There will be a news conference held in Bristol tomorrow afternoon covering another official show of support for a State-wide Three strikes law.
Participating will be assemblyman William Hamzy, who strongly supported A three strikes bill in last years legislative sessions, and GA candidate for the 77th district seat, Elizabeth Fitzgerald.
She will be signing an official promise to vote for a meaningful three strikes law for the state if she is elected.
Dr William Petit sole suvivor of last years triple murder in Cheshire will also be in attendence acting on behalf of the Three strike Now coalition http://www.threestrikesnow.com/ a grassroots organization devoted to the passage of a solid three strikes law for Connecticut.
This is a good time to remind every Connecticut resident to pay close attention to your own town Representives and candidates regarding their position concerning both the three strikes bill as well as violent crime in general. ie What is there voting record on any and all bills concerning crime? (And remember to look at past years voting records, not just recent election years.)
How did they vote in last years emergency special sessions on crime and the regular session in Jauuary, where many violent crime issues prompted by multiple statewide fatal crimes- were addressed and voted on?
All legislative sessions are now televised live on Connecticuts local cable channel and thus video transcripts are available to the public. Watching them is often an eye opener insofar as how our law makers really operate.
I suggest that as conscientious citizens, we use our voting power and our voice to make a strong statement to the leaders of this state That we will no longer tolerate a laissez faire approach to the operation of our Connecticut courts-we simply cannot afford to any longer.
Last year both Governor Rell and several key legislators assured us that the few reforms that were passed were not a quick fix and indeed were" just the beginning"- of a statewide revamping of what is clearly a problematic judicial system.
Lets show our lawmakers that we have not forgotten this promise.
Fitzgerald, Hamzy to back three strikes law
Oct 18, 2008
Petit family campaigns for 3 Strikes Law Redux
One has to
be impressed with the Petit family's tenacity insofar as their inexhaustive championing of a three strikes law for the state of Connecticut.
Dr William Petit, as most of us know, lost his wife and two daughters in a violent home invasion that occurred in Cheshire
last July. The two men who committed the murders each had over 20 felony convictions on their individual records, and were both on parole when the murders occurred, one, after serving just over a third of his original sentence!
The older of the two defendants, Steven Hayes, had a history of breaking the terms of his parole each and every time he'd been granted it. He also had numerous write ups in a recent halfway house stint the last of which resulted in his being returned to prison. Three months later he was granted parole nonetheless.
Last year, following the scrutiny of this brutal crime's aftermath, and a subsequent state-wide push for a three strikes sentencing law, there was heard a constant refrain from many democratic legislators (with judiciary committee co-chair Mike lawlor somehow always loudest and always leading the pack ) they claimed that "A three strikes law would not have prevented the Petit crimes from happening anyway had it been in existence at the time !" Albeit a moot point in the grand scheme of things, it was still only partly true and misleading at that: The crime of night time home break ins or robbery when the home owner was in the home, was not considered a violent or serious felony prior to the Petit crimes.
Using common sense as a guide, it clearly should have been considering the potential for violence. But as it was, it was a felony that at that time would not qualify as a "strike" under most of the proposed versions of the various three strikes bills bandied about in last years legislative sessions.
This is pertinent because Mr Komisarjevsky, co defendant in the Petit murderers (and considered the probable mastermind of the crimes), had created for himself a specialty of sorts, committing just such break-ins, citing to police that he "didn't get a rush if people weren't home when he broke in' .
He had over 23 convictions across several counties for this type of burglary, almost all of them committed while the homeowner were home and sleeping- nonetheless in Connecticut at least it had been rather recklessly treated as a lower level non-violent felony, despite all of our hard won knowledge regarding criminal psychology and the evolution of predators.
After the Petit crimes the Connecticut General Assembly was prompted to create a new crime of "home invasion " ,which they defined as any residential break in that is committed at night, a time when presumably most people are in their homes, the thinking being that this increases
the likelihood of a confrontation and the potential for violence and loss of life is thus very high.
Many people, including myself, were very disappointed that Connecticut legislators did not see fit to re-categorize all break ins as home invasions, This would have automatically qualified any illegal break in into our home as a class b (ie violent) felony, which had the duofold benefit of carrying the accompanying severe prison sentence as well as qualifying as a strike under the sates repeat offender law.. This would make a clear statement that our homes are sacred and off limits and if you break into a home for self preservation we will have to consider your motive as being the most sinister; rape murder assault.or all of these.
At the very least as a compromise the state could have designated any home break that occurs at night or when the resident is in the home, as an automatic home invasion/class b violent felony.
All of this simply follows the logic that many folks do not work a 9 to 5 schedule, including third shift employees, stay at home moms and other such retired residents .This adds up to plenty of innocent people being in their homes during daylight hours. Despite several versions of the home invasion law that did include similar provisions, the nighttime version was the one that passed muster.
And as if the universe were conspiring to send just such a terrible message- just months after all of the legislative wrangling, a fatal daytime home invasion occurred in a middle class suburb of New Britain ; Two elderly women enjoying an after church brunch were home invaded,robbed and one shot in her head and left for dead. The second woman was then abducted by the intruder who had just shot her friend, she was sexually assaulted and then shot herself, her body dumped in some bushes some 20 miles from her home.
The home invader/ murderer..? A newly paroled felon with a criminal history that included
a sexual assault of a 10 year old child. Another Predator on parole.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343675,00.html
Now bear in mind that A three strikes proposal calls for SEVERE life sentence after a third violent felony conviction . A conviction is not an arrest or a charge, And yes there is a big distinction; The average number of crimes actually committed by a defendant before he/she is actually convicted of one, is ridiculously high in our state, this is largely due to the inordinately high number of plea bargains, Nollie's and dropped cases in so many Connecticut courts.
There are an inordinate amount of what amounts to "freebie" crimes that simply fall by the wayside within what has become Connecticut's administrative processing of, rather than adjudication of, even our most serious crimes.
Case in point: Joshua Komsiarjevsky was convicted for over 22 home break ins/ robberies,
most of which, as I mentioned, were committed while the unsuspecting home owner was in the home- a dangerous scenario indeed. !
His eventual plea deal involved dropping outright a total of 14 charges within the "deals" that he was given. An entire crime spree in one separate jurisdiction was dropped and he was given "time served" for that succession of robberies, this for the short time that he was in jail awaiting trial on a separate set of break-ins.
This same offender was also given a number of breaks by various police departments who handled his multiple arrests and the drawing up of his warrants; They could have easily charged him with several other crimes within his robbery sprees, serious crimes, such as stalking, To which he freely admitted doing with his robbery targets, prior to breaking in to their home. He sometimes even used tools which hed ordered on the Internet, such as night vision goggles in order to watch his targets from their own yards.
Yet possibly due to his young age or perhaps his families roots within the community, this offender was not even charged with every crime that he actually committed and was given big breaks all the way from his arrests to his plea deals in court to his prison sentences, and eventual early parole- A parole that was clearly ill advised, not just in hindsight due to the Petit murders, but based upon the fact that it was approved by the Connecticut parole board with a scant amount of his criminal history files or sentencing reports-oversights that were not exclusive to this case,we were to learn in the wake of the Cheshire crimes.
It had been going on for years and indeed had become the status quo.
Three people are now dead as a result of the many criminal/ judicial leniency's and oversights, most of which would seem built- in to our present Connecticut judicial system.
However there are many other victims of this very same system, this set of crimes were just so glaringly over the top brutality-wise that they begged us all to peer into the system that allowed it to happen. What we found was preposterous.
As such, no one can blame the lone survivor of these murders, a man who not only lost his family, but was assaulted so severely himself, that he nearly died---for trying to spearhead a better more rigid sentencing system for our state? A system not built around a revolving door for dangerous repeat offenders to brutalize more people, destroy more lives.
It is too late for Dr Petits wife and daughters but it is not too late for the many others who will be victims if nothing changes.
For concerned citizens who would like to support a three strikes sentencing law, or at least
find out more about it, Please follow this link, read the accompanying info and hopefully add your name to the list of supporters.www.threestrikesnow.com/
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2008/09/petit-lends-name-to-three-stri.html
be impressed with the Petit family's tenacity insofar as their inexhaustive championing of a three strikes law for the state of Connecticut.Dr William Petit, as most of us know, lost his wife and two daughters in a violent home invasion that occurred in Cheshire
last July. The two men who committed the murders each had over 20 felony convictions on their individual records, and were both on parole when the murders occurred, one, after serving just over a third of his original sentence!
The older of the two defendants, Steven Hayes, had a history of breaking the terms of his parole each and every time he'd been granted it. He also had numerous write ups in a recent halfway house stint the last of which resulted in his being returned to prison. Three months later he was granted parole nonetheless.
Last year, following the scrutiny of this brutal crime's aftermath, and a subsequent state-wide push for a three strikes sentencing law, there was heard a constant refrain from many democratic legislators (with judiciary committee co-chair Mike lawlor somehow always loudest and always leading the pack ) they claimed that "A three strikes law would not have prevented the Petit crimes from happening anyway had it been in existence at the time !" Albeit a moot point in the grand scheme of things, it was still only partly true and misleading at that: The crime of night time home break ins or robbery when the home owner was in the home, was not considered a violent or serious felony prior to the Petit crimes.
Using common sense as a guide, it clearly should have been considering the potential for violence. But as it was, it was a felony that at that time would not qualify as a "strike" under most of the proposed versions of the various three strikes bills bandied about in last years legislative sessions.
This is pertinent because Mr Komisarjevsky, co defendant in the Petit murderers (and considered the probable mastermind of the crimes), had created for himself a specialty of sorts, committing just such break-ins, citing to police that he "didn't get a rush if people weren't home when he broke in' .
He had over 23 convictions across several counties for this type of burglary, almost all of them committed while the homeowner were home and sleeping- nonetheless in Connecticut at least it had been rather recklessly treated as a lower level non-violent felony, despite all of our hard won knowledge regarding criminal psychology and the evolution of predators.
After the Petit crimes the Connecticut General Assembly was prompted to create a new crime of "home invasion " ,which they defined as any residential break in that is committed at night, a time when presumably most people are in their homes, the thinking being that this increases
the likelihood of a confrontation and the potential for violence and loss of life is thus very high.
Many people, including myself, were very disappointed that Connecticut legislators did not see fit to re-categorize all break ins as home invasions, This would have automatically qualified any illegal break in into our home as a class b (ie violent) felony, which had the duofold benefit of carrying the accompanying severe prison sentence as well as qualifying as a strike under the sates repeat offender law.. This would make a clear statement that our homes are sacred and off limits and if you break into a home for self preservation we will have to consider your motive as being the most sinister; rape murder assault.or all of these.
At the very least as a compromise the state could have designated any home break that occurs at night or when the resident is in the home, as an automatic home invasion/class b violent felony.
All of this simply follows the logic that many folks do not work a 9 to 5 schedule, including third shift employees, stay at home moms and other such retired residents .This adds up to plenty of innocent people being in their homes during daylight hours. Despite several versions of the home invasion law that did include similar provisions, the nighttime version was the one that passed muster.
And as if the universe were conspiring to send just such a terrible message- just months after all of the legislative wrangling, a fatal daytime home invasion occurred in a middle class suburb of New Britain ; Two elderly women enjoying an after church brunch were home invaded,robbed and one shot in her head and left for dead. The second woman was then abducted by the intruder who had just shot her friend, she was sexually assaulted and then shot herself, her body dumped in some bushes some 20 miles from her home.
