Michael, Farrah and the death of Immortality

The other day I read a quote by a 40 something someone or other that read
"' The deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson this week "signal the
death of our childhood." ...Despite a reflexive disapproval of their choice of verbiage (the english major in me felt it couldve been more aptly expressed)
I still found myself nodding an emphatic affirmative, thinking 'yes... that's exactly it!

But now considering that even the very last stragglers of the baby boom generation have long exited their childhoods, how could we just now be feeling as if robbed of them, and this via the deaths of a few icons?
I myself was born in 1963 , a year that is oft disputed as even qualifying for true baby boomer status but in fact is technically baby boom-- And as such, even as a very late boomer, by 45 I had begun to mourn my entire youth, let alone my childhood.
Clearly the sentiment within that statement was of the metaphoric brand: It boiled down to this - any lingering sense of immortality that we middle aged folks might have still managed to hold onto, seemed suddenly and rudely yanked out from under us by the untimely deaths of an ever-growing gaggle of our childhood idols. We were beyond simply mortal now, we were perhaps on the cusp of our own demises - or that's what these deaths translated into .

And this wasn't all about Michael Jackson, although as the days wore on, the fervor was pretty much pared down to the pop legend's death. It actually began
with the news that David Carradine had died. Carradine was a relative icon of the 70's, an actor best known for his starring role in the then cutting edge t.v series, "Kung Fu". He had recently re-emerged after a long hiatus, an apparent benefactor of the Tarrantino syndrome, the quirky director reknown for reigniting the careers of long dormant once- upon- a- time stars. In the early 2000's Tarrantino pulled Carradine out of obscurity to play the lead role in a dark drama called "Kill Bill" (the name says it all.)

Carradine was in Bangkok filming a new movie when he died. Initial reports said that he had committed suicide by hanging himself in the closet of an upscale hotel room - Fortunately, the suicide assertion did not last long ;Friends and relatives were paraded in front of the news cameras each one vowing that there was no way David Carradine killed himself; He was in extremely high spirits, superb health and his career was in a full upswing.

Some suspected foul play, but the possibility that Carradine might have been murdered was soundly trounced when reports that the security video camera in his hotel hallway proved that no one but Carradine entered or exited his room on the evening that he died. Whatever happened to him, he must have done to himself . This latest bit of detail seem to interrupt the grief process and left friends and fans confused and unsure of just what to feel. Anger at his foolishness, pity for him, regret that it had happened ? After all, there was no emotional precedent for such a demise. It wasn't suicide, it wasn't murder and the facts of his death and now the media, were both suggesting that Carradine had died accidentally during an auto erotic practice.( I'd personally suspected this from the outset having seen this exact scenario in an episode of HBO'S "6 feet under" )

In the end the details of his death only made the star's death even more tragic; he had everything to live for, he was back on top of his game and yet he was still compelled to engage in dangerous auto-erotic practices that were notorious for killing people. Wasn't this just another type of killing oneself, not unlike driving drunk or doing larger and larger quantities of drugs?

And while we were recuperating from this news, it was announced rather quietly, that Farrah Fawcett has been rushed to the hospital, signaling to anyone following her life lately, that her death from metastatic liver cancer was likely imminent; She'd been battling anal cancer for several years and it had recently been found in her liver.

Just one month earlier Fawcett had invited the public into her private life via a televised documentary chronicling her daily life struggle with terminal cancer. Through this documentary I gleaned a Farrah Fawcett that was intelligent, courageous and most notably, deeply spiritual. There was an other- worldliness to her, you could see it and feel it even through the impersonal lens of the camera.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I was one of those people that used to assume Farrah Fawcett wasn't terribly deep- and I'm not sure why exactly.
I do know it wasnt because she was beautiful, I've lived long enough to know that a woman can be both very attractive and very intelligent, but for some reason I had been largely unaware that Farrah was such a rare class of woman. Perhaps her illness had added these layers to her But I suspect that she was a very special person long before she took ill.

Farrah death was announced on the news just a few hours after her hospital admission. This was somewhere between Ed McMahon's dying and the original reports of David Carradines strange and tragic death.

At this tenuous point, we the baby boomers had lost three icons of varying degrees in a 2 week period. And just as the sun was going down on this sad day,there was more bad news, and this time completely out of left field; Michael Jackson had apparently just died of cardiac arrest after being rushed to a hospital from his home in LA, where "he'd collapsed from unknown causes."

Anyone who tunes into the nightly news, even sporadically, was aware that Jackson was in the midst of preparations for a huge comeback concert tour to be held in London-This only made the timing of his death that much more of a shock .
We had all seen Michael at his worst, during the trial for his accused molestation case (of which He was acquitted)We saw the news clips of him,wearing pajama bottoms to court, being helped to walk by his bodyguards, with that eveil looking trol of a father He was frail and very ill looking. To me he looked as if he was dying of a broken heart, and in retrospect, he very might well have been.

But here we were all expecting a comeback for the king of pop- indeed most of us were rooting for jackson, having grown up with him quite literally, first as part of the Jackson five and then later as a solo artist . Yes there was trouble in his life and it seemed more and more clear to me that there were substance abuse issues at the core of many of his erratic behaviors. But when I heard about the tour I assumed that he'd cleaned up, and I was genuinely happy for him.
A month later he was dead.

continued..

Say No to Violence Against Women

United Nations Trust Fund

Good Resource, a must read.

Recidivism Part One

If ever there was an argument for the existence of the Death Penalty, this
web page has dozens of them- I warn you, its hard to read but as responsible, conscientious people,
we must.

With each and every story on that page there is a victim, a life
ended brutally, in every instance. What separates these horrible murders from
the thousands of others that tragically occur each year in this country is that every one of these murders should have never happened . I don't mean this in an existential random and cruel nature of the cosmos type of thing
(ie being in the wrong place at the wrong time) I mean it literally- these murders should have never happened because
every one of them was committed by men who had been previously arrested and convicted of other murder/ or multiple murders in many instances. Having
served clearly inadequate prison sentences, they were all released back upon
the public and in short order, they all killed again.

This set of stories is a must read for everyone, particularly those who consider themselves on the fence concerning the death penalty. More often than not, I hear people say that they are against the Death Penalty "theoretically" And then they go on to say that " in this one case however they feel it is necessary"- At this juncture I usually will suggest to them that this means that
they in fact do believe in the death penalty, and like many other conscientous people, altough they are not gung-ho to put someone to death,
they believe that our courts should have the option of imposing this ultimate sentence, when it is warranted due to particlularly aggravating circumstances, on a careful per case basis.

While there has always been a good deal of controversy surrounding the issue
of capital punishment, as of late the controversy has reached a feverish pitch.
In my own state of Connecticut the largely democratic legislature just recently
voted in favor of a bill to abolish the death penalty. The bill was introduced by the Judiciary Committee a few weeks prior to the
actual legislative vote, taking the Connecticut public by surprise. According to newspapers, the original impetus for abolishment had its origins in financial considerations, ie the state of the current economy as well as a serious state deficit for the first time in years. The legislators were looking for ways to save money and much to the consternation of its citizens, one of the first things they
thought of was to get rid of the "expensive " and""archaic" death penalty.

Fortunately, Governor Rell vetoed the bill soon after it barely passed
muster in the State Senate with a 19-17 final vote. Both the Senate and the house lacked the two third vote margin in favor of the bill, necessary to override the Governor's veto.

To read more about the local attempt to abolish the Death Penalty here in Connecticut, read my April Post on the subject.
http://chasingnormal.blogspot.com/2009/04/committee-pushes-to-abolish-death.html

Connecticut governor vetoes attempt to ban executions

Bravo Governor Rell, thank you for your strength and your commitment to all victims of violent crime, including families and loved ones.

Rell vows to veto death penalty bill - The Connecticut Post Online

Rell vows to veto death penalty bill -

Death-row juror who did his duty wonders if state will, too The Republican-American

Senator McLachlan's Blog: Death Penalty or Deficit Crisis?

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State: Common Sense, Capital Punishment and Deterrence

As usual, a great Post by local columnist Don Pesci ...

Death Penalty Poll video

Rell Vows To Veto Measure Abolishing Death Penalty

Thank you Governor Rell.

Guest column by Dr William Petit concerning the death penalty

Q-Poll: Connecticut Strongly Backs Death Penalty

The people of Connecticut have spoken.

Moral Philosophy and the Death Penalty

A superb moral and philosophical look at the Death Penalty. The readers comments are as interesting as the article itself and the blog is extremely intelligent and well written - I will definitely be a regular here. Palosverdeblog@blogspot.com

Conn. governor vows to preserve death penalty

Thank God for Governor Rell. Its funny, I have been a registered democrat most of my life and have long considered myself a fairly "liberal" person - But after watching and listening to the mostly democratic General Assembly debate and wrangle with a succession of important crime legislation- much of which have been proposed in the wake of the Petit family murders, I am sincerely reevaluating my party affiliations.

