was recovered on April 17, 2004 just west of Crookston, Minnesota when deep snow drifts began to melt. Crookston is also where Rodriguez lived with his mother. Sjodin's body was found partially nude and face down in a ravine. Her hands were tied behind her back and she had been beaten, stabbed, sexually assaulted, and had several lacerations including a five and a half inch cut on her neck. A rope was also tied around her neck and remnants of a shopping bag were found under the rope suggesting that a bag had been placed on her head. The medical examiner concluded that she had either died as a result of the major neck wound, from suffocation, or from exposure to the elements. Thousands of people had helped search for the young woman and hundreds attended her funeral.

It was alleged Sjodin was brought across state lines, inconsistent with her driving Rodriguez to his car, so the trial was held in federal court, which meant that Rodriguez was eligible to receive the death penalty if convicted, a possibility not allowed under North Dakota or Minnesota law. On August 30, 2006, Rodriguez was found guilty in Sjodin's death and on September 22, 2006, he was sentenced to the death penalty.

[beyond cynical]

38. And I am for the children...