The home invader/ murderer..? A newly paroled felon with a criminal history that included
a sexual assault of a 10 year old child. Another Predator on parole.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343675,00.html
Now bear in mind that A three strikes proposal calls for SEVERE life sentence after a third violent felony conviction . A conviction is not an arrest or a charge, And yes there is a big distinction; The average number of crimes actually committed by a defendant before he/she is actually convicted of one, is ridiculously high in our state, this is largely due to the inordinately high number of plea bargains, Nollie's and dropped cases in so many Connecticut courts.
There are an inordinate amount of what amounts to "freebie" crimes that simply fall by the wayside within what has become Connecticut's administrative processing of, rather than adjudication of, even our most serious crimes.
Case in point: Joshua Komsiarjevsky was convicted for over 22 home break ins/ robberies,
most of which, as I mentioned, were committed while the unsuspecting home owner was in the home- a dangerous scenario indeed. !
His eventual plea deal involved dropping outright a total of 14 charges within the "deals" that he was given. An entire crime spree in one separate jurisdiction was dropped and he was given "time served" for that succession of robberies, this for the short time that he was in jail awaiting trial on a separate set of break-ins.
This same offender was also given a number of breaks by various police departments who handled his multiple arrests and the drawing up of his warrants; They could have easily charged him with several other crimes within his robbery sprees, serious crimes, such as stalking, To which he freely admitted doing with his robbery targets, prior to breaking in to their home. He sometimes even used tools which hed ordered on the Internet, such as night vision goggles in order to watch his targets from their own yards.
Yet possibly due to his young age or perhaps his families roots within the community, this offender was not even charged with every crime that he actually committed and was given big breaks all the way from his arrests to his plea deals in court to his prison sentences, and eventual early parole- A parole that was clearly ill advised, not just in hindsight due to the Petit murders, but based upon the fact that it was approved by the Connecticut parole board with a scant amount of his criminal history files or sentencing reports-oversights that were not exclusive to this case,we were to learn in the wake of the Cheshire crimes.
It had been going on for years and indeed had become the status quo.
Three people are now dead as a result of the many criminal/ judicial leniency's and oversights, most of which would seem built- in to our present Connecticut judicial system.
However there are many other victims of this very same system, this set of crimes were just so glaringly over the top brutality-wise that they begged us all to peer into the system that allowed it to happen. What we found was preposterous.
As such, no one can blame the lone survivor of these murders, a man who not only lost his family, but was assaulted so severely himself, that he nearly died---for trying to spearhead a better more rigid sentencing system for our state? A system not built around a revolving door for dangerous repeat offenders to brutalize more people, destroy more lives.
It is too late for Dr Petits wife and daughters but it is not too late for the many others who will be victims if nothing changes.
For concerned citizens who would like to support a three strikes sentencing law, or at least
find out more about it, Please follow this link, read the accompanying info and hopefully add your name to the list of supporters.www.threestrikesnow.com/
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2008/09/petit-lends-name-to-three-stri.html
Oct 11, 2008
A heartbreaking memorial video
This link will bring you to a terribly sad video but I suggest that you watch it nonetheless.
It is a tribute to the many children who were abducted and murdered in the United states in past several years. It is obviously heartbreaking, but also extremely sobering -to be faced with one beautiful little face after the next, each one sharing a terrible fate; Their innocent lives were all snuffed out by violent predators, many of whom had prior criminal histories but were given light sentences which in turn placed them squarely in the path of our children.
After watching this video I suggest that you take the inevitable heartbreak that you'll feel and put it to good use; Make a commitment to all children as well as yourself to take positive action this year towards the abolition of crimes against children.
You can start with your own home-state, by working toward any and all criminal /Judicial reforms that are necessary in insuring that all crimes against children are prosecuted responsibly and severely.
Many of you will say to yourselves 'of course I want to protect our kids... but how would I even begin such an endeavour-I know nothing about our courts and prison system.?'
You will need to first do some investigating into your states current laws and sentencing practices regarding both violent crime in general, and all crimes against children This means finding out what is actually being carried out in your states courts, not simply what laws are on the books. Many times, special sentencing laws exist in states which allow prosecutors to impose stricter prison terms for potentially dangerous or repeat predators, but they are rarely if ever.
This needs to stop, and the first step towards this end would be acquainting oneself with your state's particular weaknesses and strengths re violent crime and crimes against children; This includes sentencing guidelines and actual procedure, minimum sentencing and very importantly, parole procedure both formal and actual, bail policies, IE do minimums exist and what are average bail amounts imposed for violent crime and crimes involving children, and remember These two groups of crimes are usually handled in a like fashion.
Be certain to include statistics for so called "lesser" crimes that have historically been treated in some courts as " nuisance "crimes, despite reams of profiling research that clearly proves that these "lesser" crimes are very often criminal precursors to later abductions, sexual assaults, and murder. In effect they are red flags for our courts for marking potential predators.
Crimes such as exposing oneself to a minor, sexual molestation without "actual rape" or penetration, or molestation not accompanied by violence, These types of crimes until very recently have been treated as lower level classes of crime by many many courts, often leading to tragic consequences for children who are then unnecessarily exposed to repeat offenders who have been already caught and thus within the grasp of our system through out varying stages of their criminal evolution.
Joseph Duncan was one such predator; He was in fact bailed out and on the lam for one such "annoyance" type crime when he decided to go on his now infamous murderous rampage in Coure de lene Idaho, where he eventually killed an entire family ;Brenda Groene, mother if 3, her fiance Mark McKenzie and their 13 year old son were all bludgeoned to death with a framing hammer in their own home in order to kidnap the two youngest children for sadistic pedophilia.
he ultimately killed one of the two children, sweet faced Dylan Greene, then was caught by police with 8 year old Shasta still alive, tho the lone survivor of what turned out to be the most horrific set of crimes against children ever within this century.
Duncan's bail amount for his latest run- in with the law was set at a ridiculous 15,000 dollars by an inept or lazy- prosecutor, despite multiple felony convictions on his record all committed when he was only 17 years of age for what turned out to be the kidnap, rape and torture of a much younger boy at gunpoint!
Thankfully Duncan served the full sentence possible for that crime, as once in custody, the state of Washington recognized his potential for further violence and responsibly did their absolute best to keep him institutionalized for as long as the law would allow: This turned out to be a 20 year prison sentence, during which time he admitted to psychologists that he'd actually raped a total of 16 boys by the time he was 14, although he was never caught for 15 of the rapes.
The subsequent crime that Duncan was bailed out over involved him pulling down pants of two little boys at a school playground, and videotaping the incident. Fortunately, A nearby adult saw the commotion and intervened. Duncan fled but was later recognized in a mugshot by witnesses- He was a registered sex offender due to his very first RAPE conviction. Bear in mind too that the entire sex offender registry was the work of a group of tenacious child crime activists, all led by the parents of a murdered child. This system saves hundreds of lives every year and would not be in existence if not for the hard work of some regular citizens like you and I, who cared enough to go the extra mile-for our innocent children...
The judge who took all of the flak for releasing Joseph Duncan on such a low bail amount has stated that he was never made aware of Duncan's criminal past. Knowing how most courts daily dockets run, I would say that this was a failure on the part of the prosecutor, for the judge typically defers to him at all pre-trial hearings, such as Duncan's standard arraignment and bail hearing.
bottom line is that had that court done its job properly, Joseph Duncan would have been immediately recognized as a dangerous repeat offender that was acting out criminally once again on defenseless children And thus, what at first glance could appear to be "just" some park pervert child molester, was in fact a level 3 dangerous SEX offender with a criminal history of kidnapping and rape. Thus it would have been surmised that he was likely attempting to do the same with the little boys that he had tried to molest and film that day.
. Tragically, his past was not known to the court, either because a multi-state criminal record check was not conducted prior to the bail hearing, or worse, it was known to the prosecutor ,and he didn't pass this crucial information to the judge, nor consider it himself when recommending a bail amount.
Note ; a 15,000 bail equates to a 1500 dollar bond via the use of the standard bail bondsman. which is made available at every courthouse to any person charged with a crime. 10 percent of the total bail amount is all that a bondsman asks for up front by the defendant.
The type of crime that Joseph Duncan was arrested for one month before the kidnapping and murders of the Groene family needs to be recognized and treated as the serious "bridge" type crime that it in fact actually is. It is at this point in a child predators criminal career that we need to end that "career" via a zero tolerance policy. This must include bail constraints, rigorous sentencing and complete probation and parole limits for any crimes against children.
We have long known that child predators have extremely high recidivism rates It is high time to apply all of our hard -won knowledge to the practical end of our criminal justice systems, as this is where we are clearly weakest. Please get involved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_umEiaHZDg
It is a tribute to the many children who were abducted and murdered in the United states in past several years. It is obviously heartbreaking, but also extremely sobering -to be faced with one beautiful little face after the next, each one sharing a terrible fate; Their innocent lives were all snuffed out by violent predators, many of whom had prior criminal histories but were given light sentences which in turn placed them squarely in the path of our children.
After watching this video I suggest that you take the inevitable heartbreak that you'll feel and put it to good use; Make a commitment to all children as well as yourself to take positive action this year towards the abolition of crimes against children.
You can start with your own home-state, by working toward any and all criminal /Judicial reforms that are necessary in insuring that all crimes against children are prosecuted responsibly and severely.
Many of you will say to yourselves 'of course I want to protect our kids... but how would I even begin such an endeavour-I know nothing about our courts and prison system.?'
You will need to first do some investigating into your states current laws and sentencing practices regarding both violent crime in general, and all crimes against children This means finding out what is actually being carried out in your states courts, not simply what laws are on the books. Many times, special sentencing laws exist in states which allow prosecutors to impose stricter prison terms for potentially dangerous or repeat predators, but they are rarely if ever.
This needs to stop, and the first step towards this end would be acquainting oneself with your state's particular weaknesses and strengths re violent crime and crimes against children; This includes sentencing guidelines and actual procedure, minimum sentencing and very importantly, parole procedure both formal and actual, bail policies, IE do minimums exist and what are average bail amounts imposed for violent crime and crimes involving children, and remember These two groups of crimes are usually handled in a like fashion.
Be certain to include statistics for so called "lesser" crimes that have historically been treated in some courts as " nuisance "crimes, despite reams of profiling research that clearly proves that these "lesser" crimes are very often criminal precursors to later abductions, sexual assaults, and murder. In effect they are red flags for our courts for marking potential predators.
Crimes such as exposing oneself to a minor, sexual molestation without "actual rape" or penetration, or molestation not accompanied by violence, These types of crimes until very recently have been treated as lower level classes of crime by many many courts, often leading to tragic consequences for children who are then unnecessarily exposed to repeat offenders who have been already caught and thus within the grasp of our system through out varying stages of their criminal evolution.
Joseph Duncan was one such predator; He was in fact bailed out and on the lam for one such "annoyance" type crime when he decided to go on his now infamous murderous rampage in Coure de lene Idaho, where he eventually killed an entire family ;Brenda Groene, mother if 3, her fiance Mark McKenzie and their 13 year old son were all bludgeoned to death with a framing hammer in their own home in order to kidnap the two youngest children for sadistic pedophilia.
he ultimately killed one of the two children, sweet faced Dylan Greene, then was caught by police with 8 year old Shasta still alive, tho the lone survivor of what turned out to be the most horrific set of crimes against children ever within this century.