How can I be a member of a political group whose morals and principles concerning the most essential and sacred of all political issues, I find to be weak and worse, self serving. Taxes and same-sex marriage quickly fall by the wayside, if we cannot be one in the fight against violent crime- It should be a no brainer.

As far as I am concerned, most of the debates within the house and Senate can be boiled down to a singular issue - how we treat fellow human beings who have been victimized by violence ? And let those words really sink in.. Now This is what the death penalty debate is really about - The victims of violence and the true notion of obtaining Justice for them and their families.
Peel away all of the other nonsense, "closure' ' retaliation' et al, this is what remains; Justice.

Connecticut Senate votes to abolish death penalty

What a disaster - Our only hope now lies with Governor Rell via a veto. The Senate needs a 2/3 majority to override any veto, since the Senate vote was so close at 19-17, they do not have the necessary voting power to override and the veto would then stand. Governor Rell has made it clear in the past that she believes in capital punishment for 'the most heinous of murder cases" although she has stopped just shy of using the word "veto" - a wise habit of hers, she most likely does not wish to throw that power around willy nilly nor appear to be holding it over the heads of the General Assembly.

Please let Governor Rell know that you don't wish to live in a state where there is little deterrence for murder and rape and no hope for justice for the worst of brutally murdered victims. If this bill for the abolition of the death penalty is made int law Violent crime will increase;The worst sentence that a murderer can draw would be life without parole, which will then mean that every defense attorney in the state will now clog up the courts attempting to get the lighter sentence of" life with chance of parole" for all of their murdering defendant's. Its called 'give an inch take a mile' and insofar as defense attorneys are concerned, this has historically had terrible results. They have no moral guideposts.

More later

House votes to revoke death penalty

Above is a decent article on the recent house vote to repeal the death penalty. Please get involved, the Senate is next to vote on this, let the members of the CT Senate know in no uncertain terms that we will not vote for anyone who now votes to abolish the Death Penalty. We will remember thier vote in our voting booths in the next elections; this is an core issue of public safety and there is no more important decision that as lawmakers they will make..

Below is a link to a listing of how each member of the house voted. Bear in mind that Mike Lawlor as co chair of the judiciary committee, has had a great deal of influence over the entire democratic legislative vote on abolishment. He is an ex- prosecutor and has been vocal against the DP for many years. We will have to rely on the people of East haven his consituants, to remember his abysmal voting record in all matters of criminal judicial safety in the next local election.

www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=88590296625&h=QB6qr&u=MKXdx&ref=mf

Conn. House passes bill to abolish death penalty | NECN

Hearing covers proposed death penalty reforms

Criminal Searches - FREE criminal searches on anyone

Find out if the person you are dating has a history of violence


Criminal Searches - FREE criminal searches on anyone

State's Death Penalty Foes Are Wrong -- Courant.com

Statewide MS Walk aids research

Bravo to all the participants!

Columbine demonstration at Capitol

Today is the 10th anniversery of the horrible Columbine crimes.
A group of friends and family members of the victims killed that day chose to demonstrate today on the steps of the states capitol in a very dramatic - and sobering fashion. One by one, thirteen people, each wrapped in blue and white ribbon, laid themselves down on the pavement, arranging themselves as spokes on a wheel - Each body symbolizing 13 lives lost to senseless gun violence ten years ago today at Columbine High School.

The demonstration was two-fold - it served as both memorial and protest for what is percieved by its participants as Government and public complacency regarding stricter Gun Control.
The father of one of the slain children, Daniel Mauser said it all when he was asked why he
chose today to make a political statement about this "tragedy".

"I would just say, 'Why wouldn't we do this today?'" Mauser said. "...We have become desensitized. We shake our heads and say, 'What a shame,' but we don't do very much about it."

'We don't do very much about it.'

And therein lies the rub. When anniversaries of awful happenings like this come around, I think that at the very least as a people we need to ask ourselves ' what lessons have we garnered from this... ? What actions have we taken towards insuring that this doesn't happen again?

Today a group of still-bereaved family and friends of 13 Columbine victims answered
"Not enough." They cite an attitude of complacency regarding stricter gun control both within the community as well as the State Government.

The link below leads to a very good article about the many whys behind the Columbine shootings. Be forwarned that it delves into the disturbed minds and souls of the two young men that visited terror and carnage upon their own peers'. And while I do not wish to in any way sensationalize them or their acts, I do feel that it's imperative that we all become more aware of the signs and symptoms of the personality disorders that lay just behind violent crimes such as this one. www.slate.com/id/2099203/

2009 Travelers Walk to fight MS

Red Notes from a Blue State: Retain the Death Penalty for Special Cases

A great Post.

Judiciary Committee Pushes To Abolish Death Penalty in Connecticut

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Connecticut Judiciary Committee voted on whether or not to support a bill that would abolish the death penalty in our state. The largely democratic committee voted 24-13 in favor of supporting this bill. The house, along with the Senate will now decide whether or not the state of Connecticut replaces Capital punishment with a sentence of life imprisonment with no parole in its stead.

A major issue cropping up within this whole discussion has been the lengthy appeals process, which is currently mandatory with all state D.P cases. Legislators claim that the appeals process is too costly and time consumptive, and thus their reasoning follows, if we take the death penalty off the table, the state will save a lot of money.

Besides being completely inappropriate, this kind of reasoning, whereby money is the main consideration rather than the tremendous moral and social issues involved, is also inaccurate and very misleading; Within these discussions no one seems to be factoring in the many costs involved in the periphery of such decisions. One such example would be the money spent on the prosecution and often -state-financed defense of the violent crimes that will surely be a result of abolishment. It's only common sense that criminals are afraid of the prospect of being put to death much more than they are of being relegated to prison for "life" no matter how far in their future that death sentence looms.

An example of these aforementioned hidden costs is apparent within the Petit family murders: These July 2007 murders have been languishing in our courts for nearly two years with no sign of a trial in sight. Ironically enough, the state of Connecticut is absorbing the cost of both prosecution and defense of the two defendants accused of these murders, as well as a year and a half of special guards to protect them from the prison population and the general public (The latter during their court appearances) Not to mention 16 months of 24 hr guards for a suicide watch on one of the two defendants who is already in solitary confinement for his "own protection"

Add to this the cost of housing, food, medical/ dental care (same defendant is reportedly on daily anti-anxiety medication and pain killers) And the total sum becomes astronomical.
Our legislators have never mentioned, nor perhaps even considered these costs but they have many times over cited the costs involved with the prosecutors decision to pursue capital punishment in the case, oft times pointing out how much money would be saved if the state would pursue life with no parole instead.

As is often the situation with death penalty cases both defendant's attorneys have stated public ally that the state could avoid a lengthy and costly trial and the subsequent appeal process if they hadn't so stubbornly insisted on the death penalty for this case. They hint that they would be amenable to pleading guilty without a trial, saving the state millions and the victims family years of drawn out criminal process.... if only the state dropped the death penalty from the table.

The problem with this type of reasoning, (besides the fact that it is succumbing to what amounts to emotional and financial blackmail,) is this: If the death penalty were indeed no longer a consideration, then life with no parole would be the most severe sentence for any capital crime and thus any attorney worth his salt is automatically going to push for the next less severe sentence for his/her client - In this case that would be life with a chance of parole.

And since so many of the legislators and anti-DP activists are prone to pointing out the emotional hardships that the Death penalty causes the family of crime victims -( via having to live thru years of appeals and the repeated testimony and details of the crimes committed against their loved ones,) they should think about the inevitable fact that many of these same murder cases will result in life with possibility of parole, thereby sentencing the victims family to a lifetime of fighting against parole every few years for the criminal that killed their loved one.
The expression 'give an inch take a mile'comes to mind.


If you'll recall, the state cut both of the Petit murderers loose from their already more- than- liberal prison sentences, just prior to their committing the Petit family rapes and murders -Why.....? In order to save money.

Saving Money was behind the decision to parole the two repeat offenders with little to none of their criminal files on hand, and without seeing or speaking to the inmates themselves.
The prosecutors office had been refusing to pay for the copying costs involved with sending complete files for each criminal for many years and as such, besides the occasional futile complaint the parole board had been reluctantly "making do".albeit with some grumbling.
The consensus seems to be that had the Parole board been made privy to at least the court transcripts of one of the defendants sentencing hearings, that young man would have never been paroled. The Petit murders would never have happened.

The state put both men in halfway houses after less than a third of their sentences were served; In the end, a nine year sentence that was given by the judge presiding over Joshua komisarjevsky's cases became two and a half years actually served behind bars. Besides the glaring lack of judicial and commonsense involved - our state's money-saving efforts ultimately cost them millions and The Petit and Hawke families a life-time of grief and pain.
Surely all of these costs should be tallied into the overall equation by our Appropriations Committee as they consider the price tag of being "too tough on crime. "

The house and Senate will vote next on this bill, thanks to the Judiciary Committees Tuesday vote, which in effect brought the bill forward to the house. We must let our legislators know that we do not wish to live in a State where there is little to no deterrence for committing rape and murder. Many repeat offenders are non-plussed at the prospect of a "life sentence" - Many who commit, or would commit- capital crimes like murder have been in and out of prison their entire lives. They are not likely to think twice about taking a life if the worst that can happen - the worst - is life within the prison community.

