The Associated Press
TEXARKANA, Arkansas (AP) -- Police officers are opposing clemency for a man convicted of killing a Texarkana policeman 27 years ago.
John C. Lohbauer was 15 when Lt. Ed Worrell was killed and Officer James “Butch” Clark was injured in an ambush Feb. 3, 1977. Lohbauer and two friends had traveled to the city from Illinois.
“He was sentenced to life plus 40 years and that’s what we want him to do. Nothing more and nothing less,” Capt. Glenn Greenwell said. “We want people to know there are consequences to killing a police officer.”
Lohbauer’s executive clemency request is scheduled to be discussed in September, said Rhonda Sharp, a spokeswoman for the Post-Prison Transfer Board. The board’s recommendation will be sent to Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee spokesman Jim Harris said Monday the governor was already familiar with a portion of Lohbauer’s case; Huckabee formerly lived at Texarkana.
Harris also said the governor respected the work of Miller County Prosecutor Brent Haltom and had worked closely with him on clemency issues.
Ed Worrell was 28, married, and the father of two when he was killed. His third child was born after he died.
Lohbauer was convicted in the ambush outside a discount store on the Arkansas side of North State Line Avenue. The accomplices, sentenced to 20 years each, were paroled to other states in 1986.
If Lohbauer fails to win clemency, he must wait four years before applying again. He has been rejected several times before.
“We’ve been very fortunate that our governors have chosen not to give him executive clemency,” Greenwell said.
Sheriff H.L. Phillips said he intended to write to Huckabee to oppose clemency. “Any time you would have somebody do something as senseless as that, they could do anything,” he said.
Police Chief Robert Harrison said Lohbauer had written to him asking that he not oppose the clemency request. Lohbauer told Harrison he has changed during his 27 years of prison and deeply regrets what he did.
“My stance has never changed and never will,” Harrison said. “The circumstances surrounding the shootings will never leave me. It was just a tragic event and I will never forget it because it was absolutely cold-blooded murder.”
Clark, now a U.S. Coast Guard officer in Baton Rouge, La., said he considers Worrell’s death “an open wound on my part.”
Officers say they Lohbauer is still young enough to start a new life, with a career and family, and don’t believe it would be fair for him to be released.
“I’m sure Ed Worrell had a few things he wanted to do, too,” Clark said.