Arkansas Blog

VICTIMS VOICE NEWS RELEASE

In Little Rock, history once again repeats itself: yet another violent criminal freed by Mike Huckabee is on trial again for felony charges.

In 1994 John Henry Claiborne, a man already convicted of 6 prior felonies, kicked in the back door of the home of Homer and Vivian Allbritton and held them at gunpoint with a stolen shotgun while he robbed them.    Claiborne took all the valuables he could carry from the Allbrittons' house, including Mrs. Allbritton's wedding ring that he stripped from her finger as she lay on the ground.    Claiborne then stole the Allbrittons' car and drove away.   He was soon arrested, put on trial, and sentenced to 375 years behind bars. Three years after Mike Huckabee commuted Claiborne's sentence, he is once again the target of prosecutors for his alleged felonies.

Claiborne remained in prison until 2004, when then-Governor Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence to "time served" and released him, over the objections of law enforcement, jurors in Claiborne's case, and the Allbritton family.  

"My mother isn't the same person she was before this happened," said Greg Allbritton, the adult son of Vivian Albritton. "I sleep in the recliner in my mother's home because she's afraid [Claiborne] will come back and hurt her again."

Commenting on Huckabee's record of granting over 1000 clemencies as Governor, Allbritton said: "Every time Huckabee let a felon out, it was like slapping law enforcement, veterans, prosecutors, and victims in the face."

Huckabee's commutation is even more troubling today, as Claiborne is again facing felony charges.     In the fall of 2007, he was arrested again. Today he faces the criminal justice system as an accused drug dealer.   He is currently free on bond and walking the streets of Little Rock, while the Allbrittons still live in fear of him.