And prison is just that, a community-of sorts. A veritable sub-culture existing mostly unseen and un pondered by the general public. It provides its inhabitants with such diversions as Cable TV, use of computers, and exercise and weight rooms. In some Connecticut Prisons, inmates may have Paid jobs that are provided by the prison which in turn provide pocket money, which can then be used to curry favors from willing C'Os, and to purchase illicit drugs, all of which as you might imagine, help make the incarceration experience that much more palatable.
Movies, gyms, paid work and in some cases, conjugal- visits. Yes, some inmates actually start families while they are in prison serving time for crimes like murder via such conjugal visits. Unlike their victims, whose lives were snuffed out cruelly, they can wed, sire children and visit with their children and the rest of their families. They can even earn degrees if they wish-- It 'helps to pass the time', according to some inmates.

The bottom line is that if this this becomes the worst fate that lies ahead for a would - be murderer, to use the typical antiseptic verbiage - the state of Connecticut will likely have an "influx of violent crime" In real life this translates into more people being brutalized, terrorized, raped and murdered. More family members grieving, more suffering with the Post trauma that comes from the personal knowledge of such violent ends. What all of this will equate to in human suffering is far beyond anything the members of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee ever contemplated.

We have also been hearing the tired lament that 'the state of Connecticut doesn't execute anyone anyway, so why not simply abolish the Death penalty?' In fact, Co-chairman of the Ct Judiciary committee Mike Lawlor( D East Haven) recently referred to the death penalty as"a fraud of public policy" during a talk with the media. He was no doubt referring to the fact that only two murderers in fifty years have actually been put to death here and one of them had to actually sue the state in order to get executed in a more timely fashion. His name Michael Ross, he was a serial rapist and killer of women and teenage girls.

Mr Ross apparently wished to be accountable for the many lives he had taken and the many others he had destroyed, this revelation came after hearing testimony from the family members of his many victims. Through Connecticut's absurd automatic appeals process and the last minute intervention of a local judge, Ross's execution was repeatedly delayed and de-railed until finally, 25 years after his crimes, he was put to death via lethal injection - a rather humane way to end a life comparatively.

If we do use Mr Lawlors logic regarding the Death Penalty being a "fraud of public policy" it should follow that we would get rid of most of the current Judicial system in Connecticut - clearly the parole board was a fraud of public policy for a good many years and yet that is still intact. (albeit with some changes after lax parole standards were exposed "post Cheshire." )

Why trials themselves could be considered a fraud of public policy considering about 97 percent of Connecticut's criminal cases are adjudicated via plea "deals" every year, meaning no trial . Our state prosecutors so rarely go to trial that the odds are stacked against them when they DO due to this inexperience. This of course only adds to the courthouse climate of avoiding a trial at all costs, even though it means settling with reduced and/or dropped charges against a defendant, not because he didn't commit the crimes, nor because the state hasn't adequate evidence, but rather because we'll save effort and money by offering that deal.

These deals not only leave the victims invalidated, they leave the criminal in question with an inaccurate criminal record that does not reflect how dangerous he is, never mind a much less severe sentence that perpetually compromise public safety.

Twelve inmates or so are currently on Connecticut's "death row", a true misnomer as within our current system it will be approximately twenty years before most are actually put to death, if they are not successful with one of their many appeals. While it is clear that the run amok appeals process needs to change, this does not translate to the need for getting rid of the entire system. Connecticut's prosecutors and Judges are clearly very discerning in seeking the Death Penalty, as well they should be, but part of the extremely serious decision of whether to pursue it in a capital murder case shouldn't include the assertion that its too costly and cumbersome, so why bother?

We need to do the more difficult thing and ameliorate the problems that have become inherent with the application of our state's death penalty system. Connecticut's chief prosecutor Kevin Kane feels strongly that this can be achieved. Our lawmakers must be utterly sensible and unflaggingly honest about the issues surrounding this issue. There is no place within this discussion for politics and yet the death penalty debate seems fraught with those trying to use it as a platform to further personal and partisan agendas.

A fair and sound appeals process helps keep our courts in check when such a serious sentence is involved, but when that appeals process is hijacked and threatens to swallow the very system it protects, then its time to re-vamp..

I hear so many people say .." in theory, I am against the death penalty... but in "this case" or
for "heinous crimes like this one, I believe it's only" just" or fair or"necessary". If we are truly honest as a people, we realize that this then means that we believe in the death penalty: To be certain, we believe in the need for its existence, the option to render it forth for just such crimes as the ones that lead us to make these moral exceptions.

Support bill -H.B. No. 6705 Conn. Residents

Dear concerned Connecticut residents,

The link above brings you to on extremely important proposed crime bill ( HB 6705 )
It needs to reach the pending legislative session in order to be a voted on, and it is in danger of not getting in front of them for another year, as it now sits at the mercy of The Connecticut Judiciary Committee.

The bill proposes reform measures for our states habeas corpus writ, which in its present form is unfortunately serving as a vehicle for unscrupulous defense attorneys and violent criminals alike to abuse our current appeals process. Used mostly as a stalling tactic of sorts, it can drag out the resolution of violent crime cases and the imposition of sentencing.

This bill for habeus is also an important step in reforming our states death penalty, which is rarely if ever actually used, partly because of the abuse of habeas corpus. Like many well intentioned writs, habeas was designed to protect the basic rights of those wrongly accused of a crime, but as it is currently written, it has since become a loophole for murderers and rapists to manipulate our courts and stead off their sentences indefinitely. It also clogs up the courts and costs the state and the taxpayers a good deal of money in the process.

Please read up on this reform bill ASAP and email the judiciary committee and/ your local Representative in the legislature,-this includes your town's selectman, assemblyman, and area Senators-(You can look them up online if you're not certain who they are; (every town has one or two reps on the general assembly) Please tell them that you support the bill and ask them to vote on the bill in the immediate upcoming session.

This is one of those bills that really affects the people of this state, and and it can ease a great deal of suffering on behalf of crime victims and their families.
It is time to take back our judicial system, too many lives have been lost due to Connecticut court's many inefficiencies.,And many more lives destroyed by a terrible lack of justice for murdered and victimized loved ones.
Let us bring some peace to those who already have suffered so much, by helping impose a reasonable and timely resolution of thier loved ones murder cases.

CSAO: Judiciary Committee - March 26, 2009 - H.B. No. 6705

Teens and Lawmakers Talk About Dating Violence (CT News Junkie)

An excellent idea that will save lives, please read about this important proposed legislation, and voice your support to the Connecticut General Assembly. This is where we can instill the most change regarding partner violence, with our youth, the men and women of tommorow!

Victim's Voice Day in Connecticut

Today is the first annual Victim's Voice day throughout the state of Connecticut. From 10-2 PM at various locations in each county there will be an input-focused meeting- of- minds for crime victims and residents interested in learning and sharing about victim's rights in our state.
There will be representatives from the Office of Victim Advocate as well as the Governors office and other arms of the State's Judicial System, including Domestic Violence specialists.

If you are unable to attend in person please take the time to click on the State of Connecticut Victim Voice Day website linked above. There are online forms that can be printed up and mailed out so that your opinions can be given equal time. There are also listings for Victim's Voice locations in each county for those who are able to attend in person.

You will also find descriptions of new legislation that will affect all Connecticut residents as well as victims of crime and their loved ones -- so please take the time to learn about it and share your input.

If you are a surviving victim of crime or you know someone who is, please make your opinions, your feelings and your experience known. There are a great deal of problems within our State's criminal justice system, particularly within our courts - this is a rare opportunity for victims of crime to share about these issues first hand.

Below is a link to a downloadable adobe PDF format of The Victim's Voice Day flyer that is being distributed at all of the statewide locations today .

www.ct.gov/ova/lib/ova/Victims%27_Voice_Day_Flyer_color_banner_%282%29.doc

Petit Family Foundation wins FBI Community Service Award

Congratulations to Dr Bill Petit for winning the FBI Connecticut Community service award for his work with the Petit Family Foundation. The foundation was formed after the murders of his wife and two daughters in a 2007 home invasion. Dr Petit was badly injured himself within the crime, but miraculously managed to survive. After the crimes, outpourings in the form of letters and unsolicited donations began to trickle in from people all over the country. After careful consideration, Dr Petit decided to form The Petit family foundation,
www.Petitfamilyfoundation.org/ a multi-directional Community based non-profit that donates to, and raised money for, a smattering of good causes such as The multiple Sclerosis Foundation and Those affected by violent crime., including Domestic Violence.

