Murder Victim's Mother Assails Huckabee

(CBS)  The mother of a woman murdered by a convicted rapist after he was paroled while Mike Huckabee was Arkansas governor is now speaking out against the GOP presidential hopeful.

Lois Davidson, whose daughter Carol Sue Shields was murdered by Wayne DuMond after he was released, told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith that Huckabee's involvement in the case suggests poor judgment.

"I don't think he did enough background research on Wayne DuMond's life," she said. "And if he didn't do that kind of research, I don't think he's gonna be good for the country."

As CBSNews.com detailed yesterday, DuMond was arrested in 1985 for the rape of a 17-year-old girl who was a distant cousin of former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. He was convicted to life in prison plus 20 years, but some members of the media, including New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy and radio host Jay Cole, suggested that DuMond was innocent and had been railroaded by Clinton.

Clinton's successor, Jim Guy Tucker, reduced DuMond's sentence to to 39 years, making him eligible for parole. When Huckabee became governor in 1996, he said he was considering commuting DuMond's sentence to time served. After the victim and her supporters protested, Huckabee did not do so, but he reportedly wrote a letter to DuMond saying "my desire is that you be released from prison."

---

Read More About The Case

---

Soon after, Huckabee met with the parole board, which had the power to free DuMond.

"He thought DuMond had gotten a raw deal," Charles Chastain, a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who was on the parole board at the time, told CBSNews.com. "He said he'd been born on the wrong side of the tracks and hadn't been treated all that fairly."

After the meeting, many board members reversed their votes from the previous year, and DuMond was paroled. After he was released, DuMond moved to Missouri, where he sexually assaulted and murdered Shields. He was the leading suspect in another rape and murder when he died in prison in 2005.

The Huffington Post reported yesterday that Huckabee's office was provided letters from women who had been sexually assaulted by DuMond, who warned he could strike again. Before his conviction for rape, DuMond had a record that included attempted sexual assault and involvement in a murder.

Huckabee denies that his influence on the parole board resulted in DuMond's release.

"For people to say that I was responsible in getting him out makes a few presumptions...it assumes I had the amazing persuasive power to go into a board of seven people, all of them appointed by Democratic governors before me and persuade them to do something they didn't wish to do," he said.

But the mother of Carol Sue Shields doesn't accept that explanation.

"I don't think Mr. Huckabee ought to be president," said Davidson on The Early Show. "I don't think he should be running the country."

[infidel_us]

Wow....even Mary Jo''s parents never went THAT far!

[antoniof123]

He was convicted to life in prison plus 20 years, but some members of the media, including New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy and radio host Jay Cole, suggested that DuMond was innocent and had been railroaded by Clinton.

Well, let me see Dunleavy, Cole DuMond you were wrong and Clinton was right. He was not railroaded, he was convicted by a jury of his peers and sentence to life plus 20.

[abbe91]

"Why OBAMA can not be trusted?
--Muslim blood. His father was a Muslim. Muslim%u2019s sons are Muslims for life.
Posted by THEmagic07 at 10:43 AM : Dec 06, 2007"

Given his ties with 911 terrorists, Giuliani is more muslim than Obama.

[stopthespin]

I am just an average American Citizen with no ties to politics and I find it quite obvious and pathetic how the drive-by media (and that includes the early show with Harry!)chooses their political targets and their assasination attemps (But the majority of us average people can see right through them and can very easily see through the smoke) Why did Harry ignore the real fact that bill Clinton was the one who actually made wayne dumond parole eligible? I''ll tell you why, Because that fact wouldn''t fit his and the drive-by media''s agenda, and that agenda is to get the Camilian and phony hillary clinton in to the presidency! FACT- bill clinton made dumond eligible for parole before he left office as Arkansas Govenor! Huckabee could not by law over turn dumond''s parole eligible status! Just another mess left behind by the clinton''s for someone else to clean-up and take the rap for. Just another example of the bias and unfair reporting of the drive-by media to fit their own agenda which is sooooo clear to average person, we''re not as ignorant and dumb as the drive-by''s think and it really hurts their credibility. This is why so many of us go to Fox news to get the truth and fair reporting! Why don''t they call hillary to the plate on all of her scams, lies and blunders? We all know the answer to that!

[watcher269-2009]

What, Huckabee a Republican in a Democrat outfit. This is a NON-Story plain and simple.

[scarletphd]

...this is part of his past, every candidate has one. I feel bad for this mother but will still vote for Mike as well as everyone else that I have talked to, this does not change anything.
Posted by shingson

Oh the he11 it doesn''''t!!! I think it''''s absolutely vital to understand the decision making processes of these people who want to run our country! What a reckless thing he did supporting (or at least not preventing) the parol of such a sick and violent criminal into society!!! Any decision made in a politicians past should be well understood by voters!! They must ANSWER for their actions, and be held accountable for ALL that they do/did in any office!!!

When I screw up, I can usually make some quick corrections or an aploogy. When a governor screws up, everybody hears about it.
Posted by strut2k

Who gives a *** if you screw up, you are nobody. The GOVERNOR and his screwups effect thousands or millions. They shouldn''t GET to hide.

[mruk100]

I think this will be terrible for Huckabee''s campaign. I don''t know how you can trust his judgement, as the president of the United States, knowing the details of this story.

[ucjb]

I can''t trust Huckabee any more.

[nyckate]

kansas1946

and at least one women was brutalized and murdered all because of their irrational hysterical hatred of clinton.

[nyckate]

This should be the end of Huckabee''s campaign -- afterall not only did he help free a known rapist who turned rapist murderer but now he''s lying about it ...

but then again his main supporters are the same sick twisted fools who still cheer Bush so what can we expect from their teensey inbred minds anyway.