As pretty much everyone already knows, four police officers were shot and killed early on Sunday morning in Lakewood, Washington.Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, Mark Renninger, and Greg Richards were not responding to a robbery call, not patrolling a dangerous part of town, not involved in a fight with a crazed criminal. They were just sitting in a cafe, catching up on paperwork.
The animal who walked into that cafe and gunned those small town heroes down in cold blood in a targeted assassination should never have been on the streets to begin with. He should never have had the opportunity to murder. The animal, and there is no other word that properly describes this particular being, had already been caged, on numerous occassions.
In August, September, and November of 1989, this animal was sentenced to more than 13 years on numerous counts of burglary, theft, and robbery. That was after having probation revoked already. He was only 17 years old. In February of 1990 it was 20 more years for burglary and theft, and then in November he gained a 6-year sentence for firearm possession.
By the time this animal had reached 18 years of age, it had already accumulated more than a century of sentencing time. During one particular hearing the judge had it shackled, claiming the animal had threatened him. There was no way, no way, that this animal should ever have been back out on the streets. No way that this caged animal should have been able to hurt anyone again. At least not anyone who wasn't behind bars themselves.
But then in May of 2000, after this animal had been safely locked up away from the rest of us for over a decade, his total sentence time was commuted to just over 47 years by then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
The effect of Huckabee's commutation was that it made the animal eligible for parole that very day. Just two months later a parole board granted, and the animal was released on August 1st, 2000.
