(CNN) -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday said he accepts "full responsibility" for granting clemency in 2000 to a man authorities say gunned down four Lakewood, Washington, police officers Sunday.



Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot and killed early Tuesday by Seattle police. He was the subject of a two-day manhunt after the four officers were killed at a coffee shop as they met before their shifts began Sunday morning.



Clemmons had a criminal history in Arkansas and Washington. In May 2000, Huckabee commuted his 108-year prison sentence to make him immediately eligible for parole, which was granted by the parole board two months later. Clemmons had been sentenced to 95 years, to run after time he was already serving on previous convictions.



In a statement on the conservative news Web site Newsmax.com, Huckabee wrote that he commuted Clemmons' sentence from 108 years to 47 years. Reports that he had pardoned Clemmons or set him free were erroneous, he said.



"I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago," Huckabee said. "I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision."



But the Arkansas prosecutor who put Clemmons behind bars told CNN on Tuesday that Huckabee was issuing clemency at "an astounding rate" during his tenure as governor.



"He was exercising the clemency power at what I call a wholesale rate," Larry Jegley said. "He was letting murderers out, he was letting rapists out, and he was letting the likes of Mr. Clemmons out."



One survey, he said, showed Huckabee issued more clemencies from 1996 to 2004 than the governors of all six surrounding states, including Texas.



He said he didn't know why so many clemencies were granted. "That was part of the frustration that we felt with the entire process. ... We never felt as though he gave victims, their families, jurors, law enforcement and the community in general an adequate explanation as to why he felt compelled to let people of proven danger go in our community."



Huckabee was a Republican presidential candidate in the 2008 election and has not ruled out another White House bid in 2012. During his 2008 campaign, he was criticized for granting clemency to another inmate, convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, who was later convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Missouri.



"Between 1,000 and 2,000 requests for some form of clemency came to my desk each and every one of the 10½ years I was governor," Huckabee said Tuesday. "Ninety-two percent of the time, I denied the requests."



He noted that in Arkansas, a governor does not initiate a sentence change -- the Post Prison Transfer Board makes a recommendation to the governor after reviewing an inmate's file. The governor then can grant or deny it.



Clemmons was 16 when he was charged with robbery and burglary. "For the crimes he committed and the age at which he committed the crimes, [a 108-year sentence] was dramatically outside the norm for sentencing," Huckabee said. The board unanimously recommended that the sentence be commuted.



Jegley said that while in prison in Arkansas, Clemmons had a disciplinary record for violent incidents, and that something should have tipped off the board or the governor that "this man was not a good candidate to be put back in society, because he couldn't live in the cloistered environment of prison and stay out of trouble."



Watch what Jegley has to say



In the case of any form of clemency -- a commutation or a full pardon -- notice is given to the prosecutor, the judge, law enforcement officials, the attorney general and the secretary of state, as well as the media, for a public response period, Huckabee said. "The only record of public response to the notice to commute was from the trial judge, who recommended the commendation in concert with the board."



Jegley
What was man accused of? When did Huckabee commute the sentence? What percentage of requests were denied? on what date the event occurred
gunned down four Lakewood, Washington, police officers Sunday. In May 2000, "Ninety-two percent May 2000,
question: What was man accused of?, answer: gunned down four Lakewood, Washington, police officers Sunday. | question: When did Huckabee commute the sentence?, answer: In May 2000, | question: What percentage of requests were denied?, answer: "Ninety-two percent | question: on what date the event occurred, answer: May 2000,