PFF also provides multiple scholarships to deserving young women, and recognizes and rewards local youths for exemplary community service involvement.

It would seem that Dr Petit is living by example, his own words at a memorial service for his lost loved ones;

" If there is anything to be gained from the senseless deaths of my beautiful family, let it be for us all to go forward and live with a faith that embodies action: help a neighbor, love your family, fight for a cause."

Clearly, those words struck a deep chord in a great many people, both within, and beyond the borders of Connecticut; A kind of en- masse altruism has sprung forth in the form of soaring volunteerism, community outreach and a general raised consciousness towards others who are in pain or in need .

Twenty months after the crimes, the good works steadfastly grow as many continue to be inspired by Dr Petit's words and moreover, the life examples of he,Jennifer, Haley and Micheala, each one uncannily kind and committed to making this world a better place.

Petition for keeping the Death Penalty In Connecticut

It has recently been brought to the attention of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee that getting rid of the death penalty would save the state a good deal of money In fact There is currently a bill in the house that proposes the complete abolition of the penalty within the state to be replaced with life sentences with no possibility of parole in its stead.

And with the current climate surrounding all things money, being what it is, more than a few members of the committee and the legislature would seem to think that this bill is worth considering. After all, they point out, the death penalty, although legal in Connecticut, is rarely awarded here by a jury or judge The parameters that a crime or crimes must be defined within in order to qualify for this, the ultimate punishment are far from commonplace -- they must be in effect the worst of the worst capital murder cases, having one or more particularly heinous attributes in order to be eligible for a death sentence.

For these and other reasons, the death penalty sentence is rarely given in the state of Connecticut, and with its endless automatic appeals process, the actual penalty itself, death by lethal injection, is even more rarely carried out.
Once, to be exact within the past 2 decades, and this was a case whereby the criminal in question had to petition the courts to have his sentence actually carried out! He didn't wish any more state-financed appeals slowing down his jury awarded sentence. His name was Michael Ross, he was a serial murderer and rapist, but thankfully, he plead guilty and accepted his sentence for brutally raping and murdering 7 women,including two fourteen year old girls.

Or at least he tried to accept it, but ironically the same state that gave him the sentence, would seem to do all they could to delay it, he was finally put to death 2 years ago.

These plethora of appeals that occur once a death penalty sentence is given in Connecticut are ironically required within our current system, whether or not the defendant wants to appeal. This is what wastes money, not the death penalty itself . Its clear to almost everyone that the judicial process surrounding all death penalty cases desperately needs restructuring so that we are no longer rendering our most serious criminal penalty useless via what amounts to bureaucratic, state financed stalling tactics.
While many of the opponents of the death penalty blithely claim that the death penalty is an insanely expensive prospect, once you look closely, this is mostly due to the dragged out appeals process which indeed, bogs down the courts, slows up the process and takes up our state-paid attorneys and prosecutors valuable time in the meantime.

And so, where does this leave us? While many of us agree that the death penalty is not working in its present form here in Connecticut, we recognize that the main reason is not an inherent flaw with the concept itself but rather because its been literally hijacked by defense attorneys, and swallowed up in bureaucracy, thereby collecting dust at the bottom of our states judicial broom closet.

As a survivor of violent crime,and one who advocates for crime victims, I adamantly believe that we must preserve the right to exercise this, our most serious of sentences, for the most serious of crimes committed against us.
The "us" here represents our neighbors, our loved ones, our brethren-our friends. No one ever thinks that violent crime will come to visit upon them, yet we are the people that comprise this state and as such, we are all potential victims.
As a state and a people, we cannot afford to continue drawing the line of criminal accountability farther and farther away from anything resembling justice.

The old adage ' give an inch, take a mile' would seem to be written with defense attorneys and violent criminals in mind; experience has shown us that many will take whatever they can get -and then some-- out of our justice system. There is no moral compass, no reasonableness, none of the decency that we are accustomed to expect from fellow human beings. Certainly accountability and justice are merely vapid words to most lawyers. They often hide manipulation and deceitfulness behind the mantra that "every person deserves a fair trial .." and our courts have literally followed suit, As the lawyers manipulated the law and the process, our prosecutors and judges had to scramble to "keep up" in effect. The result is what we see today a system that has become corrupted. It didn't happen all at once, it happened in small increments, bit by bit.

If we make life without parole the worst possible sentence in the state of Connecticut, it is only a matter of time before lawyers and other like- minded individuals will be insisting that a life sentence with zero possibility of parole is cruel and unusual. And following suit, there will be a move to ban this punishment in lieu of life sentence with the possibility of parole. And on it will go.

And this is saying nothing of the deterrence effect that the death penalty may have upon a would be criminal, And what might happen when the possibility of garnering this severe sentence is no longer a viable concern to any would be murderer. As it is now, It certainly has not helped our states present situation that we so rarely impose the death penalty here; career criminals are well aware of this, they are aware of the rarity of the sentence itself as well as the obscenely long time that murderers languish on "death row" once they have been actually sentenced. Decades and decades. Many die in prison whilst waiting for that sentence, which is never delivered.
In a recent public meeting concerning the Death Penalty abolition, Connecticut's head prosecutor Kevin Kane, shared about having to stand by and watch while years and years go by and the fathers and mothers of murder victims die themselves, often from natural causes, long before their loved ones killer is given his sentence!

These families lives are first utterly traumatized by the horror of the violent crimes against their loved ones, and then put on a terrible stasis, waiting for a trial that takes years before even commencing. Case in Point, Dr William Petit will have to wait at least 3 years before the trial begins for the two men accused of killing his wife and children in July 2007. The current word is that Jury selection is slated to begin early 2010.

Again, experience dictates that in most criminal cases, the first estimates for trial dates are almost always pushed back several times over. This is usually at the bequest of the DEFENSE and again, acquiesced to by the presiding judge, who is in effect blackmailed in granting these delays, lest a mistrial later be awarded, due to a claim (by the defense) of inadequate trial preparation time.

The incessant delays that have become rote practice within our courts leave the victims and thier families in a state of suspended healing, forced to hold onto vivid memories of the crimes and the emotions connected to them during a time period where they should be allowed their already- difficult healing process.

This process will be unnaturally put on hold the moment a jury selection begins for the criminal trial of his families killers. And With this current DP abolition proposal, people like Dr Petit and his family may have to suffer the additional emotional insult of having the original death penalty sentence that was officially sought by the states attorneys handling the case, thrown out and changed to a life term in prison in its stead/ Although the death penalty was not going to bring the Petit and hawke families a perfect sense of solace or closure, it would serve as a viable sense of justice for their family members cruelly robbed lives.

Chief prosecutor kevin kane also concurred that the lengthy appeals process is but one of several areas that needs to be revamped within the states current death penalty system. While clearly a believer in the death penalty and against statewide abolition, he realizes that it isnt working in its current form.


I will be writing more about this crucial issue over the following days and weeks. For those of you who feel strongly about keeping the death penalty sentence as an option in Connecticut's courts, please click on the link below and sign your name to the petition, it will be presented in the near future to the lawmakers of the state.

www.gopetition.com/online/25840.html

Let your voice be heard.

Lawmakers revisit death penalty -- Newsday.com

Another article about the 2 death penalty bills currently being discussed by the Ct judiciary committee...

Dr. William Petit Testifies In Support Of Death Penalty -- Courant.com

I will be Posting in depth about this important issue shortly
(here is the link to later)
http://chasingnormal.blogspot.com/2009/04/committee-pushes-to-abolish-death.html


Please keep a watchful eye on our Connecticut legislature and let them know how you feel about the death penalty for capital crimes, such as the Petit family murders.

Debate over death penalty in the house

"Justice" Sought for Petit Family - News- msnbc.com

Domestic Abuse Linked to Poor Health, Years Later

Content below excerpted from US News and World report April 2008

I didn't want to read the news story about Amy Castillo, the Maryland mother whose estranged husband drowned their three young children in a hotel room last Saturday. I didn't want to read that the family court judge refused to deny the father unsupervised visitation because Castillo continued to have sex with him after he talked about killing the children just to hurt her.

I can only surmise what this poor woman would have done had she known that he would most certainly carry out his threats. Shooting him in cold blood would have been an understandable option. (I say this as a mother of three kids.)

No one wants to read these stories, and no one wants to talk about them beyond expressing pity for this now childless mother. Amy Castillo said she shared her fears and no one listened to her. But even she may not have realized that what her husband was doing was a form of psychological abuse. And all women who live under a threat from a loved one, even when it doesn't erupt into violence, need to start having these conversations with their friends and family, not only to protect themselves but also to educate judges and doctors who all too frequently miss the signs in their female patients. A World Health Organization study published in today's Lancet found that women currently being abused were more likely to have memory loss, difficulty walking, dizziness, and vaginal discharge. Even those who hadn't experienced violence over the past year were more likely to be in poorer health overall, which the researchers write "suggests that the effect of violence might last long after the actual violence has ended."

