Lakewood Police Massacre: Maurice Clemmons vowed "not to do evil" (parole documents included)

Clemency and parole documents for suspected Lakewood police officer shooter Maurice Clemmons detail a history of bad choices, a lack of respect for other human beings, and an ability to convince authority figures to give him second, third, and fourth chances.

Clemmons is a suspect in the November 29, 2009 murders of Lakewood, Washington police Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Gregory Richards, 42, who were gunned down at a neighborhood coffee shop while working on their laptop computers.

Clemmons is apparently still at large and may have received assistance from various acquaintances. It is also believed that he was shot by one of the dying police officers and may be on the verge of death himself.

The Seattle Times has provided 27 pages of documents that cover Clemmons's history of crime, commutation, and parole. The highest profile documents involve then Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

According to the documents in a May 2, 2000 letter to Clemmons from and signed by Huckabee, the governor declared that after reviewing Clemmons's case, "I have granted you a commutation." Huckabee gave no specifics in the letter as to why he granted the request.

Clemmons's request letter to Governor Huckabee, which he wrote himself, painted a picture of a man who made bad choices as a teenager and who had supposedly learned the error of his ways.

After claiming their was "no justification" for the crimes he committed, Clemmons proceeded to list a series of justifications for his behavior: he was only 16 at the time of the incidents; he had recently moved from Seattle to Arkansas; his new neighborhood was crime-infested; and he fell into the wrong crowd due to peer pressure. He also claimed that he "only wanted to fit in and be accepted" and that breaking the law was the way to achieve that acceptance.

Clemmons claimed that as a teenager he was "a misguided fool," but that as a 27-year-old who had learned about life via the "school of hard knocks" he learned "to appreciate and respect the rights of others."

Clemmons added that the 11 years he spent behind bars helped him develop "the skills to stand along (sic) and not to follow a multitude to do evil."

It is uncertain whether or not Clemmons was aware of Huckabee's well-known religious background, however, several references to God and angels and prayer are made throughout his request to the Governor.

In addition to clemency granted by Huckabee, Judge Marion A. Humphrey also agreed that Clemmons should receive a "time cut" in his sentence. On July 9, 1999, Humphrey cited Clemmons's youth and questioned why a previous judge ran the offender's sentences consecutively instead of concurrently. Humphrey "strongly supported" parole for Clemmons. 

Huckabee's official commutation concluded, "I, Mike Huckabee, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me as Governor of the State of Arkansas, do hereby commute the sentence of Maurice Clemmons, for the above offense(s), making him immediately parole eligible (the highlighted phrase is underlined in the official document).

Clemmons's parole requests were objected to by at least two employees of the Arkansas Parole Administrator's office including Melody Prazze on June 14, 2000, and later by W.A. McCormick on September 29, 2003.

UPDATE: Maurice Clemmons has been shot dead by police in Seattle Tuesday morning.

Corey Mitchell is a critically acclaimed Los Angeles Times best-selling author of several true crime books including Dead and Buried, Pure Murder and Hollywood Death Scenes. He is also the founder of the premiere true crime website, In Cold Blog, executive producer for a new true crime television series, and a former Hollywood crime expert and blogger for the Discovery Channel. He can be reached at truecrimewriter@aol.com.

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