Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Huckabee signs notice of intent to free convicted child molester

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has signed a notice of intent to grant executive clemency to a convicted child sex offender.

A copy of the clemency statement states Charles Alton has applied for executive clemency, and was convicted in 1997 of three counts of sexual abuse.

Alton was sentenced to 30 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, with the sentences 10 years each and to run concurrently.

The clemency paper states Alton was 23 at the time of sentencing and is now 28.

Huckabee's signature on the clemency document, dated Feb. 4, 2003, would commute Alton's sentence and make him eligible for immediate parole.

A letter signed by Pam Brown, assistant parole administrator for the Arkansas Department of Corrections stated, "This does not preclude the Governor from denying executive clemency."

The letter also states Arkansas law requires the governor give at least 30 days notice prior to granting executive clemency for public comment.

Charles Black, a lawyer with Brent Haltom's prosecuting attorney's office in Texarkana, was the deputy prosecuting attorney who prosecuted Alton.

"Quite honestly," he wrote, "I am very disappointed that Gov. Huckabee is planning on commuting the sentence of this convicted child molester."

According to Black, Alton pled guilty to three counts of engaging in sexual contact with a person less than 14 years of age on multiple occasions, and admitted to molesting the teen.

Originally, Alton was charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual abuse, but the rape counts were reduced in a plea negotiation, which included consulting with the victim's mother and the victim.

It was decided, Black wrote, the disposition agreed upon would be the best way to minimize nay further emotional trauma to the victim.

The disposition was three 10 year sentences to be served consecutively.

In Huckabee's notice of intent, he states the victim has come forward and recanted her testimony.

"Mr. Huckabee's Notice of Intent to Grant Executive Clemency' places significance on the victim's purported recantation of her testimony'," Black wrote. "I will now respond to this in particular. For one thing, I do not recall the victim every actually testifying'; she did, however, in several interviews (with myself and with law enforcement officers) give specific details about the molestation acts perpetrated upon her by Alton.

Black wrote the prosecutor's office had more than the victim's testimony. Once the abuse became known, the victim was taken to the doctor by her mother. It was found the victim had contacted sexually transmitted diseases.

One of the diseases is normally associated with oral herpes. The prosecutor's office had evidence Alton had this virus. The defendant also had the other type of sexually transmitted disease the victim was diagnosed with.

Along with the medical proof and victim's statement, Black wrote, the state had documentary admissions by Alton himself. One was a letter delivered to the victim's parents by Alton before he was arrested. Several statements, Black wrote, were incriminating.

Alton also wrote a subsequent letter to his wife, denying certain types of sexual contact with the victim, who was 12-years-old at the time the abuse occurred.

According to Black, Alton tried to convince his wife the victim had seduced him.

"I have no direct or personal knowledge regarding any purported recantation' by the victim," Black wrote. "I have spoken to the victim on the phone several different times since 8/25/97, most recently within the last six months, and the victim has never recanted tome her previous numerous allegations against Alton, which allegations were corroborated as above indicated, the defendant again having pled guilty to the charges. If, for some reason unknown to me, the victim has reportedly recanted' to someone else, I would most definitely question or explore what factors may have prompted any purported recantation, especially in view of the known facts."

Black wrote he has no idea what motivated Gov. Huckabee to commute the sentence of this convicted child molester, when Alton has served less than six years of a 30 year sentence.

"Mike Huckabee's decision to grant clemency to Alton, in my opinion," Black wrote, "will certainly have no deterrent effect whatsoever, and instead will have a contrary effect, both as to this particular defendant/child molester and as to others who may have similar perverted inclinations. I have to assume the facts detailed herein were unknown to Mr. Huckabee before now, and would hope that the commutation decision will be reversed."

Black has been prosecuting sex offenders/child molesters for more than 20 years, and has worked for the victims of these offenses, while trying to send the message to convicted and potential child molesters that their crimes would be punished. This, he wrote, was done to deter future acts of child molestation.