Yet many doctors fail to connect the dots between partner abuse—including threats of violence—and unexplained health problems like chronic headaches, insomnia, painful sex, and gastrointestinal complaints, according to Janice Asher, a domestic violence expert and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "All too frequently, women will get CT scans, MRIs, and other tests that go nowhere when doctors don't take the time to ask if they're in an unsafe relationship," she laments. While abuse itself can obviously cause injuries, psychologists have found that the pain often lingers after the body heals due to "memories" stored in nerve cells. This could explain why a woman might suddenly develop pelvic pain after entering a new relationship when her last boyfriend forced her to have a type of sex she didn't want.

With 2 million American women abused by their partners every year, doctors are doing a huge disservice when they don't screen for domestic violence—especially, Asher adds, since most women won't talk about abuse unless they're asked. (And even then, many won't discuss it until they've established a trusting relationship with their doctor.)

"I'm so glad you're covering this!" she tells me. I told her that I heard a great presentation she gave two years ago on screening for domestic violence. What struck me at the time was how few doctors at the gynecology conference were in attendance to hear her remarks. "Yes," she sighs, "doctors tell me they're too pressed for time to ask about abuse." So, women may have to take it upon themselves to speak up about prior abuse if they're experiencing unexplained pain or other symptoms.

The first priority for a woman in danger, of course, is to get away from the source. Unfortunately, as Amy Castillo learned, the system doesn't always make that possible. Organizations like the National Coalition Against Domestic violence

What Rihanna Can Teach Us About Domestic Violence

Remembering Colette, Kimberley and Kristen

When I read this article I was heartened to know that I was not alone in still thinking about, and mourning the MacDonald family murders. After all, it did happen over thirty years ago, and most people don't hold onto deep feelings of grief over crimes that they are not personally connected to. It might stay in ones temporal memory bank, but the natural course of thingsseems to be that the passage of time dissapates the worst of the pain we felt in reaction to such "tragedies." But then again, I've always different in this regard

This crime has probably so long haunted me for a few reasons; First, was the barbaric level of violence that was committed against the victims which included two small children. This is something that I can never scrub out of my mind- or my heart, no matter how much time passes. Also murdered that night was a lovely young woman, the mother of those two little girls, twenty six years old Collette MacDonald. She along with her children, was literally butchered to death in her home one rainy summer night in north Carolina, the year was 1970.

Sadly enough, statistics bear out that 8 out of 10 murders such as these wind up being committed by the father of the children, the husband of the slain wife.
This story would have been yet another tragic domestic violence case that ended in murder had it not been for a few factors that wound up transfixing the nation's attention. First and foremost was the severe nature of the murders, the clear rage behind them, and the fact that the man of the house, a green beret military MD, was home and survived the nights carnage with relatively slight injuries, especially in such sharp contrast to what befell his wife and children.
They were literally unrecognizable from multiple stab wounds and severe blunt force trauma caused by brutal blows to their faces and heads. Complete overkill.

And Why was Dr MacDonald spared the savagery that was wielded upon his entire family? Why would the killers leave him, the biggest threat in the house, alive and nearly unscathed? Forensic science shows that when there is a home invasion or murders of a family like this, the intruder or intruders almost always kill the man of the house first,or at least ties him up and disables him. They logically want to get rid of the strongest person right off the bat in order to be unhindered with the rest of the occupants, be it to rob or rape if that is the motive. That should have meant that Dr MacDonald was killed and killed first. Not only was he not dead or tied up but rather lucid whenparmdics arrived with three small puncture wounds one of which caused a very neatly collapsed lung. Bear in mind that an army MD would know exactly where to self inflict such a wound in order to collapse a lung And this of course would help give him much needed credibility in his role as co- victim
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The killers, according to MacDonald were a"wild eyed group of hippies" who he claimed broke into the family's home late that night, while he slept on the couch unawares, they assaulted the girls first-he heard his children screaming, he lept up to help them and was attacked by 3 hippie men and a blond haired woman who was carrying a candle (yes, that's right -a candle.) And, one of them chanted "acid is groovy, kill the pigs" He managed to ward all of them off with his pajama top.(Yes his pajama top.!)

In case some of this sounds vaguely familiar its because it is; In 1970 the Manson family murders had just happened (aug 1969 ) The story of those horrific crimes had been all over the media and and printed press- In fact an extensive article about the tate labianca cases was publised in a Vanity fair article, the very same issue that just happened to be sitting on the MACDonald family coffeetable. Apparently the pages containing the story, including a photo of the door with the word Pig written in blood. were dog=eared and looked well worn to any objective party.

The police already knew that something was very wrong with this crime scene. macdonalds family was brutally murdered and somehow the assailants decided to leave him with 3 small and neat puncture wounds, wounds that appeared to be from a small ice pick , not a large knife, as his family had used against them. ---

In fact, The three girls had over 60 deep knife stabs and slashes between them and many severe blunt force blows made with a heavy object This object turned out to be a piece of wood which was found at the crime scene. There appeared no motive for the crimes, no sexual assault of any of the victims and no robbery.
The " traumatized "MacDonald managed to somehow call an ambulance before "passing out".

Although I was a little girl at the time of these murders I can recall hearing about them on the news and being very very disturbed at the prospect that the father of those children could have killed his own family-this suspicion was literally swirling just beneath the surface of many of the news stories.
However, so convincing was the bereaved husband and father, who happened to be a military Doctor, and so poor was the police work, that the original charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

MacDonald was and is a classic sociopath; intelligent,articulate, even charming when he needed to be, so much so, that at the time of the media blitz surrounding the murder, his slain wife's dad, fred kasab, was quoted as saying "this man was the perfect son in law and if I had another daughter I would be thrilled if she were to bring him home" How awful to hear this in retrospect.

Kassab knew there was some suspicion still being directed at MacDonald (he naively thought it was simply because he survived and his family didn't) and as such, he was ready to help deflect any concerns that MacDonald might have committed these heinous acts.

Fortunately, being a prototypical sociopath , MacDonald could not keep his big mouth shut and it would lead to his undoing; Once the original charges were dropped for insufficient evidence, he obviously felt that he was in the clear and began to make public appearances on various talk shows as well as several magazine interviews. He was actually becoming some kind of sick celebrity. ie"the doctor falsely accused of killing his family is on TV tonight!..."

Many People were very discomfited over the lack of resolution of the case and suspicion against MacDonald was still palpable, Yet there were also those that were charmed by the handsome young doctors loquaciousness and charm and based on this shallow kind of reasoning, they refused to believe that anyone who looked liked this and sounded like this, could commit such vile acts- especially against his own children!

The media, as always, saw the public's interest in MacDonald and latched right onto it, television networks competed to bring him on their talk shows, they knew the controversy surrounding him would mean big ratings-and it did. They didn't know however that their shows would be the key to re-opening the MacDonald family murder case within the course of merely a few months time.

The irony is that MacDonald could have chosen to lay low after the murders, perhaps changed his name, and started a new quiet life in another state, having basically gotten away with a triple murder. But being the classic sociopath he thrived on attention as well as the allure of an infinite number of female admirers-and some men, who he figured he could probably dupe out of anything and everything that they'd be willing to part with.

Sociopaths see other human beings as little more than marks-sources for obtaining whatever gratification they want at that moment, be it money, sex, attention, favors and yes, fame , Even when it is highly impractical to be in the spotlight ,they often cant resist )
They are unable to have real attachments with other human beings, but they do know how to fake the intimacy that eludes them, because they realized early in life that a certain degree of "humanness" is expected. They hone these skills and they become consummate deceivers and manipulators, It is little more than a game to them and it is a complete lack of conscience that totally sets them apart from us, and this gives them an advantage. They have no moral compass, the only thing they do care about is not being detected, found out, or, worst of all, caught or held accountable.

They feel disdain and disgust for the people that they steal from, manipulate and victimize-In their inner world you are foolish for falling for their B.S and thus you deserve whatever they do to you or steal from you or use you for..
In the realm of hurting others or taking lives, either you insulted their ego, somehow "made a fool of them" or...you become a liability in some way to them or outgrown your usefullness... Or, you are simply worth more dead then alive.

Some sociopaths also kill because they are sexual sadists,they get off on sexual assault which is about power and control not sex, and from a practical standpoint they realize that the only way to insure that they get away with raping is kill their victims. They certainly are not going to go to prison for their crimes- rules and laws don't apply to them-- they're "special"

A smaller but very dangerous subtype of sociopath derive pleasure what they see as the ultimate control over another human being- taking someones life. (think of the btk killer et al) In MacDonald's case, i BELIEVE his wife had outgrown her usefulness to him and was becoming a liability in his mind and he resented her and his children- Collette was 4 months pregnant at the time of her death and pregnancy is a statistically bad time for assault and murder for women by an intimate partner.

