Tag Archives: Lisa Clements

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Colo. prison chief's wife choosing not to be angry

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The wife of Colorado’s slain prisons chief says she could become enraged that a clerical error led to the early release of the parolee suspected in her husband’s death, but she chooses not to make it a focus.

Lisa Clements said on CNN‘s “Anderson Cooper 360” Thursday that being angry won’t bring back her husband.

Clements has said she and her husband were watching television the night of March 19 when the doorbell rang. Tom Clements was shot after answering the door.

Lisa Clements told CNN about the trauma of his death but provided no specifics about the shooting.

When asked what she wants people to know about her husband, Lisa Clements cited a Bible passage that describes light bursting through when darkness “overtakes the godly.”

“I think that scripture captures exactly what I would like people to know about Tom. That that horrific night and, you know, the sound of that doorbell and all that happened was just unmentionable darkness,” she said. “But I trust that people will see light coming through. They’ll see that a man lived a good life and people’s lives were impacted by that.”

Tom Clements joined the Colorado Department of Corrections in January 2011. His wife is a psychologist who oversees Colorado’s state mental health institutes.

Lisa Clements has said her husband of 28 years believed in the human capacity to change for the better and be “redeemed.”

“Tom loved to say that 97 percent of folks in prison will be our neighbors one day,” Lisa Clements told KUSA. “That was part of his everyday belief.”

The man suspected in Clements’ death, Evan Ebel, was released from in January, four years earlier than prosecutors intended.

Ebel was sentenced to a combined eight years in prison for a series of assault and menacing convictions in 2005. He was supposed to serve a four-year sentence on top of that after assaulting a prison officer. But because a judge didn’t say the sentence was to be served after his original term was finished, Ebel’s new sentence was recorded as running simultaneously.

“For the rest of my days, I could be angry that someone made …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Gun in Colo. death matches Texas shootout weapon

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Nearly a week after the chief of Colorado’s prisons was fatally shot at his front door, investigators have matched the gun in his slaying to one used by the prime suspect in a shootout with Texas authorities.

The weapon match was a small part of a puzzle that authorities in two states are trying to piece together after suspect Evan Ebel was killed in Texas. They have yet to determine who shot corrections chief Tom Clements or why he was killed.

And until investigators determine whether Ebel, who was recently paroled from Colorado’s prison system, acted alone, “it’s hard to know what his role was,” Lt. Jeff Kramer of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press.

“He remains a suspect in our investigation, obviously, especially after receiving this confirmed link from Texas,” he said. No other suspects have been named.

As investigators in Colorado and Texas worked to find more links, if any, Clements’ family and friends mourned a man who had been admired by prison advocates and guards alike.

“My life was changed forever,” his wife, Lisa Clements, told hundreds of people who gathered at a memorial service Monday.

During the service at New Life Church, she and Gov. John Hickenlooper spoke about Clements’ strong belief in redemption. His family said he decided as a teenager to work in corrections after visiting his uncle in prison, and he worked to reduce the use of solitary confinement in Colorado prisons.

Standing with her two daughters, Lisa Clements, a psychologist who oversees Colorado’s state mental health institutes, said her husband of 28 years would want justice as well as forgiveness.

“We want everyone who hears Tom’s story to know that he lived his life believing in redemption, in the ability of the human heart to be changed. He would want justice certainly but moreover he’d want forgiveness. Our family prays for the family of the man who took Tom’s life and we will pray for forgiveness in our own hearts and our own peace,” she said.

Clements had worked for 31 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, both in prison and as a parole officer, before being hired in Colorado. He began a review of the state’s solitary confinement system and eventually reduced the number of prisoners being held in …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Gun evidence links Colorado parolee to corrections chief's murder

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Gun evidence links a Colorado parolee fatally shot in Texas with the death of Colorado’s corrections’ chief, investigators said Monday.

The El Paso County sheriff’s office said that “unique and often microscopic markings” found on shell casings in Texas and Colorado leads investigators to conclude that the gun Evan Ebel used to shoot at authorities in Texas was the same gun used to kill Tom Clements at his home on Tuesday.

It had been known that the casings found at both scenes were of the same caliber and brand but Monday’s announcement was the first time Colorado investigators made a direct link between Ebel and Clements’ death.

What remained unknown though was why Clements was killed when he answered his front door Tuesday night and whether Ebel acted alone.

“There are no answers at this time surrounding motive and gaining these answers could be a lengthy process for investigators,” sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said in statement.

The announcement came just hours after hundreds of people, including corrections officials and guards from as far away as Morocco, gathered for a memorial service to honor Clements.

The crowd at New Life Church included 39 current and former corrections’ chiefs as well as guards from 14 states. A delegation of corrections officials from Morocco also attended along with dignitaries including Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Attorney John Walsh.

Hickenlooper and his widow both spoke about Clements’ strong belief in redemption. His family said he decided as a teenage to work in corrections after visiting his uncle in prison, and he worked to reduce the use of solitary confinement in Colorado prisons.

Standing with her two daughters, Lisa Clements said her husband of 28 years would want justice as well as forgiveness.

“We want everyone who hears Tom’s story to know that he lived his life believing in redemption, in the ability of the human heart to be changed. He would want justice certainly but moreover he’d want forgiveness. Our family prays for the family of the man who took Tom’s life and we will pray for forgiveness in our own hearts and our own peace,” said Lisa Clements, a psychologist who oversees Colorado’s state mental health institutes.

Hickenlooper, who hired Clements about two years ago, told mourners that Clements was both pragmatic and principled.

“He had common sense and he had courage,” Hickenlooper said.

Authorities say the car Ebel had in Texas is also similar to one seen not far from Clements’ home the night he was killed.

A federal law enforcement official said Ebel had been a member of the 211s, a white supremacist prison gang in Colorado. El Paso County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said Monday that investigators are trying to determine whether there was any gang involvement in the killing, but he stressed that’s only one aspect of a broad investigation.

Denver police say Ebel is also a suspect in the March 17 slaying of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon.

Hickenlooper is a longtime friend of the suspect’s father, attorney Jack Ebel, who testified two years ago before state lawmakers that solitary confinement …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News