Duncan's bail amount for his latest run- in with the law was set at a ridiculous 15,000 dollars by an inept or lazy- prosecutor, despite multiple felony convictions on his record all committed when he was only 17 years of age for what turned out to be the kidnap, rape and torture of a much younger boy at gunpoint!
Thankfully Duncan served the full sentence possible for that crime, as once in custody, the state of Washington recognized his potential for further violence and responsibly did their absolute best to keep him institutionalized for as long as the law would allow: This turned out to be a 20 year prison sentence, during which time he admitted to psychologists that he'd actually raped a total of 16 boys by the time he was 14, although he was never caught for 15 of the rapes.
The subsequent crime that Duncan was bailed out over involved him pulling down pants of two little boys at a school playground, and videotaping the incident. Fortunately, A nearby adult saw the commotion and intervened. Duncan fled but was later recognized in a mugshot by witnesses- He was a registered sex offender due to his very first RAPE conviction. Bear in mind too that the entire sex offender registry was the work of a group of tenacious child crime activists, all led by the parents of a murdered child. This system saves hundreds of lives every year and would not be in existence if not for the hard work of some regular citizens like you and I, who cared enough to go the extra mile-for our innocent children...
The judge who took all of the flak for releasing Joseph Duncan on such a low bail amount has stated that he was never made aware of Duncan's criminal past. Knowing how most courts daily dockets run, I would say that this was a failure on the part of the prosecutor, for the judge typically defers to him at all pre-trial hearings, such as Duncan's standard arraignment and bail hearing.
bottom line is that had that court done its job properly, Joseph Duncan would have been immediately recognized as a dangerous repeat offender that was acting out criminally once again on defenseless children And thus, what at first glance could appear to be "just" some park pervert child molester, was in fact a level 3 dangerous SEX offender with a criminal history of kidnapping and rape. Thus it would have been surmised that he was likely attempting to do the same with the little boys that he had tried to molest and film that day.
. Tragically, his past was not known to the court, either because a multi-state criminal record check was not conducted prior to the bail hearing, or worse, it was known to the prosecutor ,and he didn't pass this crucial information to the judge, nor consider it himself when recommending a bail amount.
Note ; a 15,000 bail equates to a 1500 dollar bond via the use of the standard bail bondsman. which is made available at every courthouse to any person charged with a crime. 10 percent of the total bail amount is all that a bondsman asks for up front by the defendant.
The type of crime that Joseph Duncan was arrested for one month before the kidnapping and murders of the Groene family needs to be recognized and treated as the serious "bridge" type crime that it in fact actually is. It is at this point in a child predators criminal career that we need to end that "career" via a zero tolerance policy. This must include bail constraints, rigorous sentencing and complete probation and parole limits for any crimes against children.
We have long known that child predators have extremely high recidivism rates It is high time to apply all of our hard -won knowledge to the practical end of our criminal justice systems, as this is where we are clearly weakest. Please get involved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_umEiaHZDg
Oct 6, 2008
Donate old cell phones for Domestic Violence Awareness month
October is Domestic violence awareness month and this is a great opportunity to become more involved with this important cause.
We know that domestic and partner violence is all around us, the papers and evening news are filled with stories about women who have lost thier lives at the hands of husbands. ex husbands boyfriends and dating partners. Yet many people are still reluctant to talk about the core issue of partner violence and they often dont know what to do when a friend or loved one becomes involved in a potentially abusive relationship.
The numbers of teenage girls who report having been physically abused in some form or another within thier dating relationships, is at a record high. For the sake of our youth we must address this issue now and with a vengeance, We simply cannot afford another silent generation of domestic violence victims and those who enable this kind of abuse with thier silence or complacency. Awareness is the very first step towards eradicating partner Violence.; Learn about the signs of an abusive relationship and the personality traits of abusive partners--there are classic warning signs and it is often within the early stages of a relationship that the would be abuser is gauging whether or not his partner will make a "good" victim, consciously or otherwise. .
We want our teenage children and young women to respond in a strong and assertive manner if they finds themself involved with any abusive person-or situation. Remember, there are almost always other signs that precede any actual hands on violence, and this can include verbal abuse, threats, controlling or coercive behavior, and extreme jealousy and possessiveness, which often starts early on within the dating relationship.
In 2006 The national domestic violence hotline and Liz Claiborne combine forces to form a 24 hour national teen dating violence hotline and website for teens and young women and men up to age of 24, who have questions or concerns about abuse within thier reltionships or just want general information for themselves or a friend. This website hotline venture is aptly called http://www.loveisrespect.org/ Have a visit, and look around.
For instructions on Donating your old cell phone(s) follow this link;
www.ncadv.org/files/BodyShop-NCADVPre-paidLabel.pdf
Domestic Violence Awareness Month -
Click on this link for lots of information on DV and for more ways to get involved within your community.
!
We know that domestic and partner violence is all around us, the papers and evening news are filled with stories about women who have lost thier lives at the hands of husbands. ex husbands boyfriends and dating partners. Yet many people are still reluctant to talk about the core issue of partner violence and they often dont know what to do when a friend or loved one becomes involved in a potentially abusive relationship.
The numbers of teenage girls who report having been physically abused in some form or another within thier dating relationships, is at a record high. For the sake of our youth we must address this issue now and with a vengeance, We simply cannot afford another silent generation of domestic violence victims and those who enable this kind of abuse with thier silence or complacency. Awareness is the very first step towards eradicating partner Violence.; Learn about the signs of an abusive relationship and the personality traits of abusive partners--there are classic warning signs and it is often within the early stages of a relationship that the would be abuser is gauging whether or not his partner will make a "good" victim, consciously or otherwise. .
We want our teenage children and young women to respond in a strong and assertive manner if they finds themself involved with any abusive person-or situation. Remember, there are almost always other signs that precede any actual hands on violence, and this can include verbal abuse, threats, controlling or coercive behavior, and extreme jealousy and possessiveness, which often starts early on within the dating relationship.
In 2006 The national domestic violence hotline and Liz Claiborne combine forces to form a 24 hour national teen dating violence hotline and website for teens and young women and men up to age of 24, who have questions or concerns about abuse within thier reltionships or just want general information for themselves or a friend. This website hotline venture is aptly called http://www.loveisrespect.org/ Have a visit, and look around.
For instructions on Donating your old cell phone(s) follow this link;
www.ncadv.org/files/BodyShop-NCADVPre-paidLabel.pdf
Domestic Violence Awareness Month -
Click on this link for lots of information on DV and for more ways to get involved within your community.
!
Oct 3, 2008
Book on Petit crimes released
Newly released Book on The Petit family crimes stirs up old wounds, so says community.
www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9907
www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9907
Sep 27, 2008
Cindy Renn Talks About Petit family Crimes
Below is an honest and heartbreaking look at the effects of the Petit family murders, from the perspective of family member Cindy Renn, only sibling and sister of Jennifer Hawke Petit, the 48 year old mother of two who, along with her two daughters Hayley and Michaela, was murdered in last years home invasion in Cheshire. The story is excerpted from a local newspaper in Cindys home state of North Carolina.In my opinion, stories like this are most essential when it comes to violent crimes. For many people, it is only in hearing about the personal details of the crime that they can truly grasp the scope of life-altering pain that is part and parcel of every violent crime. It is within these details that most news stories do not delve. Typically, we are given an antiseptic recounting of the facts of "the case", how many murdered, when and how and by whom, or we are fed a voyeuristic seeming clutch of details regarding the crimes, usually for the sake of sensationalism equals ratings.Meanwhile all would seem to steer clear of any coverage of the true human element; the spiritual and moral crisis that occurrs when any of us becomes intimate with violence and brutatlity committed against one human being by another.
This article which is in effect an interview, strays from the beaten path and cites such things; details like Mrs Renns heartbreaking account of her search to find any intact remnants of her sisters and nieces lives, left in the now burnt out shell of a home where the crimes took place: The terrible smell of the few items that she did manage to salvage, that repeated washings never seem to completely remove.
She shares with us in perfect recall her last phone conversation with her sister on the day of the murders, and the self-tortuous thoughts that if she had only kept her sister on the phone just a little while longer, maybe, just maybe, she could have somehow caused her and her niece to avoid their fateful intersection with the two men that wound up targeting and stalking them for an evening of criminal rampage.
These are but a few of the painful memories and emotional wranglings that this family has surely had to endure as a result of this crime. And while it is certainly tempting to turn away from these very real and very painful details, sparing ourselves the collateral pain that is sure to result from becoming privy to them, I propose that it is essential that we do not turn away, we do not turn the page.
At one point in the story Cindy wonders aloud about the last moments of her sister and her nieces lives,what they thought, what they felt as they were being prepped to be killed, horrible thoughts yes, but real- this happened, and we owe it to these victims to put ourselves in thier shoes when we visit this crime in our hearts and minds. We will then carry this feeling into any proper adjudication of this criminal case.
It is not neccesary to swim forever in these troubled waters however, and this is where it gets hard for some people, particularly the very sensitive among us and those closest to a crime like this. In the best scenario, we can take our feelings of empathy, outrage, grief and disgust and use them as powerful impetus for change within a system that too easily allowed this to happen.
The Bottomline is that as caring and compassionate human beings, we have a basic debt to our sisters or brothers that have fallen victim to violence, to allow ourselves to consider thier experience and to listen. Listen to thier pain, in doing so, we share in thier burden ever so gently, They are not alone.
At the end of the following reprinted article is a link to the story as originally published in The News Observer. It contains photos as well as an audio taped interview segment with Cindy Renn that is very moving.
CHAPEL HILL - Cindy Renn relives July 22, 2007, in her head every day.
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. She was talking to her older sister. They had talked twice that day. They were planning an August trip to Carolina Beach.
"'I just can't wait to have a North Carolina beach vacation,'" Renn remembers her sister, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, saying.
Renn, of Chapel Hill, and Hawke-Petit, of Cheshire, Conn., were both busy raising teenagers, but they tried to get their families together at least once a year. As girls, the sisters had vacationed at Carolina Beach.
That day in July, they hung up from their first call. Then, later, Hawke-Petit called again to confirm that her whole family was coming.
Renn couldn't talk. She was on her way to her children's swim-team potluck. She told her sister she would call her right back once she got on her way.
She dialed her sister back -- she remembers it was at 5:33 p.m. No one answered.
Hanging up from that second call eats at Renn every day.
"If I had talked to her longer, they would not have met those guys in the parking lot," Renn says. "Maybe they wouldn't have been there."
She says this because she's pretty sure that after they hung up, her sister left home with her daughter Michaela, to go to the grocery store. And that's where police believe two men, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, both with long criminal histories, spotted them and followed them home.
About 3 a.m. the next day, police allege, those two men found an unlocked door and broke into the Petits' home. They terrorized the girls -- Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17 -- and one drove Hawke-Petit to a Bank of America to withdraw money. When they returned, police say, they killed Renn's sister and her daughters.
It's a case that echoes the killing of UNC student body president Eve Carson. According to reports, two men with long criminal histories kidnapped Carson early in the morning and drove her to a Bank of America, forcing her to withdraw money. Then they shot her, in a neighborhood that resembles the Petits' Cheshire subdivision.
