Seattle, Washington (CNN) -- Nearly 10 years ago, Maurice Clemmons pledged to make a fresh start. "I come from a very good Christian family and I was raised much better than my actions speak," Clemmons said in a clemency application brief to then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2000. "I'm still ashamed to this day for the shame my stupid involvement in these crimes brought upon my family's name." Clemmons was 27. He'd spent the past 11 years in an Arkansas prison, convicted of offenses including robbery, burglary, theft and taking a gun to school. He was facing a 95-year sentence.
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Maurice Clemmons told Arkansas governor crimes brought shame to family
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Then 27, he had spent 11 years in prison for robbery, burglary, theft
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He is suspected in Sunday's shooting deaths of four police officers
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Incident may be "result of a series of failures," says ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee's office
In 2000, Clemmons told Huckabee that the crimes occurred when he was 16, had just moved to @placeholder from Seattle and had fallen in with the wrong crowd.