When Arkansas dropped warrant, Pierce Co. couldn't hold Clemmons

When a Pierce County prosecutor appeared in court on July 2 and requested that Maurice Clemmons be held on $300,000 bail, the prosecutor knew he had a safety net that could keep Clemmons in custody, no matter what: a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas.

But over the next three weeks, that warrant wound up being rescinded through an unusual sequence of events captured in hearing transcripts, correspondence and e-mails.

A Pierce County judge ultimately set bail for Clemmons at $190,000 — a figure closer to the amount sought by prosecutors than the wishes of Clemmons' defense attorney.

In Arkansas, meanwhile, corrections officials had taken steps that effectively stripped Washington's safety net — leaving authorities here both angry and confused. A central figure in what transpired in Little Rock is a former traffic judge once accused by disciplinary officials of threatening to kill a process server and filing a false insurance claim, among other allegations.

Clemmons, 37, wound up posting bond Nov. 23 to secure his release from the Pierce County Jail. Six days later, he allegedly shot and killed four Lakewood police officers.

The controversy surrounding Clemmons has become so intense that Gov. Chris Gregoire today issued an order barring Washington from accepting any new parolees from Arkansas pending further investigation. At a news conference, Gregoire said it's her job to protect the people of Washington: "If Arkansas doesn't like it, sue me."

First ruling: No bail

Maurice Clemmons appeared in Pierce County Superior Court on July 2 to be arraigned on eight felony charges, all stemming from a spree of violence in May. He stood accused of assaulting two sheriff's deputies and raping a 12-year-old girl.

John Cummings, a deputy prosecutor, represented the state. A Federal Way lawyer, Daniel Murphy Jr., appeared for Clemmons. The judge was John A. McCarthy.

Clemmons pleaded not guilty to all eight charges. Then the subject moved to whether Clemmons could be released before trial.

"I would request bail, as it is presumed," Murphy told the judge.

In Washington, bail is indeed presumed. That principle is grounded in the state's constitution, which says "all persons charged with crime shall be bailable," with the exception of capital cases. None of the charges facing Clemmons qualified as a capital offense.

Cummings asked for $300,000 bail — $200,000 for the child-rape charge, and $100,000 for the seven other felony counts. The prosecutor cited Clemmons' lengthy criminal record in Arkansas and said Clemmons might be looking at a third strike, increasing the risk he would flee.

Murphy proposed a much lower figure — $20,000 for the rape charge, plus $20,000 for all the other counts. He argued Clemmons wasn't a flight risk, saying he had shown up in court in the day before. Murphy also challenged the prosecution's evidence: "On the rape charges, there may be a recantation anyway."

McCarthy, the judge, was concerned that Clemmons had failed to appear in court two months earlier when initially scheduled to be arraigned. But Murphy said Clemmons "did not have notice" of that hearing. "He also has a medical condition that was occurring right at that time," Murphy said, without specifying what that condition was. Clemmons had "been on good behavior for five years," Murphy told the judge.

McCarthy settled upon bail of $190,000 — with $150,000 for the child-rape charge, and $40,000 for the other charges.

The bail amount, Cummings hoped, wouldn't come into play anyway. That's because Clemmons' recent run-ins in Washington allegedly violated his parole in Arkansas. He was charged with being a fugitive from justice, and could be held without bail.

At the prosecutor's request, McCarthy ordered just that: Even if Clemmons could come up with the $190,000 bail for the Washington charges, there was no bail on the fugitive warrant.

But Murphy said he was hoping to clear up that fugitive matter. "I've contacted his former attorney down in Arkansas who is working on this," Murphy said.

In an interview today, McCarthy said the $190,000 was "high" compared to other cases. Some people charged with similar crimes have lower bail, he said; some even get released on their own recognizance.

No more safety net

The next week, on July 8, a North Little Rock attorney named Stephen E. Morley wrote to Linda Strong, an Arkansas parole administrator.

Morley had talked the day before with Murphy and was briefed on Clemmons' standing with the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC).

Morley's letter to Strong said: "It is my belief there is some confusion concerning Mr. Clemmons' status."

Arkansas had apparently accused Clemmons of being an "absconder," Morley said, triggering the warrant. But the absconder label didn't apply to Clemmons, wrote Morley, who asked Strong to rescind the warrant so Clemmons could post bond in Tacoma.

Morley acknowledged that Clemmons now faced new charges in Washington. But, Morley wrote, it was his understanding that those charges "may be dismissed in the near future."

Morley's letter also passed along a conversation Murphy had with a Washington DOC employee on May 6. The DOC employee, Morley wrote, said that as long as Clemmons stayed out of trouble, the DOC would leave him "unsupervised."

Morley's letter could easily have left the impression that Clemmons was on good terms with the Washington DOC. But that wasn't the case.

In the two months between that May 6 conversation and Morley's July 8 letter, Clemmons had been charged with eight felonies and failed to appear in court. DOC officials were by then desperate to keep Clemmons in custody.

A week after Morley's letter, Arkansas withdrew its warrant for Clemmons. Washington could no longer hold Clemmons without bail.

Morley, a former traffic court judge, had resigned in 1997 in the face of a judicial-ethics complaint. Among the charges: Morley threatened to kill a process server, assaulted two of his wives, used and sold cocaine and marijuana, filed a false insurance claim, and lied to police investigating a hit-and-run accident.

Morley denied the allegations, but resigned before the commission could rule. The state's lawyer disciplinary panel suspended his law license for 60 days and fined him $1,000 for making false statements to police in the hit-and-run accident.

Morley did not return phone calls today seeking comment. Murphy could not be reached, either.

'Warning signs'

With the no-bail hold lifted, Murphy moved to reduce Clemmons' bail in the child-rape case. He appeared July 24 before Judge Thomas Felnagle.

Murphy asked that Clemmons' $150,000 bond be dropped to "something around the neighborhood of $50,000." Clemmons wasn't a flight risk, Murphy said. He wasn't a threat to the community. He was his family's sole income earner. He had also been seeing a counselor.

But deputy prosecutor Angelica McGaha argued that, if anything, bail should be raised. She said Clemmons was a flight risk and wouldn't stay away from the child he was accused of molesting. She worried about Clemmons' mental health and said: "I believe that he is a threat to the community."

Felnagle refused to reduce the bond, citing Clemmons' "significant criminal history" and how he'd been "acting crazy."

"The warning signs are all over the place," Felnagle said.

Seattle Times news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com; Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2605 or mohagan@seattletimes.com.