For Renn, the randomness of her sister's death -- and Carson's -- haunts her. That something so horrible could happen for no reason, on such an ordinary day, forced her view of the world from an optimistic, upbeat outlook to losing her belief in innocence.
It's why she goes over the details that would have changed the outcome. A preschool teacher, Renn says she's afraid that she's obsessed with her grief.
Now, she has to learn to live with it the rest of her life.
'Just have to know'
The deaths of Hawke-Petit and her daughters made national headlines, covered by the likes of The New York Times, People magazine and Dateline NBC.
After the initial media blitz and memorial services with thousands in attendance, Renn was left to figure out how to grieve such a violent event that left three family members dead.
She's constantly checking the Web for new details on the case. She's read every article. Every affidavit. Every warrant. The transcripts of the 911 calls and police conversations.
"I just have to know; I have to understand how it happened," she says.
She knows that the intruders beat Hawke-Petit's husband, Billy Petit, with a baseball bat and tied him up, leaving him for dead in the basement. They went upstairs, raped Hawke-Petit and Michaela, and tied Hayley to her bed.
Before the sun rose, police believe, Hayes went to buy gasoline before taking Hawke-Petit to the bank, forcing her to withdraw $15,000. When they returned to the home, Hawke-Petit was strangled, and the gasoline was poured on the girls. The house was set on fire.The girls, tied to their beds, died of smoke inhalation.
Billy Petit, a prominent doctor in the area, escaped out of the basement. Then flames engulfed his home and his family.
The intruders tried to flee, but police had surrounded the house and arrested them six hours after they'd entered the Petit home.
Renn's thoughts are always going to the last minutes they faced. She wonders about her sister being raped and strangled; her little niece -- sweet, sweet Michaela -- being molested and Hayley, a tall girl who was about to start her freshman year at Dartmouth University, having gasoline poured on her.
Renn never says the names of the accused -- just calls them "the guys." She wants them to die.
"I didn't think I would have that anger," she says.
She's attended most of the hearings for the accused, including a pretrial in July where she sat just feet from Hayes and Komisarjevsky. She imagined her eyes being daggers, so with one look they would be dead.
"They just look like evil, puny, wimpy men, which is sort of surprising for what they pulled off," she says.
She plans to rent an apartment for the trial, expected to take place in 2010. "It makes me sad because when my son is a senior in high school, I will be leaving part of the year for the trial," she says. "I'll feel cheated out of that year of his life. But on the other hand, I feel obligated. I think my sister would have done it for me."
Brother-in-law had nothing
The day after the killings, Renn flew to Connecticut with her husband, Bill, their two children, and her parents.
They rushed to the hospital to see her brother-in-law, who had almost bled to death after suffering blows to his head.
"I know you don't want to see me," Renn remembers him saying as he lay in his hospital bed. "I know you wish it was her who was lying here."
Renn assured Billy they were grateful at least one person had survived. But he didn't want to be alive, she says.
As they sat in the hospital lobby, Renn saw her sister's face on the news. That's when she realized it really had happened. And this hit, too: Her brother-in-law had nothing. No house. No wife. No kids.
Renn went to her sister's house, too. From the front, it still looked like the idyllic sage green, American colonial on the corner lot the family had lived since 1989. From the back, it was just a shell, burned from the fire.
Everything inside was gone, including the family's pets. Renn and other family members endured the horrid smell of burned flesh as they searched for anything that could be saved. Renn grabbed a few things in the house: a summery pink and green skirt her sister loved; Hayley's Vera Bradley bookbag.
Both had to be washed dozens of times to get the smell out.
Renn is always scared. She's always making sure her doors are locked. When she goes to bed, she swears she hears people walking downstairs.
Nightmares haunt her sleep. In them, her house is on fire, and she thrashes around trying to figure out who to save first.
To cope, she wanted to connect with someone who'd gone through a similar experience, so she joined Compassionate Friends, a group for people who have lost a child or a sibling. She was too afraid to tell her story in detail until she met a woman whose daughter was stabbed to death.
"I thought I would scare everyone to death," she says. "I can't let them be horrified."
Carson was killed in March, just miles from Renn's home. Renn sobbed and didn't sleep for days after Carson's killing.
"That someone was running around in our own town," she says. "[Carson] seemed like a wonderful person."
Renn's church made a quilt for Carson's family; church members decorated the quilt squares. Renn wrote a note on her patch.
"I lost three family members to a violent murder," she wrote. "I feel for you and feel for your family."
Then she wrote her phone number and offered for them to call in case they wanted to talk.
A few months before the the deaths of her sister and nieces, Renn had read a true story, "Theresa: How God Orchestrated a Miracle," in which a 2-year-old was beaten, raped and left for dead but survived. Renn remembered that the girl's family in the book forgave the men who hurt their daughter.
"I thought it was odd that family was able to forgive them," Renn says.
But she wanted to make some of her hurt go away, so she decided she needed to forgive the men accused of killing her family.
She wrote letters to both men but never sent them.
She told them about her sister, who chose to become a nurse and take care of people, and how Renn had always looked up to her. She described her nieces: Michaela, an animal lover who always befriended the outsiders, and Hayley, a rower who had plans to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor.
"They were everything to us," Renn wrote.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be your teacher to have taught you the basics," she wrote. "I was raised to believe we are all children of God. I'm sorry you didn't choose to believe that."
Then, she wrote, "I forgive you ... because that will help to set me free."
But now, she's not so sure she can forgive the men. She believes her need to forgive was selfish, thinking it would make the pain go away.
Today would have been her sister's 50th birthday, and she's not here to celebrate it, and those guys are to blame.
"I believe God wants us to hate evil, and to me they are evil in its purest form," Renn says. "I don't feel compelled to forgive evil."
www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/religion/story/1232670-p3.html
To contact the area chapter of Compassionate Friends, call 877-969-0010 or go online to http://www.compassionatefriends.org/.
Sep 24, 2008
Appalling Crimes
Warning; The linked article concerning the Groene family crimes contains graphic and very upsetting facts concerning the kidnappings of Shasta and Dylan Groene and the subsequent murder of little Dylan at the hands of Joseph Duncan a previously convicted and out- on- bail child rapist.
I write about these cases because I feel strongly that the public needs to understand the potential violence that our courts are routinely releasing upon our innocent citizens every time that they offer;
lenient plea bargains with lowered charges for violent crime or crimes againt children
probation with suspended sentences,
early release parole,
and irresponsibly low bail amounts
Such as the 15,000 bond that Joseph Duncan was released on when he committed the murders and kidnappings of the Groene family members, leaving 4 people dead including two children, and an 8 year old survivor who must now battle the memories of unbelieavable brutality and carnage. Eight years old.
In order for Shasta, who is now eleven, to heal will require money. She will need every
possible advantage in overcoming her experience with violent crime, and this will continue to require counseling and funds.
Her dad, Steve Groene,has been treated for cancer recently and lost his voicebox as a result.
He is now unable to work full time. The two have faced difficult economic times as a result of his illness as well as the murder of Shasta's mom and step-father.
Their community has come together to build a home for Shasta and her dad which they have thankfully now moved into. The house is in a trust for Shasta and she will assume full legal ownership when she is 25 years old.
A fund has also been set up for the homes property taxes for the coming years.The goal to set aside the property tax monies for the rest of Shasta's life. We can all help with even the most modest of donations, for every little bit adds up. Donations can be sent to;
Windemere/Coeur d'Alene Realty
Attn: Midge Smock c/o Shasta Groene
1000 Northwest Blvd
Coeur d'Alene, ID
83814
Appalling Crimes: Investigation at Officer.com
I write about these cases because I feel strongly that the public needs to understand the potential violence that our courts are routinely releasing upon our innocent citizens every time that they offer;
lenient plea bargains with lowered charges for violent crime or crimes againt children
probation with suspended sentences,
early release parole,
and irresponsibly low bail amounts
Such as the 15,000 bond that Joseph Duncan was released on when he committed the murders and kidnappings of the Groene family members, leaving 4 people dead including two children, and an 8 year old survivor who must now battle the memories of unbelieavable brutality and carnage. Eight years old.
In order for Shasta, who is now eleven, to heal will require money. She will need every
possible advantage in overcoming her experience with violent crime, and this will continue to require counseling and funds.
Her dad, Steve Groene,has been treated for cancer recently and lost his voicebox as a result.
He is now unable to work full time. The two have faced difficult economic times as a result of his illness as well as the murder of Shasta's mom and step-father.
Their community has come together to build a home for Shasta and her dad which they have thankfully now moved into. The house is in a trust for Shasta and she will assume full legal ownership when she is 25 years old.
A fund has also been set up for the homes property taxes for the coming years.The goal to set aside the property tax monies for the rest of Shasta's life. We can all help with even the most modest of donations, for every little bit adds up. Donations can be sent to;
Windemere/Coeur d'Alene Realty
Attn: Midge Smock c/o Shasta Groene
1000 Northwest Blvd
Coeur d'Alene, ID
83814
Appalling Crimes: Investigation at Officer.com
Sep 17, 2008
Road race generates $225,000
With all of the horrible things that Ive been reading and writing about lately, it was most heartening to come upon this piece of news regarding The Petit family Road Race this past July; The official totals are in and it looks like the entire race day event raised a whopping 225,000 for The Petit Family foundation!
The foundation raises money for victims of violence and several other very important causes-
That is a lot of lives that will be made better thanks largely to the contagious spirit of goodwill and generosity that began in the town of Cheshire in the months following the tragic home invasion which took the lives of three members of a beloved local family.
The desire to extract something positive from such a terrible violent act seems a natural outgrowth of the memories of the three people who were taken within that set of crimes; Jennifer hawke Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela, were each known for an uncanny spirit of altruism and kindness. The people of Cheshire, Plainville and indeed the rest of the state, have strived to honor that spirit by adopting it as their own, perhaps sparked by the words of the lone survivor of the attack Dr Bill Petit, who,within his family's memorial oration , closed with these now-infamous words;
"If anything is to be gained from the senseless deaths of my beautiful family, it is for us all to go forward to live with a faith that embodies action; ,love your family, help a neighbor, fight for a cause."
Bravo to everyone who contributed to the race day event, in even the smallest of ways.
And of course thank you to the founder of the event, and the Petit Family foundation, Dr Bill Petit, a man whose grace, courage and integrity have become a shining example for us all.
plainville.ctcitizens.com/story/road-race-generates-225000
The foundation raises money for victims of violence and several other very important causes-
That is a lot of lives that will be made better thanks largely to the contagious spirit of goodwill and generosity that began in the town of Cheshire in the months following the tragic home invasion which took the lives of three members of a beloved local family.
The desire to extract something positive from such a terrible violent act seems a natural outgrowth of the memories of the three people who were taken within that set of crimes; Jennifer hawke Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela, were each known for an uncanny spirit of altruism and kindness. The people of Cheshire, Plainville and indeed the rest of the state, have strived to honor that spirit by adopting it as their own, perhaps sparked by the words of the lone survivor of the attack Dr Bill Petit, who,within his family's memorial oration , closed with these now-infamous words;
"If anything is to be gained from the senseless deaths of my beautiful family, it is for us all to go forward to live with a faith that embodies action; ,love your family, help a neighbor, fight for a cause."
Bravo to everyone who contributed to the race day event, in even the smallest of ways.
