@GOP Mike Huckabee Pushed for Parole of Rapist Who Then Killed Two Women #P2 #TCOT

Do you remember the time when then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee successfully pushed for a convicted rapist to be paroled – over the objections of victims and the community – who then murdered two women? It began in 1996, when Huckabee began his push for the convicted rapist to be released, and ran through 2001, when the parolee was arrested for murdering two women.

I wrote earlier that Huckabee has a long, sordid and frankly astonishing history involving the crime of rape, and the Wayne Dumond saga is certainly at or near the top. It's incredible to think that any politician, particularly a member of the tough-on-crime GOP, could survive it, let alone come to be seen by many as the conscience of the party. Remember this when you watch him address the cheering RNC crowd tonight.

 

Despite Dumond's previous run-ins with the law – he was charged with bludgeoning a man to death but the charge was dropped, he was questioned on suspicion of rape and assault, and he pled guilty to assault in a separate case – and the testimony of two women who said they had been raped by him, Huckabee pushed ahead. He even considered outright clemency but pulled back in the face of public opposition. He instead worked behind the scenes to pressure the parole board to release Dumond.

 

I've pulled key headlines and excerpts from five years' of coverage by the AP and organized them here in chronological order. I'm not sure how anyone could read through the clips and not come away questioning Huckabee's judgment and character:

 

Governor: Free castrated rapist; Says man has been punished enough, AP, 9/21/96

After a review of Wayne Dumond's case, which included DNA evidence not available at trial, Huckabee said he could not justify Dumond's imprisonment.

 

His castration "more than has given whatever punishment is necessary, particularly for a crime that is very questionable he committed," the governor said.

 

Dumond, 45, was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for kidnapping a 17-year-old girl from her home in 1984 and raping her.

 

In 1985, while Dumond awaited trial, two men in stocking masks broke into his home, tied him up and castrated him with fishing line. His children found him unconscious when they got home from school. The intruders were never caught.

REST AT 

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-pushed-parole-rapist-who-then-killed-two-women