WASHINGTON – Rising in the polls, former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee yesterday faced harsh new criticism for his involvement in freeing an imprisoned rapist who quickly went on to rape and kill again.
“If [Huckabee] did a little more work like he was supposed to, Wayne DuMond never would have been let out, and my daughter would still be alive and walking around,” Lois Davidson told The Post yesterday.
DuMond was convicted of raping and murdering Davidson’s daughter, Carol Sue Shields, shortly after he was paroled and moved to Missouri.
DuMond, who died in prison two years ago, also remains the lead suspect in the rape and murder of a second young Missouri woman.
Huckabee says he feels the anguish of the victims’ parents, but blamed the criticism on political foes trying to stop his insurgent campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
“I don’t see what politics got to do with it,” Davidson responded. “This is about my daughter who got raped and killed.”
She pointed to recently discovered letters written to Huckabee by other rape victims and their relatives pleading that the governor oppose paroling DuMond because “the next time he will be more careful to not leave a witness to testify against him.”
“And with my daughter, he did not leave a witness,” Davidson said.
Huckabee acknowledges that he supported freeing the serial rapist, who was released in 1999, believing that DuMond had gotten a “raw deal” when convicted of raping 17-year-old Ashley Stevens.