And of course thank you to the founder of the event, and the Petit Family foundation, Dr Bill Petit, a man whose grace, courage and integrity have become a shining example for us all.
plainville.ctcitizens.com/story/road-race-generates-225000
Sep 11, 2008
September 11th - A Survivor's Story
This 9/11 survivor's story speaks volumes about this terrible day in our history, exactly seven short years ago.
Her experience, as all of the victims' of that day- whether they survived or not, is the very embodiment of this entire tragedy, its definition. And as with any violent crime, it is only through a victims eyes that we can truly comprehend the full weight of it.
Sept 11th Story
This is the entire article in Time magazine that the story was excerpted from, for those interested September 11th A Nation Remembers
Sep 5, 2008
Is There an Army Cover Up of deaths of Women soldiers?
Too many non-combat deaths for women.
A few months ago I'd heard that there were record numbers of US military women committing suicide in IRAQ this past year. Yet something about the numbers and the facts surrounding this did not sit right with me at the time- but I pushed it back into that part of my brain that says look into this later when you have more time and information. And Now I know that the almost- visceral sense of unease and dread that I felt then, indeed had its roots in fact.
'Why, I remember thinking,' is there such disproportionate number of women soldiers committing suicide in Iraq and not anywhere near that many men? '
I knew what the reflexive, although unofficial, military answer would likely be,and so I will debunk it, depite the fact that it is not even official;
Women are"naturally" more sensitive, and as such, more prone to experience anxiety depresssion and PTSD during active war-time.( In other words, men are tougher)
This doesnt add up when so many of the women who died susppiciously were described as not at all depressed when they died and even often the term "upbeat",and other like it were used by other soldiers within the deceased's unit, superior officers and family members, the latter who had in many casesspoken to their loved one days or weeks within their so called "suicides" .
As you look over the nooniefortin website you will see that 2007 was the worst year overall with 27 deaths of female soldier since the inception of "Operation Iraqui Freedom ". Interesting that the very first articles written about this entire issue within the mainstream media were late last year/ early this year-- and thus far, we've seen a rather yearly-proportionate drop in these deaths so far in 2008.
Perhaps the US military has begun taking some measures agaisnt whatever has actually been
going on-and believe me, they likely Know precisely what is going on, they are just not going to share about it openly-This is the US military's historic way of handling anything that can bring negative press, especially to an already unpopular war, experiencingwith recruitment shortages..
This by now classic subterfuge is compounding a very very serious problem and enabling the violence and murder to continue. If silence is a co-conspirator what then for those that would cover up brutality and violence? This is infuriating. Young women are putting thier lives at risk for the protection of thier/our country, indeed for all of us, AND YET they are being raped and killed in a foriegn land by the very men who are trained fight beside them!?
If the word rape caused you to flinch and say what let me say that We now do know for certain that there have been confirmed numerous documented cases of rapes of female soldiers as well as US female employees of military contractors, Many took a long time to prove and despite chronic subterfuge by higher ups within the military, they've been proven.
As well There have also been a handful of murders of female soldiers that were so overt that the army basically had to admit to them from the onset. (Ie there were witnesses.)
When looking at the figures which are very high for this kind of homicide,even when considering that this is a somewhat perfect environment for getting away with murder, I cannot help
but wonder if there isnt a direct correlation between the high incidence of rapes and possible homicides and the fact that army recruiting has been admiitedly dropping thier standards over the past 2 years. It's been well publisized that Army recruiters, facing dwindling recruitment numbers due to this wars growing unpopularity, and facing big pressure to meet thier quotas,have been giving out record numbers of "Moral Waivers" for men who have criminal records, including violent felonies like assault and even gang related activities.
The combination of an already violence-infused atmosphere, and the simple geographics of a very far away land which could seem to to offer the guise of a more lawless existance, combined
with the opportunistic shroud of sub-culture secrecy that is the United states military, well,
this could be a perfect combination for the criminally directed soldier to operate.
When reading about these cases of unexplained female deaths with barely a modicum of scrutiny, it beg the question- WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
Official Causes of death that don't add up, details of deaths and autopsies withheld, tampered with, and lied about- on official records, as well as to the inquiring families.
Case after case after case. Read about some of them on the web links that I have provided below. There will be much more to follow.
It was one womans case of "noncombat incident" which cited Fatal siezures that really caught my eye in an otherwise perfectly healthy young female soldier. I was contemplating the fact that many times head injuries cause seizures, and I know from experience that often those same head injuries can have a surprisingly little-to-no visible bruising or overt symptomology-
and still cause death(specially if the temporal or occiputal area of the head are struck into a hard surface like a wall or floor. This gal was found in her quarters alone by her roomate.
Then I read about the very next female soldier on the list. I saw that This woman died inexplicably of an unexplained head injury-of seemingly unknown origin! She was found in her quarters alone as well. Head injuries from assaults are very common, as often the assailent will first try to render the victim defenseless,particularly prior to a sexual assault, but also in "imple assault." Its called a blitz style attack" and serial women killers are often known to use this to render victim compliant or unconscious.
Then there were literally a slew of so called "self inflicted gun shot wounds" -more "non combat incidents" under investigation- except where noted in other words where there were actually
witnesses to the woman being shot by a fellow male officer, or the death scene was so overtly a homicide. Other than these few cases, the inference seemed to be that
these other soldiers on this list had shot themselves. In fact 2 on the list that were previously under Investigation have reportedly now been declared sucicides vy the army according to one
of the liked articles.
Problem is that in several cases grieving family who were suspicious of what the army was claiming, investigated themselves and each time the result was that there was no way the woman could have or did kill themself given the facts of the death scenes. ie the manner in which the soldiers bodies were found, either in relationship to thier weapons, thier dominant hands, details such as a total lack of gunpowder on either hand, addnlunexplained injuries upon thier bodies such as bruising scratches, drag marks etc. The list just goes on and on and on.
Read about it, talk about it We owe it to the women that are fighting in our countrys name to have the truth about thier tragic and untimely deaths, told. Whatever they are. We also owe every other soldier the basic right of safety from those they would trust to be thier brothers, on the line.
www.nooniefortin.com/
Is there an army cover up
www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/exposed-military-lied-abo_b_108426.html?view=screen
A few months ago I'd heard that there were record numbers of US military women committing suicide in IRAQ this past year. Yet something about the numbers and the facts surrounding this did not sit right with me at the time- but I pushed it back into that part of my brain that says look into this later when you have more time and information. And Now I know that the almost- visceral sense of unease and dread that I felt then, indeed had its roots in fact.
'Why, I remember thinking,' is there such disproportionate number of women soldiers committing suicide in Iraq and not anywhere near that many men? '
I knew what the reflexive, although unofficial, military answer would likely be,and so I will debunk it, depite the fact that it is not even official;
Women are"naturally" more sensitive, and as such, more prone to experience anxiety depresssion and PTSD during active war-time.( In other words, men are tougher)
This doesnt add up when so many of the women who died susppiciously were described as not at all depressed when they died and even often the term "upbeat",and other like it were used by other soldiers within the deceased's unit, superior officers and family members, the latter who had in many casesspoken to their loved one days or weeks within their so called "suicides" .
As you look over the nooniefortin website you will see that 2007 was the worst year overall with 27 deaths of female soldier since the inception of "Operation Iraqui Freedom ". Interesting that the very first articles written about this entire issue within the mainstream media were late last year/ early this year-- and thus far, we've seen a rather yearly-proportionate drop in these deaths so far in 2008.
Perhaps the US military has begun taking some measures agaisnt whatever has actually been
going on-and believe me, they likely Know precisely what is going on, they are just not going to share about it openly-This is the US military's historic way of handling anything that can bring negative press, especially to an already unpopular war, experiencingwith recruitment shortages..
This by now classic subterfuge is compounding a very very serious problem and enabling the violence and murder to continue. If silence is a co-conspirator what then for those that would cover up brutality and violence? This is infuriating. Young women are putting thier lives at risk for the protection of thier/our country, indeed for all of us, AND YET they are being raped and killed in a foriegn land by the very men who are trained fight beside them!?
If the word rape caused you to flinch and say what let me say that We now do know for certain that there have been confirmed numerous documented cases of rapes of female soldiers as well as US female employees of military contractors, Many took a long time to prove and despite chronic subterfuge by higher ups within the military, they've been proven.
As well There have also been a handful of murders of female soldiers that were so overt that the army basically had to admit to them from the onset. (Ie there were witnesses.)
When looking at the figures which are very high for this kind of homicide,even when considering that this is a somewhat perfect environment for getting away with murder, I cannot help
but wonder if there isnt a direct correlation between the high incidence of rapes and possible homicides and the fact that army recruiting has been admiitedly dropping thier standards over the past 2 years. It's been well publisized that Army recruiters, facing dwindling recruitment numbers due to this wars growing unpopularity, and facing big pressure to meet thier quotas,have been giving out record numbers of "Moral Waivers" for men who have criminal records, including violent felonies like assault and even gang related activities.
The combination of an already violence-infused atmosphere, and the simple geographics of a very far away land which could seem to to offer the guise of a more lawless existance, combined
with the opportunistic shroud of sub-culture secrecy that is the United states military, well,
this could be a perfect combination for the criminally directed soldier to operate.
When reading about these cases of unexplained female deaths with barely a modicum of scrutiny, it beg the question- WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
Official Causes of death that don't add up, details of deaths and autopsies withheld, tampered with, and lied about- on official records, as well as to the inquiring families.
Case after case after case. Read about some of them on the web links that I have provided below. There will be much more to follow.
It was one womans case of "noncombat incident" which cited Fatal siezures that really caught my eye in an otherwise perfectly healthy young female soldier. I was contemplating the fact that many times head injuries cause seizures, and I know from experience that often those same head injuries can have a surprisingly little-to-no visible bruising or overt symptomology-
and still cause death(specially if the temporal or occiputal area of the head are struck into a hard surface like a wall or floor. This gal was found in her quarters alone by her roomate.
Then I read about the very next female soldier on the list. I saw that This woman died inexplicably of an unexplained head injury-of seemingly unknown origin! She was found in her quarters alone as well. Head injuries from assaults are very common, as often the assailent will first try to render the victim defenseless,particularly prior to a sexual assault, but also in "imple assault." Its called a blitz style attack" and serial women killers are often known to use this to render victim compliant or unconscious.
Then there were literally a slew of so called "self inflicted gun shot wounds" -more "non combat incidents" under investigation- except where noted in other words where there were actually
witnesses to the woman being shot by a fellow male officer, or the death scene was so overtly a homicide. Other than these few cases, the inference seemed to be that
these other soldiers on this list had shot themselves. In fact 2 on the list that were previously under Investigation have reportedly now been declared sucicides vy the army according to one
of the liked articles.
Problem is that in several cases grieving family who were suspicious of what the army was claiming, investigated themselves and each time the result was that there was no way the woman could have or did kill themself given the facts of the death scenes. ie the manner in which the soldiers bodies were found, either in relationship to thier weapons, thier dominant hands, details such as a total lack of gunpowder on either hand, addnlunexplained injuries upon thier bodies such as bruising scratches, drag marks etc. The list just goes on and on and on.