I surmise that MacDonald wound up having some kind of violent assault against his wife that night and his older daughter saw some of the attack. He knew at 6 she was a witness even just to say 'I saw daddy hurting mommy ' And thus, he killed her, with little compunction, and then worst of all after hed killed his wife and older daughter, he went to his littlest girls room and he proceeded to kill her in complete cold blood. Kimberly was only 2 years old. Two years old. It completely breaks my heart,

Apparently, the televised interviews that McDonald was doing were quickly showing him as a less than sympathetic figure . Even those who had stalwartly stood by him believed in him in the many years after the crimes, began to falter as they watched a man who was not in the least bit bereaved or grieving what was a horrific massacre of his family.

He was responding to questions about the murders in what can only be called an extremely inappropriate manner, in fact he bordered on downright giddy at times. When Collette MacDonald's father, fred kasab , saw one of these interviews, he was convinced then and there that his son in law had been putting on a helluva an act for him; He began to look through the police transcripts, pictures and evidence files, anything related to the case, and he quickly saw that there was zero evidence supporting MacDonald's version of events that fateful night;There were no intruders in the house that night, and based upon this alone, MacDonald had to be the killer.

With Collette's fathers on the hunt, the district attorney resumed interest in the case and managed to get enough evidence together for an indictment. Thankfully, the jury saw the truth and convicted MacDonald of first degree murder for his wife and second degree for his two daughters, this nearly 10 years after the crimes occurred. He received 2 life sentences and he is currently serving them. but as expected-not quietly.

In classic sociopath fashion, McDonald has never admitted his guilt. He continues to collect outside sympathizers while in prison, conning them via letters phone calls, that he is innocent, he has been railroaded"
Sooner than later he tells them how special they are and how he wants to get out of prison mostly to be with them, to marry them and live happily ever after.

There are a bunch of women who have come forward admitting that they fell for his BS for a time, until they began to see the emotional shallowness and manipulation behind the flowery words. His fans are mostly women , but he is reportedly not opposed to manipulating men if it will gain him something; Through these misguided minions He manages to pay for attorneys to file appeals and continues to shout from the proverbial roof tops THAT his life has been wrecked and that he will prove his innocence.

The sad thing is that with violent crimes like this families have a very hard time with a true sense of closure if they don't know the truth about what happened to their loved ones. There is a driving need to know how the crimes happened pehaps even why-And in this case, the truth is forever locked up inside a psychopaths belligerent mind.

In any case, please say a prayer if you are so inclined for Colette ,Kimberly and Kristan, this week is the 38th anniversery of thier deaths, may they rest in peace in Gods loving arms.

Remembering Colette, Kimberley and Kristen

Judge: Duncan should stand trial in CA boy's death | Seattle Times Newspaper

http://www.pe.com/localnews/beaumont/stories/PE_News_Local_S_duncan04.4418da8.html

It looks like Joseph Duncan will in fact stand trial for the 1996 murder of Anthony Martinez after all-if youll recall Duncan was convicted last year for the kidnapping and murder of sweet little nine year old Dylan Groene as well as the kidnapping and assault of Dylans younger sister Shasta, who ultimately became the lone survivor of a criminal rampage that included the murder of her mother, her mothers boyfriend and her two brothers.
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Duncan was tried and convicted in 2007 for the mass murders of the groene family, crimes that hed committed in order to abduct the two youngest children for sex. He was given a life term for those crimes within a plea deal which somehow reserved the right to pursue the death penalty if duncan did not in fact recieve one in the second group of crimes which had yet to be tried at that point.. This caveat proved unneccesary as he indeed eventually recieved the death sentence for the murder of Dylan and the assaults kidnapping and assorted other charges involving both children.

While awaiting the long process that runs its course prior to actiually being put to death in this country.... the state of California announced their plans to extradite Duncan from his Idaho prison cell in order to stand trial for the 1996 abduction and murder of 11 year old Anthony Martinez.

The Martinez case had long gone unsolved until Duncans capture in the Groene's Kidnapping. Apparently, Duncan confided to his then 8 year old captive, Shasta that he had killed other children in the past and elaborated with details of Anthony's kidnapping and murder, even sharing his victims name with poor little shasta. This gives me pause as I know that this means that duncan had fully intended to kill shasta when he was done with her, otherwise he would never have confided this.

Shasta, who proved an invaluable witness to the crimes against she and her family, kept a vivid recollection of every conversation with Duncan, relating it all to the policemen once rescued from that famous Denny's restaurant. .

Word is also that while he was in custody, Duncan was asked about any other crimes that he may have committed and he confessed to Anthony's murder as well as the murder of two half sisters in the Seattle area. However, when the authorities returned to interview him, reportedly he clammed up and would not answer any questions.

Luckily, a formal confession-was not needed; A small piece of duct tape that was found on anthonys body all those years ago had been carefully stored in a Police evidence file-it carried on it one single partial fingerprint- That print matched Joseph Duncan III.

Also Included in the indictment evidence was a web blog that duncan maintained in the time period following his paroled release from prison for the kidnapping and rape of a 14 year old boy at gunpoint. He committed this crime at the tender age of 17 and was given a stiff sentence thanks to a discerning judge It was during his parole for this crime that he reportedly abducted and killed 12 yr old Anthony as well as possibly the two little Seatle girls mentioned earlier.

Somewhat of a computer maven DUNCAN had taken computer courses during in his long stint in prison and later attended computer school doing well academically until he inexplicably went on his most recent criminal rampage which culminated in the murder of 5 members of the Groene family

Duncans blog, entitled the blogging the fifth nail, was purportedly a self proclaimed chronicle of a level 3 sex offender trying to live in today's society." If you detect some martyrdom here you are most astute as this indeed was the angle that Duncan was working;the poor harassed sex offender who is forever marked by society for his past "mistakes", ie felonious sexualt assault and torture of a minor at gunpoint.

This was the official version presented by duncan but many believe that he originally created the blog as an alibi device, a concocted "record" of his whereabouts and activities on any given day, in order to clear him in any local disappearances or crimes against children. He claimed within the blog to be harrassed continuously by local police "every time a child went missing"

Ironically, in the end, the blog served the opposite purpose- It corroborated duncan's activities and whereabouts in relation to several cases of assaulted and murdered.children, Unfortunately, this occurred long after those crimes happened, rather than during the time period that this level 3 sex offender was was blogging online about things like "having gotten back at society twice now and not having been caught for it.....!"

Duncan did wind up getting caught for violating the technical terms of that parole and was sent back to prison to finish up the entire original complete 17 year sentence because of this. Sadly it had nothing to do with the three abductions sexual assaults and murders that he clandestinely committed at that point unbenownst to the state judicial system. The ultimate reasons for that violation_?; marijuana use (a random urine test caught that) and not checking in with his parole officer multiple times IE this was during the time period where he was stalking and murdering children.


He was reportedly arrested on the parole violations out of state at his step sisters house in washington, which also equated to another parole violation= traveling out of state without permission of his parole officer. In reality it is said that duncan had in fact left the state many times while stalking and committing the three child murders, which according to his blog records mustve been commiited while he was on various recreational mini vacation road trips made with "friends" for the purpose of trying out exciting new hobbies like scuba diving and sky diving.

I'll tell you, the boundless evil that comprises the minds of these sexual predators never ceases to amaze me. Its always the exact same qualities of deceptiveness and manipulativeness that we see time and again in the worst of these reprobates.

They usually wind up being articluate- which most people associate with intelligence or education ...- this of course serves them well blending in and getting close to thier perpective victims- How many times do we hear people say after a crime that this now= murderer was someone they trusted , or someone who seemed so "normal"

And even when we are confronted with the knowledge that this person does indeed have a criminal record, such as duncan who shared this with almost everyone it seems, We want to believe that they were either; very young at the time and or abused themselves prior to committing the crime ...Or...
'they didnt really do it but had to plead guilty/ no contest because they couldnt afford a trial-"or the age old my lawyer made me plead out" This one Ive heard so many times before that it has become a refrain, the banal lament of the abuser/ predator.

Even knowing that this man had done serious prison time for a sexual assault on a much younger boy when he was nearly eighteen, so many otherwise sane people were willing to suspend common sense, even going so far as to offer to serve as his guarantor/sponsor for his parole, this was reportedly the case with a pediatric doctor named Dr Wacksman, a supposed 'friend" of duncans) or even bailing him out of jail for newly committed sex offenses that he was arrested for after his release from prison for the same type of crime- North Fargo BUSINESSMAN ROBERT MCCRARY=the MAN THAT purportedly loaned Duncan 15,000 for bail for molesting two boys-
Duncan proceeded to write a bad check to the courthouse and used the money instead to finance an out of state kidnap- murder rampage that started with the murders of three members of Greone family.

It boggles the imagination and raises our rackles and yet I can see how these people became unwitting accomplices in Duncans predation I know what masters of deceit and treachory these men can be. Joseph Duncan is merely a classic sadistic sexual sociopath and our system should have never released him upon back upon our unwitting society.
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Violence, sickness, chance wipe out Miss. family

A domestic violence case with shakesperean overtones, this is a very sad story.

