[Richard]

Something that makes you wonder about how well the 'system' functions...or fails to function as the case may be.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

Cross-State Confusion Left Alleged Gunman Free
Austin Jenkins, NPR, 5 Dec 2009

Emotions are raw nearly a week after an Arkansas parolee — living in Washington state — allegedly ambushed and murdered four police officers.

The murders have left authorities asking why Maurice Clemmons wasn't in jail last Sunday, when he allegedly walked into a coffee shop near Tacoma, Wash., and killed the officers.

Clemmons had a long rap sheet, but also a history of catching breaks.

In 2000, then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 95-year sentence for crimes he had committed as a teenager.

Earlier this year, Clemmons racked up a spate of new felony charges in Washington — including one for child rape, a violation of his Arkansas parole.

He was arrested, but six days before the murders Clemmons posted bail and walked free.

How did this happen? Eldon Vail, Washington’s secretary of corrections, says Arkansas botched an arrest warrant by not entering it into the national crime database.

"When it came time to release him, typically the jail would look to see if there are any warrants," said Vail. "When they looked there was no warrant in the system. It’s a simple as that."

Previously, Arkansas had issued a warrant and entered it into the national database. But once Clemmons was arrested, Arkansas rescinded that warrant. That triggered a heated e-mail exchange between Washington and Arkansas corrections officials this summer over how to prevent Clemmons from bailing out of jail.

Eventually Arkansas issued a second warrant that should have kept him behind bars. But Washington officials say the cover sheet was filled out incorrectly, and since it wasn't put into the national database, jailers had no way of knowing not to release Clemmons.

Matt Decample, a spokesman for Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, says the warrant was filled out correctly and there's a good reason it wasn't entered.

"You enter a warrant into the National Crime Information Center database when you can't find someone — when you’re needing to locate someone," Decample says. "This is someone who was already in the system; [he had] been in custody. It was known where he was. And so that warrant was entered into the Interstate Compact."

The Interstate Compact is an agreement among all 50 states. It basically says if an offender moves out of the state where he committed his crime, the state where he moves will take over supervision of his parole.

Now, a defiant Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire announced this week that Washington will no longer accept Arkansas parolees — at least for now

"My job is to protect the people of the state of Washington, first and foremost," Gregoire says. "And when I don’t feel that’s happening, I have to take a step like this, and so if Arkansas doesn’t like it, sue me."

Arkansas says it has no plans to sue. The governors of both states have agreed to jointly review the Interstate Compact rules.

Meanwhile, Clemmons is dead, but the case goes on.

Several of his friends and family members have been arrested for helping him evade police after the shootings.

Melanie Burwell is a sister-in-law of one of the slain officers.

"They shouldn't have been on the streets," she says. "None of them. And yet they take away husbands and wives and fathers."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...84&ft=1&f=1003