Read about it, talk about it We owe it to the women that are fighting in our countrys name to have the truth about thier tragic and untimely deaths, told. Whatever they are. We also owe every other soldier the basic right of safety from those they would trust to be thier brothers, on the line.
www.nooniefortin.com/
Is there an army cover up
www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/exposed-military-lied-abo_b_108426.html?view=screen
Sep 2, 2008
Petit family cousin Killed In Georgia
www.courant.com/news/local/nb/hc-digbrf0830.art18aug30,0,6051247.story
www.ctcentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20089347&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10111&rfi=6
I just heard the tragic news that a paternal cousin of Dr Bill Petit became the victim of a fatal Domestic violence incident this past week on August 23, in her own home in Athens Georgia.
Forty four year old Tracy Beaulieu, a native of Plainville Connecticut, was apparentlly
murdered by her estranged husband Dale Cook during the statistically-very - dangerous- time-period pre-ceding thier final divorce proceedings. Reportedly, Cook was angered by something that had occurred during the couples Court mediation proceedings earlier in the day. After the hearing He went to the former family home, bludgeoned his estranged wife to death and then fatally shot himself.
.
Tracy Beaulieu filed for divorce in february and the legal process was nearly over, when the
murder occurred. As mentioned, the period surrounding the cessation of any abusive
relationship is one of the most dangerous times for the abused- This includes emotionally abusive relationships where no overt physical abuse has neccesarily occurred...Yet.
Emotional abuse can include behaviors such as extreme jealousy and possessiveness, chronic belittling or degrading, purposeful isolation of the abused from family or friends Attempts to control partners career or school descisons, the goal typically is keeping the abused from any upperwardly mobile career/school decisons (=Independence)
And ultimately, the abuser will begin threatening the abused, her children, her Pets or even yes, the abuser themself---- ie suicide.
Example"if you leave me I will kill myself..."
To the abuser, a request or a filing for divorce or seperation, represents a complete loss of control -of his wife or partner. As such, this is when he may decide to exert the ultimate act of control, ending her life. This also may serve the dual purpose of ensuring that" if he cannot have her, no one will" .
A private funeral was held in Tracy's home town of Plainville Connecticut. He obituary describes an artistic, sensitive and kind person, someone who loved animals and the great outdoors.
She leaves behind three children and two grandchildren, all of whom presently reside in Bristol Ct.\
Reportedly Ms Beaulieu was very supportive of Dr Petit in the many long months following the devastating loss of his wife and children in a violent crime which rocked the entire state of Connecticut.Her family has listed the Petit Family Foundation as a charitie that will recieve memorial donations in Tracy's name.
The Petit family foundation information can be found below-Online donations are also available by following the Web Address that is posted.
Ironically, one of missions of the Petit Family Foundations is to assist people affected by violent crime, Just recently, they helped to fund the construction of a new Domestic Violence shelter in New Britain, Connecticut.
Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Beaulieu and the Petit families.
We are so sorry that they must once again contend with the far reaching devastation of violent crime within thier family-fold.
www.Petitfamilyfoundation.org/
Petit Family Foundation
P.O 310
Plainvilled, CT
06062
www.ctcentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20089347&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10111&rfi=6
I just heard the tragic news that a paternal cousin of Dr Bill Petit became the victim of a fatal Domestic violence incident this past week on August 23, in her own home in Athens Georgia.
Forty four year old Tracy Beaulieu, a native of Plainville Connecticut, was apparentlly
murdered by her estranged husband Dale Cook during the statistically-very - dangerous- time-period pre-ceding thier final divorce proceedings. Reportedly, Cook was angered by something that had occurred during the couples Court mediation proceedings earlier in the day. After the hearing He went to the former family home, bludgeoned his estranged wife to death and then fatally shot himself.
.
Tracy Beaulieu filed for divorce in february and the legal process was nearly over, when the
murder occurred. As mentioned, the period surrounding the cessation of any abusive
relationship is one of the most dangerous times for the abused- This includes emotionally abusive relationships where no overt physical abuse has neccesarily occurred...Yet.
Emotional abuse can include behaviors such as extreme jealousy and possessiveness, chronic belittling or degrading, purposeful isolation of the abused from family or friends Attempts to control partners career or school descisons, the goal typically is keeping the abused from any upperwardly mobile career/school decisons (=Independence)
And ultimately, the abuser will begin threatening the abused, her children, her Pets or even yes, the abuser themself---- ie suicide.
Example"if you leave me I will kill myself..."
To the abuser, a request or a filing for divorce or seperation, represents a complete loss of control -of his wife or partner. As such, this is when he may decide to exert the ultimate act of control, ending her life. This also may serve the dual purpose of ensuring that" if he cannot have her, no one will" .
A private funeral was held in Tracy's home town of Plainville Connecticut. He obituary describes an artistic, sensitive and kind person, someone who loved animals and the great outdoors.
She leaves behind three children and two grandchildren, all of whom presently reside in Bristol Ct.\
Reportedly Ms Beaulieu was very supportive of Dr Petit in the many long months following the devastating loss of his wife and children in a violent crime which rocked the entire state of Connecticut.Her family has listed the Petit Family Foundation as a charitie that will recieve memorial donations in Tracy's name.
The Petit family foundation information can be found below-Online donations are also available by following the Web Address that is posted.
Ironically, one of missions of the Petit Family Foundations is to assist people affected by violent crime, Just recently, they helped to fund the construction of a new Domestic Violence shelter in New Britain, Connecticut.
Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Beaulieu and the Petit families.
We are so sorry that they must once again contend with the far reaching devastation of violent crime within thier family-fold.
www.Petitfamilyfoundation.org/
Petit Family Foundation
P.O 310
Plainvilled, CT
06062
Sep 1, 2008
Innocence lost: Unthinkable crimes committed against children still haunt St. Regis
These two articles about the Groene murders illustrate well the far reaching effects that violent crimes can have on so many. I have followed this case since 2005, when three members of the Groene family, including a 13 year old boy, were found brutally murdered in thier Cour De lene home and the two youngest children went missing, apparently kidnapped by the killer.
I had recurring thoughts about the deaths of this family for months. I prayed and prayed that the missing Groene children were still alive, although I feared the worst. I empathized deeply with the biological father of the children Steve Groene, whose face on the news clearly bore the anguish of the loss of one son and the growing possibilty that his youngest two might have met the same fate
I was thus overjoyed when most unexpectedly,Shasta,the younger of the two missing children, was found Alive and seemingly well at a Dennys restaurant in Cour de lene-of all places.
-My joy, was hampered however by the ominous abscence of 9 yr old Dylan, a boy whose sweet face had become seared into the collective consciece of a country.
Steve Groene announced on the news that thePolice and FBI were certain of nothing at this point and the family was still hopeful that Dylan be found alive, But the prospect of this seemed
grim. And on the internet,where evolving news is often ahead of and more comprehensive than mainstream media, bits of fact here and there began to paint a grim prognosis;of particular concern was Shasta's claim to responding law enforcemnt,that her brother Dylan was " in heaven now"
I can vividly remember hoping,that this claim was the result of a childsconfusion under deep duress, or perhaps a fanciful ideation-a notion that she assumed or pehaps was even told to her by her captor, albeit not true. Our minds did double time wanting to believe that this young
boy was still alive...Perhaps dylan was taken to another area and thekidnapper merely told shasts this to pacify her?.
We prayed and we waited-There was nothing else anyone could do.
Within days an announcement was made that Dylan was feared dead and a search was being conducted in an area that Shasta was believed to have been held captive, Days later we were told that remains had been found and they would be tested for Dylans DNA.
My heart just sunk."Remains" was all that was left left of beautiful innocent sweet Dylan Groene.
my heart just sunk.
The news followed that the remains were in fact Dylan and he was believed to have been shot and killed by the convicted pedophile Joseph Duncan, the man that Shasta had been found with.
I waited and waited for the trial, angry at the plethora of delays constantly thrown out by the defense attorneys for Joseph Duncan,III -A man now believed by the FBI and several crime bloggers to be a serial child killer, responsible for at least 3 other
sexual ssaults/murders of children since his release from prison for an aggravted rape and assualt that he committed when only 17 years of age.
I was still waiting two years later,when we had a violent tragedy right here in Connecticut-The Petit family of Cheshire had been kidnapped, assaulted and Mrs Hawke-Petit and her two daughters murdered in their own home. Dr Petit was assaulted but managed to survive.
I could not help but think about the Groene murders as the details of the Petit crimes unfolded. There were children involved in both sets of crimes, and murders of the adult parents of the children-- It appeared that both sets of murders were motivated by sex crimes against children, and in the Petit's case, also an adult woman for Mrs Petit had been sexually assaulted as was her her 11 year old daughter, before they were killed.
And While these two families may appear to be very different from one another on the outside-insofar as things like demographics economic advantages educational backgrounds and just plain lifestyles- those differences dissapear when violence like this befalls a family. In the end, it is their commonalities that matter.; These were both families with children that were clearly loved. Each had their own histories, spoke their own privatelanguage, nicknames, personal likes dislikes, and lifetimes of shared memories and milestones-Christmases birthdays, school plays and first days of school. And in both families, there were to be many more memories to come.
Those memories were stolen, in both cases by repeat offenders, each of whom were given way too many chances by thierespective Judicial systems, despite dangerous criminal histories in all of their cases; All three were on parole at the time that they committed these crimes-Duncan was on parole for one crime and on bail for another committed during his parole. They all had been given extremely low bail amounts on different occasions for serious crimes with a high potential for causing loss of life. None of them served their full sentences prior to parole, and all of them had been paroled recklessly with insufficient consideration fiven to the clear danger that they posed to our society.
It is clear from these cases and others like them that our judicial systems have become co-accomplices to dangerous predators like Joseph Duncan, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky. In too many instances,we have had these killers within our systems grasp before they killed and they are routinely under sentenced, irresponsibly bailed, probated and paroled, with nary a consideration for their future victims,let alone the ones that they've already harmed.
And these two devastating crimes are but two of many, many others that occur every year across this country. We are facing a veritable crisis regarding violent crime. Wemust begin a process of change and reform in every state that has flaws within its handling of violent offenders. Bureaucracies rarely change on their own, they require consistent pressure from the outside and this demands our involvement on an individual and community level.
Please get involved. There are few "issues" that demand as much of your time and energy.
Learn who your local legislators are, they make your state's laws. Watch their records re crime and vote accordingly. Petition for tougher parole or no parole in your
home state for dangerous offenders. Push for Minimum sentencing and bail minimums
for violent crimes, including home invasion, sexual assault and all crimes involving children. We have learned a great deal about what types of crimes are pre-cursors to murders. We also have abundance of knowledge re predators of children and thierikelihood of recidivism. We must find a way to ensure that those offenders are not given a chance to harm another child.
Hold prosecutors and Judges accountable for lenient plea deals. We are intelligent people- If we are facing docket and prison overcrowding within our state, this is not an excuse to begin letting dangerous predators roam the streets.
More and more states are now handling their less serious crimes in alternative style courts where incarceration is the absolute last remedy, This saves money and beds in prison as well as serving to divert low level offenders who historically pose little to no threat to society, from a system that often consumes them.
Innocence lost: Unthinkable crimes committed against children still haunt St. Regis
I had recurring thoughts about the deaths of this family for months. I prayed and prayed that the missing Groene children were still alive, although I feared the worst. I empathized deeply with the biological father of the children Steve Groene, whose face on the news clearly bore the anguish of the loss of one son and the growing possibilty that his youngest two might have met the same fate
I was thus overjoyed when most unexpectedly,Shasta,the younger of the two missing children, was found Alive and seemingly well at a Dennys restaurant in Cour de lene-of all places.