New program aims to better protect victims of domestic violence in Connecticut

The title of this article in the Republican American is a bit misleading. The program in question, designed to keep the addresses of sexual assault, stalking and Domestic violence victims confidential, is not "new"It was in fact created via the passage of a bill by the Conn legislature in 2004. And though clearly an important program that could help save lives, it has not been used by Connecticut's crime victims simply because our courts have been remiss in informing them that the program existed.

While The article does make mention of the fact that the bill has not been utilized much, they cite shelters and local agencies as the culprits in not passing the info along to the many victims that they deal with- In reality it is the victims advocates and prosecutors in the state of Connecticut who should have been recommending this program to all victims of stalking and/or sexual and partner violence whenever there was a history of threats and/or the possibility of future violence (and as you might imagine, this is quite often.)

Unfortunately, this under-utilized program is reminiscent of many other state and federal "programs" that have become programs in name only simply because victims are not made privy to their existence by the very people charged with ensuring their future safety.
As reluctant as I am to bring up my own experience with Connecticut's judicial system, every so often it is imperative to certain discussions regarding the experience of crime victims in this state.; A number of years ago I was a victim of violent crimes and although the crimes occurred in my home in the suburbs, the case fell to the nearest presiding GA city court-As luck would have it a busy courthouse that had recently lost a savvy and tough judge who had been presiding over its domestic violence docket for several years. Connecticut's criminal judges only serve 2 years stints and for the relatively short time that he presided, this court had secured a reputation as one of the toughest- and best DV dockets in the state. However, once this judge left, it was as if the teacher had left the building and the lackadaisical apathy that had dominated the court in the past, resumed its hold once again.

I daresay that my experience within the Connecticut judicial system was far more damaging to me than the brutal violence of the assault itself . and I do not say this lightly.The treatment that I received within the court was utterly spirit crushing and it far surpassed mere negligence, but for the purposes of this post Ill stick with the most pertinent transgressions;
First I was never informed that there was a state and a federal programs available to help reimburse victims for medical costs and lost wages due to injuries sustained within their crimes. I was never even asked if or how I was managing these things, especially as I was unable to work at all for well over a month and only part time for many months after that, due to a traumatic brain injury and a cochlear concussion inflicted by my assailant.

It was also never mentioned ti me that the court could order my assailant to pay restitution for my medical costs and/or my lost work time, as part of any "plea deal" approved by the states prosecutors. Restitution is indeed an important part of accountability and as such is standard procedure in many state courts for most cases involving assaults

The most serious insult committed by this court occurred when I was moving out of the town that my restraining order was filed in; I asked via the victims advocates office ,to have the restraining order re-filed with my new address and sent to the appropriate new police department- I was instructed to do this by the very Police dept that presided over my new home address. They informed me that if my assailant were to violate the order at my new address, they would be unable to arrest him without an official copy of the standing criminal restraining order on file with them with my new address on it. They suggested getting this done asap.

The victims advocate called me back to tell me that the prosecutor refused to refile the order saying that "if they did this every time a victim with a standing criminal restraining order moved ,they'd be filling out paperwork forever".
When I asked if she'd informed the prosecutor that the local police dept instructed me to do this, she'd answered yes, but they didn't care.

"They didn't care." This was a case where stalking was one of four charges, as well as terroristic threatening-I had been told by my assailant that if I reported him to police he would "finish the job, no matter how long it took" Indeed, one of the reasons I was moving at all was that this dangerous man had only received a suspended sentence with probation within a deal, and had already broken the restraining order several times and it was clear to me that something very drastic would have to happen before the court took any viable action..

Luckily at this point I had had some time to heal from my injuries as well as a pretty severe case of post traumatic stress which had consumed me for months after the crimes and the lackluster resolution of my case. I was beginning to get back some of my signature strength and tenacity, I placed a call with the assistant to the prosecutors supervisor who worked in a seperate courthouse and explaining all of the difficulties that I'd encountered as a victim of crime within his court. For whatever reason this compel the and my prosecutors boss filed a certified copy of the order to the proper police dept, but did not explain nor apologize for the prosecutors refusal to do this in the first place. There is not doubt that the address confidentiality bill would have served me very well had I ever been made aware that it was an option. As it was, I had enough problems being afforded my basic rights as a victim of crime in Connecticut.

Unfortunately, my experience is far from an isolated case within Connecticut's courts-in fact some have said that it is one of the better resolutions! I have since spoken to hundreds of women in Connecticut who have been given what would appear, the rote treatment for victims of intimate violence; lack of communication, lack of respectful treatment and almost without fail, dragged out adjudication of their cases, ending with a plea bargain, no trial and always reduced charges and dropped charges. Many other cases still are nolled and all charges dropped completely, presumably for lack of evidence or due to the defendants status as a "first time offender." Thus, a first strike long before any official first strike.

To be fair, there are some tough, committed prosecutors within our state Domestic violence dockets,but they are theexception. Anytime a victim knows her attacker, albeit someone she dated once for a short time, it falls under the Domestic crime umbrella.

And where judges once ruled the courtroom, with a 96 percent plea bargain ratio, most judges have become figureheads, giving an obligatory nod to whatever deal was worked out by the prosecutor, whose motivation is often clearing the daily docket as quickly as possible.

New Coulter Voter Fraud Investigation Reveals Danger To Domestic Abuse Victims

Rell taps two ex-lawmakers for revamped parole board

Joseph Duncan moved to federal penitentiary to await Death Penalty

I have been giving this a lot of thought and I can honestly say that knowing that Joseph Duncan III is one step closer to receiving the death penalty does bring me some solace-but its an uneasy solace.Even when this monster is actually put to death, and with our system's plethora of auto-appeals for its death penalty cases, this will be a ridiculously long time, I still wont feel that "justice has now been"done".
The awful truth is there is no justice to be had for what this man did, He killed an entire family in coldblood in a most cruel and brutal way, just to abduct the two youngest children for his sick pedophiliac purposes.
We came to find out that the children witnessed some of their family' members being murdered after which the terrified pair were taken far away deep into a isolated forest campground by thier family's killer. Then Duncan abused and brutalized the children for 7 weeks before inexplicably killing the little boy with a shotgun in front of his sister.

That sweet faced little eight year old girl is about to become a teenager-She somehow survived this nightmare and lived to tell authorities the entire horrible tale, serving as a very competent sole eye witness to all of the crimes.


Joseph Duncan will be allowed to live for at least 10-15 more years while the obligatory succession of court appearances and filings are meted out and dealt with. His Government financed attorneys will do their best to slow down even further the already creeping process that precludes the actual administration of a death penalty.

Over the course of these years Duncan now 45 ,will have a decent clean place to sleep and plenty of food to eat. He'll have books and magazines to read, along with many letters--most from disturbed women (and men) who will profess their undying love, devotion and understanding for his plight-He may even be allowed to wed one of these fans depending on that prisons regulations .It happens all the time in prisons, and the word is that he has already had one female fan -on the "outside"-offer to marry him.

He will undoubtedly spend some time blogging as he did for years between his crime sprees and recently on and off since his capture,( Purportedly an anonymous party posts for him after receiving his Duncans handwritten blog entries via the snail mail.)
He will surely be interviewed regularly by the media, FBI and forensic shrinks, the latter who will try to pick his brain in order to better understand the pedophile criminal sociopath-Either way, its attention that he's getting and socio's thrive on attention.

When he is ill he will receive good medical care and GIVEN proper medicines as needed-the same with his psychiatric issues-he is most likely already on an anti-anxiety/psychotic meds.
He will be kept in solitary confinement for his own protection for the duration of his time and As such he will not have to fear, as other inmates do, attacks by fellow inmates-for any reason, including but not limited to the fact that he raped and killed children - a frowned upon group of crimes in the world of incarceration. There is some kind of honor, as it turns out ,"among thieves"

When his appeals are finally exhausted, assuming that none of them are successful IE his sentence gets reduced, he will be given a last meal of whatever he wishes and as plenty of visits with a religious advisor of his choice. He will be given opportunity's to spend time and say goodbye to his family members. And when the hour comes he will be put on a gurney and considerately put to sleep with an iv medication. Once sleeping he will be administrated a medication that causes his heart to stop.

Now I ask myself,,,Is this Justice?

Great actions and Good ideas:"Cut it out" Program

Next time you visit your favorite salon, ask whether its hairdressers participate in a national program called "Cut It Out" www.cutitout.org/ a great new program that trains hair care professionals to weed out and refer clients who might be in abusive relationships to local domestic violence programs.

Featured in a November 20, 2008 New York Times article, the program which is based in Chicago has trained 40,000 salon workers in all 50 states to recognize signs of domestic abuse. According to the article, Cut It Out has been adopted by the Empire Education Group which has 87 cosmetology schools and endorsed by the American Association of Cosmetology Schools, which represents 800 schools.


