Mitt Romney Watch: Romney Missed Chance to Keep Tavares Jailed

Daniel Tavares Jr. now faces murder charges in the killing of the Graham, Wash., couple, only months after he was released from jail by Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Kathe M. Tuttman’s decision.

Tavares, who already had served time after using a carving knife to kill his mother, was rearrested just after his June prison release on charges of assaulting prison guards. Tuttman refused prosecutors’ request to set his bail at $50,000, and released him in July. Tavares was ordered to continue to see his probation officer, but he skipped his next court date and left the state.

And, you remember the father of the slain newly-married bride, Darrel Slater, has also called on Mitt Romney to be held accountable:

“He was the governor — he picked this judge,” Beverly Mauck’s father, Darrel Slater, 51, told the Herald. “He should be answering for what happened.”

Now, the Boston Herald screams: Probe: Mitt missed chance to keep Tavares jailed

Former Gov. Mitt Romney’s administration failed to act on disciplinary recommendations that would have kept ex-con killer Daniel Tavares locked up another year – and behind bars at the time he was accused of killing a newlywed couple in Washington state.

Despite Tavares’ long history of violence, the Romney-led Department of Correction took no action on recommendations that he be stripped of “good time” because of assaults on prison guards in 2003 and 2005, said sources familiar with a state probe into the case.

Instead, Tavares was allowed to cash in on those 360 days of “good time” to get out of prison July 16, 2007, sources said. It was just 123 days later that newlyweds Brian and Beverly Mauck were slaughtered in Graham, Wash.

“If that time had been (served), he would still be incarcerated and would not have killed those two individuals,” said one source familiar with the probe launched by the Patrick administration. “Tavares’ pattern of behavior before and during incarceration pointed to a person who was going to do this.”

The revelations come one week before the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, where Romney is counting on a strong showing to propel his GOP candidacy for president.

Romney has decried the early release of Tavares by a judge, but the “good time” could have been revoked administratively while he was governor under the state prison disciplinary process, sources said.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom referred questions about the probe findings to the DOC, saying, “The governor’s office does not keep track of internal disciplinary reports filed against individual inmates, nor does it have specific knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the sentences or terms of release for each of the thousands of prisoners in the state penal system.”

The investigation into the Tavares case found that the Romney administration mistakes were part of a broader pattern of lapses that stretched back to 1993. Overall, the probe uncovered six disciplinary complaints against Tavares between 1993 and 2005 that should have kept him in prison a total of 720 days, nearly two years beyond his release in July.

The DOC’s failure to act on the recommendations stretched over the administrations of Republican Govs. William Weld, Jane Swift and Romney.

But sources said the single most egregious breakdown came under Romney in 2003, when administration officials missed a 60-day deadline for filing paperwork to strip Tavares of 300 days of previously awarded “good time.”

How long will it be before these facts make their way into 30 and 60 second television spots?

Michelle Malkin calls this a significant problem for Romney.

Stay tuned…….

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