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Doug Bandow has noted Mike Huckabee'e promiscuous use of pardon power during his tenure as governor of Arkansas. The case of accused cop-killer Maurice Clemmons highlights the ease with which clemency was obtained:

Clemmons wrote in an appeal to Huckabee that he'd been sent to prison after an extended crime spree that started in 1989 when he was a teenager - and that he was a different person now.
At the time of the crimes - which included aggravated robbery, firearms possession and burglary - Clemmons claimed he was 16 years old and had moved from Seattle to a high-crime neighborhood in Arkansas.
"I succumbed to the peer pressure and the need I had to be accepted by other youth in my new environment and fell in with the wrong crowd and thus began a seven (7) month crime spree which led me to prison," Clemmons wrote in his application to Huckabee.
Clemmons said he came from "a very good Christian family" and "was raised much better than my actions speak (I'm still ashamed to this day for the shame my stupid involvement in these crimes brought to my family name.)," he wrote. . . .

Read the rest, if you have the stomach for it. Michelle Malkin notes the "passive language and blame-shifting" in Huckabee's statement about the case. Right now, there is nothing but pain for the people of Lakewood, Wash., and especially the family and friends of the four officers Clemmons is accused of killing in a cold-blooded ambush Sunday morning:

Those killed were identified as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Gregory Richards, 42.

The Lakewood Police Benevolent Guild is raising money for the families of the officers:

Lakewood Police Benevolent Fund
PO Box 99579
Lakewood, WA 98499

And the manhunt for Clemmons continues.