"The privileged, often therapeutic relationship between hairdressers and clients has long been the subject of magazine articles and movies. A growing movement in New York and across the nation tries to harness that bond to identify and prevent domestic violence, a pervasive problem that victims are often too ashamed to reveal to law enforcement or other public officials," according to Leslie Kaufman who wrote the article.


If you would like to know more about "Cut It Out," contact Dianne Mooney, Co-Founder, 2201 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 100, Birmingham, AL 35233.

Violent partner crimes by Connecticut resident finally lead to severe prison sentence

Another near fatal partner-violence case was committed by a local Hartford man who was well known to Connecticut's criminal justice system. A repeat offender with a specialty in stalking and battering women, the assailant had thus far managed to avoid any serious prison time for a series of violent crimes over the past 10 years.

The by now familiar theme of 'Ill decide when its over, not you...!". was once again at the nucleus of this latest bout of violence--If not for the quick action of the victim, this assault very easily could have become another domestic homicide in our area.

This time however, a decidedly intelligent and appropriately tough Massachusetts judge presided over the case; After scrutiny of the defendants criminal history, she over-ruled the prosecutor's recommendations for sentencing and gave the defendant a much stiffer prison sentence. It feels good to say that justice was served today.

Equal pay for Women before Congress

While this blog is generally aimed at issues surrounding violent crime, particularly those against women and children, I received an email yesterday that I considered important enough to deviate a bit from the status quo. Moreover, the issue at hand requires prompt action on behalf of as many readers as possible, thus I wanted to get it out there asap. Your involvement may help determine the future of gender- equitable pay in our country. Please read the letter below and click on the link on the title header above in order to contact your appropriate congress member before the approaching deadline, when it will be voted upon.

Dear laurel,
Congress is slated to act as soon as this week on fair pay for women — and we need your help.
The House is expected to vote later this week on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act — key bills that would give women the tools they need to challenge pay discrimination. The Senate may follow with a vote as soon as early next week.

Please contact your Members of Congress today with a clear message: It’s time to raise our voices in support of pay equity for all women by passing pay equity legislation immediately, so President-Elect Obama can sign it into law during his first few days in office.
CLICK HERE TO WRITE/CALL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Irasema Garza
President


Founded in 1970 as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, Legal Momentum is the nation's oldest legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls.
New York: 395 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
Washington D.C.: 1101 14th Street, NW, Ste 300, Washington, DC 20005
www.legalmomentum.org/ .

Kids & Charitableness

I found this very poignant post today (above) whilst perusing the Connecticut blogosphere-And yes, there is a Connecticut- specific blogosphere believe it or not. First I found this blog www.thisisct.net/2006/11/12-noteworthy-connecticut-blogs.html entitled " This is Connecticut"

where I read about their "noteworthy blogs", some of which I was already familiar with and a few other worthy ones that I was not. From there, I linked to"Connecticut Weblogs" www.ctweblogs.com/?page , a site whose sole purpose would seem to be the gathering of all blogs that are Connecticut-based and listing them by category and most recently updated- a style akin to the mainstream blog directories like Technorati, etc

However as I scanned the listings of blog titles at the Connecticut Weblogs site, I couldn't help but notice that somehow my blog had been shall we say... overlooked-?.An oversight that I hope to remedy shortly with a shout out to that Blog's webmaster. It could be that they will be hard pressed to fit Chasing Justice into any of the Blog categories that they presently use, as it easily vacillates from "Opinion" to "Politics" with occasional wanderings into Religion/ spiritual for good measure. Perhaps I can convince the owner to open up a new category or two just for me- like Activism or Crime/Justice or even Woman's issues. Who knows, perhaps the advent of new category will encourage other new blogs about you know...deeper stuff.

In any event... throughout this veritable labyrinthine of blogs, Posts and bloggers, I stumbled upon some very good sites, mostly by following interesting blog titles that I noticed within each blogs"blogroll", eventually landing on this so called "mommy blog" which pleasantly surprised me by containing a very relevant and very poignant story about the blog owners recent experience bringing her two young children to a Domestic violence center over the holiday, in order to hopefully foster the beginnings of social conscience and a lifetime involvement helping those that are in need. I'm sure most of you will be as moved as I was.
Kids & Charitableness BlogHer

Soaring Rates of Violence Against Women

A 42 percent increase in partner violence, and a 25 percent increase in sexual assault over a two year period is staggering -
And even if, as suggested in the article, the numbers are being affected somewhat by a change in the methodology of the survey taking, and presumably are thus more accurate now, this only means that our previous reports in 2005 and earlier, greatly underestimated the degree of intimate violence that was happening in our country.-Either way we have a much more widespread problem with violence against women than we were aware of.

Our incoming administration needs to address this issue straight away. In fact I was very disappointed that there was little to no mention of this country's problem with violent crime, and specifically crime against women, within the Obama' campaign or within any of his very memorable speeches about the change that our country so needs and desires.
This was especially puzzling to me as Vice president elect Joe biden has had a heavy hand for many years in the entire violence against women movement; He co-authored, lobbied heavily for, and pushed through congress, the first ever"violence against women act"(VAWA) in 1996.
This was a major accomplishment that has been a pet project of bidens since the late eighties.
VAWA was passed again in 2006 and signed by president Bush -but with several cutbacks in funding. (surprise surprise)

Truth be told, Joe Bidens devotion and hard work with Domestic violence, among other things, was one of the main reasons that I voted for the Obama/Biden ticket Although extremely intelligent and articulate, Obama had yet to really prove himself via amassed experience, as a devoted and capable leader. I did however have faith that he would not be an autocratic leader by any means, he had humility, he knew his strengths and his weaknesses and would thus collect the most capable minds in every area of political expertise, surround himself with these folks, deferring to them freely and often in the daily business of the running our country.

I certainly hope that this issue is treated by our new leaders as seriously as it deserves to be. The results of this survey suggest a spiraling epidemic, and it is our beloved women's bodies and souls that are at stake here.
http://www.truthout.org/122208WA

Elderly Woman Attacked in Waterbury home

This is absolutely heartbreaking, more as developments occur.

How Much is a Petit Murder Suspect Costing You?

This latest soapbox of Mike Lawlor is rather puzzling to me, the general public has known about the obscene amount of money being spent on Joshua komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes,' (defendents in the Petit murders) for many months now indeed there have been a myriad of articles in mainstream publications citing the maddening details of those costs since mid-August. Yet, Lawlor, a well known assemblyman and vice chair of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee, chooses now to seize upon all of this and be publically outraged.

It certainly would seem like yet another politically motivated opportunity to inject himself, in a favorable fashion, into the fray of the state's hotly debated criminal justice issue.

An aside; To give you an example of just how far he is willing to go to mislead the public and ride the political wave de jour; In One of his recent election time mailers it stated that he was, among other things , "the author of a brand new three strikes legislation" for the state of
Connecticut. This after he has pontificated ad nauseum, for a solid year, that a three strikes law a)"wouldn't have prevented the Petit crimes anyway",
b) would not be used by prosecutors even If passed ..

And c) is in fact just a political gimmick of house republicans to appear tough on crime in the wake of the Petit Crimes hysteria and court scrutiny.

lawlor also voted against the bills passage a total of three times and even more importantly influenced a great many other legislators in voting against it.
He was also quoted within an interview as saying that all the attention that was being given Connecticut's criminal judicial system after the Petit crimes was ill placed and that "our judicial system works pretty well." The inference was that The Petit crimes and the other two murders that occurred within that same short time period in 07, eac one committed by paroled repeat offenders who were given lenient plea deals,were isolated incidents .

Now its one thing to be a politician in the worst sense of the word, when it comes to more innocuous issues like taxes and such, but this is far too important. How we decide to handle Violent criminals in this state will directly effect how many more innocent lives are snuffed out, and others maimed. Persistant violent offenders are people who repeatedly inflict terror and brutality upon vulnerable human beings, often leaving a veritable trail of broken bodies and broken lives in their wake. This is what the three strikes issue is about.

Its too easy for politicians and laypeople alike, to gloss over the awful reality of violent crime with words like "tragedy" "persistent offender' "home invasion" and even "three strikes law".
These words make more antiseptic and palatable, the terror and pain that is violent crime, They help people to distance themselves emotionally from the human suffering that is at the core of this entire discussion.

I propose that we ask and expect more from our public servants, our presumed leaders and lawmakers; They should not be allowed to squirm away from the cost of thier actions or inaction regarding this issue- this currency is human lives. I daresay, as lawmakers they will never have a more important task.

The worst part of this is that Mr Lawlor clearly has the intelligence, the leadership skills, and the political influence to do right by the people of Connecticut regarding this critical issue.- I can only hope that he is comprising a New years resolution list that includes less posturing and
photo-ops and more empathy and intelligent action on behalf of victims of violent crime in this state, past, present and future. Fixed and Consistent sentencing will serve as a deterrent for all violent crime as well as insurance that violent offenders are kept in prison where they may not continue to violate, maim and kill .