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Highlands Today

Doubting Mr. Huckabee

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Dale L. Gillis

Published: January 9, 2008

One of the reasons to doubt Mike Huckabee's judgment is the pardon of Wayne Dumond, and many of Huckabee's pardons have been questioned.

Wayne Dumond was already a convicted violent rapist when he was accused of raping Bill Clinton's cousin, Ashley Stevens, a 17-year-old high school cheerleader. She survived the attack and he was convicted. One victim says that Dumond raped her while threatening her with a butcher's knife.

Nevertheless, some reactionaries assumed that the whole thing had to be some kind of Clintonian conspiracy. Either that or they simply saw a way to get at Bill Clinton. Arkansas tabloids started a movement claiming that Dumond was innocent and demanding that he be pardoned. Governor Clinton recused himself from the case and his lieutenant governor decided that Dumond did not deserve a pardon. When Mike Huckabee became governor of Arkansas the pressure continued. Huckabee officially turned the matter over to the parole board but let it be known that he favored a pardon.

Wayne Dumond, convicted rapist, was pardoned in 1999. Later that year, in Missouri, Dumond raped and killed Carol Sue Shields, 39. Arrested in 2001, he was convicted of that crime and died in prison of natural causes in 2005.

An odd complication in the case is that Wayne Dumond was castrated under disputed circumstances. Dumond claimed that two men broke into his house and committed this act. Experts on rape say that it is not unheard of for rapists to injure themselves.

The Huffington Post, a news blog, claims that Huckabee suppressed and denied the existence of letters for Dumond's victims to justify the pardon.

Did Mike Huckabee believe the wild claims made by reactionary tabloids? There is no proof that he did. What is clear is that Mike Huckabee gave into pressure from hysterical tabloids, from the media, as governor. It is likely that Huckabee would do the same as president.

Dale L. Gillis
Sebring

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