-My joy, was hampered however by the ominous abscence of 9 yr old Dylan, a boy whose sweet face had become seared into the collective consciece of a country.
Steve Groene announced on the news that thePolice and FBI were certain of nothing at this point and the family was still hopeful that Dylan be found alive, But the prospect of this seemed
grim. And on the internet,where evolving news is often ahead of and more comprehensive than mainstream media, bits of fact here and there began to paint a grim prognosis;of particular concern was Shasta's claim to responding law enforcemnt,that her brother Dylan was " in heaven now"
I can vividly remember hoping,that this claim was the result of a childsconfusion under deep duress, or perhaps a fanciful ideation-a notion that she assumed or pehaps was even told to her by her captor, albeit not true. Our minds did double time wanting to believe that this young
boy was still alive...Perhaps dylan was taken to another area and thekidnapper merely told shasts this to pacify her?.
We prayed and we waited-There was nothing else anyone could do.
Within days an announcement was made that Dylan was feared dead and a search was being conducted in an area that Shasta was believed to have been held captive, Days later we were told that remains had been found and they would be tested for Dylans DNA.
My heart just sunk."Remains" was all that was left left of beautiful innocent sweet Dylan Groene.
my heart just sunk.
The news followed that the remains were in fact Dylan and he was believed to have been shot and killed by the convicted pedophile Joseph Duncan, the man that Shasta had been found with.
I waited and waited for the trial, angry at the plethora of delays constantly thrown out by the defense attorneys for Joseph Duncan,III -A man now believed by the FBI and several crime bloggers to be a serial child killer, responsible for at least 3 other
sexual ssaults/murders of children since his release from prison for an aggravted rape and assualt that he committed when only 17 years of age.
I was still waiting two years later,when we had a violent tragedy right here in Connecticut-The Petit family of Cheshire had been kidnapped, assaulted and Mrs Hawke-Petit and her two daughters murdered in their own home. Dr Petit was assaulted but managed to survive.
I could not help but think about the Groene murders as the details of the Petit crimes unfolded. There were children involved in both sets of crimes, and murders of the adult parents of the children-- It appeared that both sets of murders were motivated by sex crimes against children, and in the Petit's case, also an adult woman for Mrs Petit had been sexually assaulted as was her her 11 year old daughter, before they were killed.
And While these two families may appear to be very different from one another on the outside-insofar as things like demographics economic advantages educational backgrounds and just plain lifestyles- those differences dissapear when violence like this befalls a family. In the end, it is their commonalities that matter.; These were both families with children that were clearly loved. Each had their own histories, spoke their own privatelanguage, nicknames, personal likes dislikes, and lifetimes of shared memories and milestones-Christmases birthdays, school plays and first days of school. And in both families, there were to be many more memories to come.
Those memories were stolen, in both cases by repeat offenders, each of whom were given way too many chances by thierespective Judicial systems, despite dangerous criminal histories in all of their cases; All three were on parole at the time that they committed these crimes-Duncan was on parole for one crime and on bail for another committed during his parole. They all had been given extremely low bail amounts on different occasions for serious crimes with a high potential for causing loss of life. None of them served their full sentences prior to parole, and all of them had been paroled recklessly with insufficient consideration fiven to the clear danger that they posed to our society.
It is clear from these cases and others like them that our judicial systems have become co-accomplices to dangerous predators like Joseph Duncan, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky. In too many instances,we have had these killers within our systems grasp before they killed and they are routinely under sentenced, irresponsibly bailed, probated and paroled, with nary a consideration for their future victims,let alone the ones that they've already harmed.
And these two devastating crimes are but two of many, many others that occur every year across this country. We are facing a veritable crisis regarding violent crime. Wemust begin a process of change and reform in every state that has flaws within its handling of violent offenders. Bureaucracies rarely change on their own, they require consistent pressure from the outside and this demands our involvement on an individual and community level.
Please get involved. There are few "issues" that demand as much of your time and energy.
Learn who your local legislators are, they make your state's laws. Watch their records re crime and vote accordingly. Petition for tougher parole or no parole in your
home state for dangerous offenders. Push for Minimum sentencing and bail minimums
for violent crimes, including home invasion, sexual assault and all crimes involving children. We have learned a great deal about what types of crimes are pre-cursors to murders. We also have abundance of knowledge re predators of children and thierikelihood of recidivism. We must find a way to ensure that those offenders are not given a chance to harm another child.
Hold prosecutors and Judges accountable for lenient plea deals. We are intelligent people- If we are facing docket and prison overcrowding within our state, this is not an excuse to begin letting dangerous predators roam the streets.
More and more states are now handling their less serious crimes in alternative style courts where incarceration is the absolute last remedy, This saves money and beds in prison as well as serving to divert low level offenders who historically pose little to no threat to society, from a system that often consumes them.
Innocence lost: Unthinkable crimes committed against children still haunt St. Regis
Aug 29, 2008
A Sobering comment Re Crimes against Children
The italisized essay below was found on this blog
http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/08/jurors-forced-to-watch-duncan-torture.html
within the comments section:
And although it may sound a bit dramatic, I agree with much of what "ME Stern" is saying here.
I know that we have always had predators in this world, particularly child predators, as I remember well being warned about them as a little girl. However, like ME Stern, I have been noticing an incredible surge in violent crimes involving children in sheer number, as well as the degree of depravity and violence.
.
We must put more collective energy and attention into this grave issue. This starts on an individual level; no more hiding our heads in the sand about this tough subject.
Children, the elderly, women and Pets are often targets of abuse because they are usually physically and sometimes emotionally weaker; This makes them vulnerable to those that would predate. Remember,the ultimate desire of predators is control. This is the very same dynamic that is often at the core of partner violence.
I propose that if we begin to change the way that we view all kinds of abuse, we will slowly change the way that everyone around us sees it and handles it. And by talking about it amongst ourselves as well as bringing it into the public forum, we begin to demystify it.
This is the first step to awareness and change.
M.E. Stern said;
"When I come across evil things such as this -- I try to "intellectualize" it in my mind, so I can feel better if at all possible. Yet, I simply can't. I am not a particularly religious person, but I have now come to believe what some people have said. And that is that now evil forces of the universe have somehow come to dominate over the opposite good forces. I don't think it is just as simple as, "oh he is a sick man." I think there is a larger energy field out there that is wreaking havoc notably on children. Also disturbing to me is that I often look for parallel behavior in the world of nature / other animals. And somehow if I see that an analagous thing happens "naturally," I am somewhat comforted. Yet even when, say, a baby lion cub is eaten by a hungry predator it it NOT an act of deliberate evil, it is better thought of as a hungry animal eating available and appropriate food. The perp's actions against this innocent child have no analogy in nature! I am saddened, angered, disgusted and worried for children today."
http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/08/jurors-forced-to-watch-duncan-torture.html
within the comments section:
And although it may sound a bit dramatic, I agree with much of what "ME Stern" is saying here.
I know that we have always had predators in this world, particularly child predators, as I remember well being warned about them as a little girl. However, like ME Stern, I have been noticing an incredible surge in violent crimes involving children in sheer number, as well as the degree of depravity and violence.
.
We must put more collective energy and attention into this grave issue. This starts on an individual level; no more hiding our heads in the sand about this tough subject.
Children, the elderly, women and Pets are often targets of abuse because they are usually physically and sometimes emotionally weaker; This makes them vulnerable to those that would predate. Remember,the ultimate desire of predators is control. This is the very same dynamic that is often at the core of partner violence.
I propose that if we begin to change the way that we view all kinds of abuse, we will slowly change the way that everyone around us sees it and handles it. And by talking about it amongst ourselves as well as bringing it into the public forum, we begin to demystify it.
This is the first step to awareness and change.
M.E. Stern said;
"When I come across evil things such as this -- I try to "intellectualize" it in my mind, so I can feel better if at all possible. Yet, I simply can't. I am not a particularly religious person, but I have now come to believe what some people have said. And that is that now evil forces of the universe have somehow come to dominate over the opposite good forces. I don't think it is just as simple as, "oh he is a sick man." I think there is a larger energy field out there that is wreaking havoc notably on children. Also disturbing to me is that I often look for parallel behavior in the world of nature / other animals. And somehow if I see that an analagous thing happens "naturally," I am somewhat comforted. Yet even when, say, a baby lion cub is eaten by a hungry predator it it NOT an act of deliberate evil, it is better thought of as a hungry animal eating available and appropriate food. The perp's actions against this innocent child have no analogy in nature! I am saddened, angered, disgusted and worried for children today."
Aug 28, 2008
Aug 27, 2008
Death penalty for Joseph Duncan for kidnapped, murdered Idaho boy
May this sentence be carried out swiftly for the sake of the families involved.
Death for man who kidnapped, murdered Idaho boy
Death for man who kidnapped, murdered Idaho boy
Child-killer eligible for death says Jury after hearing horrific details of kidnapping
Finally.
Nearly four years ago in Coure de lene Idaho, a paroled and out on bail convicted child rapist decided to stalk and kill Brenda Groene, her fiancee Mark mckenzie and 13 year old son Slade Groene in a brutal home invasion committed for the sole purpose of kidnapping 8 yr old shasta and 9 year old Dylan for the purpose of sadistic pedophilia.
After murdering the three family members, Joseph Duncan kidnapped the two small children and brought them over state lines deep into the lolo forest where he moved from campground to campgrouns torturing and molesting the children or 7 weeks, culminating in the shooting murder of little Dylan Groene-in front of his sister Shasta.
Approximately one week after killing and disposing of little Dylans body (bits of bones were all that remained for criminologists after Duncan purportedly burned the childs body "all day and night" in a bonfire at one of the campsites) Duncan inexplicably returned to Cour de lene, the town of the original murders and shasta's home, with little Shasta alive , in tow.
He tolld shasta that he was returning her to her father because she quote" taught him how to love" and he would later turn himself in to police. However, he has since admitted to manipulating and lying to shasta throughout her entire ordeal as the situation called for-in order to gain "her compliance" tand thus we have no way of knowing what Mr Duncan actually had planned Next for Shasta or himself .
Fortunately, thanks to the sharp eyes of Dennys waitress Amber dean, whatever his plans were they became moot shasta was recognized as the two ate a meal at a local Dennys restaurant, in the wee hours of the morning-they quickly called 911- and Duncan was arrested without incident and shasta began to tell her tale of terror to police.
The murder trial for Brenda, Slade and Mark Mckenzie took two years to begin, and ended 6 months later when Duncan agreed to plead guilty to murdering the two adults and 13 year old Slade by bludgeoning them all to death with a claw hammer, this after tying them hand and foot in their family home. For this plea deal He recieved three life sentences with the stipulation that if he did not receive the death penalthy in the sepearte trial for the kidnappings of shasta and murder of Dylan, that he may still be sentenced to death for the first 3 murders- Legal wrangling that very few of us understood.
The second trial for the kidnappings, sexual assaults and subseqent murder of little Dylan was once again delayed incessently by the defense, and a seemingly intimidated judge allowed it, citing as reason his reluctance to inadvertantly providing ammunition for a later mistrial, thereby relenting to each and every stalling tactic.
The stalling was in effect rendered moot when Duncan pled guilty to all of the charges against him seemingly out of nowhere, which led us all to breathe a collective sigh of relief that at least little Shasta now 10 would not be forced to live through the ordeal of testifying against her tormentor in a long and traumatizing trial. However this still left the sentencing portion of what was a death penalty case, and this finally began last week after another long delay, this one caused when Duncan decided to fire his court appointed attorneys and represent himself.
The Judge, again treading carefully lest a legal mistep were to be found cause for re-0trying the whole case-something that he expressed on more than one occasion. insisted upon a battery of phsychiatric tests to determine if josph duncan was capable of representing himself in a court of law.
7 months later he was finally approved by a myriad of psychiatrists as mentally competent to represent himself in the sentencing trial. The judge ordered duncans attorneys to act as back up counsel for duncan, providing advice and direction if needed. Another delay was side-stepped when both attorneys tried to refuse the judges order-they were in effect admonished by the judge who said that he simply would not tolerate any more delays in this proceeding, and the attorneys would be found in contempt if they tried to bail out now.
I have been following this case since it first happened.
I wept when I read about the brutal murders of shasta's mom, her step-dad to be and 13 year old brother Slade; I joined the thousands of people accross the country praying for the safe return of Shasta and Dylan, despite the abysmal outlook for just such a miracle, considering the clearly psychopathic M.O of the person that abducted them.
Then, almost 2 months later, Shasta was found...alive- although little Dylan was feared dead and a terrible 3 or 4 long days later, forensics validated the tragic news. I remember watching the video footage of little shasta walking into that convienence store, so clearly within that monsters pyschological grip, yet with her little arms folded protectively across herself, telling it all.
That image still haunts the recesses of my mind.
I also can see the heart wrenching photo of Shasta, at the hospital, smiling a shy smile and hugging a little doll, when she was first reunited with her dad, Steve Groene, a man who I'd previously seen speaking on many news channels, pleading with whomever had his children to Please return them safely..please.
This courageous little girl has somehow managed to heal enough to return to school, her old gradeschool in fact, a choice that she insisted upon when given the option of attending a different school, so that she might avoid having to explain her ordeal to curious friends and classmates.
Shasta now 11, is reportedly faring better than anyone could have ever expected. She has developed a love of horses and now rides regularly. She also enjoys riding on the back of her dads custom harley, a bike that was recently made especially for them, with a custom back seat and her brother Slade and Dylans names painted on the side.
It has not been an easy time for Shasta -She had had to deal with life challenges beyond the already mind boggling crimes of which she was made victim; For a time she and her dad experienced near homelessness and life threatening illness. Steve groene, diagnosed with throat cancer just months after shasta's return, had fallen upon hard times due to his inability to work and mounting medical costs from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Ultimately he lost his voicebox to the disease but managed to survive, seemingly out of sheer determination to not leave Shasta parentless. particularly throughout the upcoming trial which would surely requite shastas expert testimony.\
. Fortunately, the people of Cour de lene rose to the situation and threw in together to build a new house for Shasta and her ailing dad. The home is in Shasta's name and she will inherit it fully paid for, upon her 21st birthday. Considering that the people of cour de lene and the surrounding area are mostly hard working blue collar folks, this makes thier genorousity even more meaningful, as they will surely do without themselves in the process of helping this family.
I can recall reading about how shasta's expert recollection of the details of her kidnapping helped aid the police, FBI and prosecutors in making thier case strong against Jospeh Duncan.
I prayed that she would somehow be spared having to face this despicable man in a court room in order for him to be convicted and given the sentence that he so richly deserved.
It looks like my prayers and others have been answered.
Let us hope that the final results of this trial give at least a modicum of justice to Shasta, Dylan, Slade and the entire Groene family...
child-killer may get death jury says - CNN.com
Nearly four years ago in Coure de lene Idaho, a paroled and out on bail convicted child rapist decided to stalk and kill Brenda Groene, her fiancee Mark mckenzie and 13 year old son Slade Groene in a brutal home invasion committed for the sole purpose of kidnapping 8 yr old shasta and 9 year old Dylan for the purpose of sadistic pedophilia.
After murdering the three family members, Joseph Duncan kidnapped the two small children and brought them over state lines deep into the lolo forest where he moved from campground to campgrouns torturing and molesting the children or 7 weeks, culminating in the shooting murder of little Dylan Groene-in front of his sister Shasta.
Approximately one week after killing and disposing of little Dylans body (bits of bones were all that remained for criminologists after Duncan purportedly burned the childs body "all day and night" in a bonfire at one of the campsites) Duncan inexplicably returned to Cour de lene, the town of the original murders and shasta's home, with little Shasta alive , in tow.
He tolld shasta that he was returning her to her father because she quote" taught him how to love" and he would later turn himself in to police. However, he has since admitted to manipulating and lying to shasta throughout her entire ordeal as the situation called for-in order to gain "her compliance" tand thus we have no way of knowing what Mr Duncan actually had planned Next for Shasta or himself .
Fortunately, thanks to the sharp eyes of Dennys waitress Amber dean, whatever his plans were they became moot shasta was recognized as the two ate a meal at a local Dennys restaurant, in the wee hours of the morning-they quickly called 911- and Duncan was arrested without incident and shasta began to tell her tale of terror to police.
The murder trial for Brenda, Slade and Mark Mckenzie took two years to begin, and ended 6 months later when Duncan agreed to plead guilty to murdering the two adults and 13 year old Slade by bludgeoning them all to death with a claw hammer, this after tying them hand and foot in their family home. For this plea deal He recieved three life sentences with the stipulation that if he did not receive the death penalthy in the sepearte trial for the kidnappings of shasta and murder of Dylan, that he may still be sentenced to death for the first 3 murders- Legal wrangling that very few of us understood.
The second trial for the kidnappings, sexual assaults and subseqent murder of little Dylan was once again delayed incessently by the defense, and a seemingly intimidated judge allowed it, citing as reason his reluctance to inadvertantly providing ammunition for a later mistrial, thereby relenting to each and every stalling tactic.
The stalling was in effect rendered moot when Duncan pled guilty to all of the charges against him seemingly out of nowhere, which led us all to breathe a collective sigh of relief that at least little Shasta now 10 would not be forced to live through the ordeal of testifying against her tormentor in a long and traumatizing trial. However this still left the sentencing portion of what was a death penalty case, and this finally began last week after another long delay, this one caused when Duncan decided to fire his court appointed attorneys and represent himself.
The Judge, again treading carefully lest a legal mistep were to be found cause for re-0trying the whole case-something that he expressed on more than one occasion. insisted upon a battery of phsychiatric tests to determine if josph duncan was capable of representing himself in a court of law.
7 months later he was finally approved by a myriad of psychiatrists as mentally competent to represent himself in the sentencing trial. The judge ordered duncans attorneys to act as back up counsel for duncan, providing advice and direction if needed. Another delay was side-stepped when both attorneys tried to refuse the judges order-they were in effect admonished by the judge who said that he simply would not tolerate any more delays in this proceeding, and the attorneys would be found in contempt if they tried to bail out now.
I have been following this case since it first happened.
I wept when I read about the brutal murders of shasta's mom, her step-dad to be and 13 year old brother Slade; I joined the thousands of people accross the country praying for the safe return of Shasta and Dylan, despite the abysmal outlook for just such a miracle, considering the clearly psychopathic M.O of the person that abducted them.
Then, almost 2 months later, Shasta was found...alive- although little Dylan was feared dead and a terrible 3 or 4 long days later, forensics validated the tragic news. I remember watching the video footage of little shasta walking into that convienence store, so clearly within that monsters pyschological grip, yet with her little arms folded protectively across herself, telling it all.
That image still haunts the recesses of my mind.
I also can see the heart wrenching photo of Shasta, at the hospital, smiling a shy smile and hugging a little doll, when she was first reunited with her dad, Steve Groene, a man who I'd previously seen speaking on many news channels, pleading with whomever had his children to Please return them safely..please.
This courageous little girl has somehow managed to heal enough to return to school, her old gradeschool in fact, a choice that she insisted upon when given the option of attending a different school, so that she might avoid having to explain her ordeal to curious friends and classmates.
Shasta now 11, is reportedly faring better than anyone could have ever expected. She has developed a love of horses and now rides regularly. She also enjoys riding on the back of her dads custom harley, a bike that was recently made especially for them, with a custom back seat and her brother Slade and Dylans names painted on the side.
It has not been an easy time for Shasta -She had had to deal with life challenges beyond the already mind boggling crimes of which she was made victim; For a time she and her dad experienced near homelessness and life threatening illness. Steve groene, diagnosed with throat cancer just months after shasta's return, had fallen upon hard times due to his inability to work and mounting medical costs from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Ultimately he lost his voicebox to the disease but managed to survive, seemingly out of sheer determination to not leave Shasta parentless. particularly throughout the upcoming trial which would surely requite shastas expert testimony.\
. Fortunately, the people of Cour de lene rose to the situation and threw in together to build a new house for Shasta and her ailing dad. The home is in Shasta's name and she will inherit it fully paid for, upon her 21st birthday. Considering that the people of cour de lene and the surrounding area are mostly hard working blue collar folks, this makes thier genorousity even more meaningful, as they will surely do without themselves in the process of helping this family.
I can recall reading about how shasta's expert recollection of the details of her kidnapping helped aid the police, FBI and prosecutors in making thier case strong against Jospeh Duncan.
I prayed that she would somehow be spared having to face this despicable man in a court room in order for him to be convicted and given the sentence that he so richly deserved.
It looks like my prayers and others have been answered.
Let us hope that the final results of this trial give at least a modicum of justice to Shasta, Dylan, Slade and the entire Groene family...
child-killer may get death jury says - CNN.com
Aug 26, 2008
A Public at Risk
A very good article about the serious problem of over paroled and probated repeat offenders and the hundreds of people needlessly victimized each year as a result.
The article focuses largely on the parole/probation crisis occurring within the state of South Carolina, and it is published in a local SC paper-However, it covers the issue as it it currently clearly exists in several states, including Connecticut, where clearly many parallel sentencing issues still require the critical attention and ministerings of State government and the Judiciary.
Charleston, SC Latest Local News: A Public at Risk
The article focuses largely on the parole/probation crisis occurring within the state of South Carolina, and it is published in a local SC paper-However, it covers the issue as it it currently clearly exists in several states, including Connecticut, where clearly many parallel sentencing issues still require the critical attention and ministerings of State government and the Judiciary.
Charleston, SC Latest Local News: A Public at Risk
Aug 19, 2008
Self Defense for Women against Choke attack...
This link will bring you to a short video on defending ones-self against a choke type of attack where the victim is backed up against a wall.
The video is made by a company called self defense for women.com -I have found this site a substantial source for self defense methods for women in real life threatening situations.
Please watch it, practice with a friend and remember; a high percentage of both partner and stranger violence starts with a choke style grab and/or with the woman backed up against a wall.
Be aware and be prepared.
L-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ros1xrA72T8
The video is made by a company called self defense for women.com -I have found this site a substantial source for self defense methods for women in real life threatening situations.
Please watch it, practice with a friend and remember; a high percentage of both partner and stranger violence starts with a choke style grab and/or with the woman backed up against a wall.
Be aware and be prepared.
L-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ros1xrA72T8
Aug 11, 2008
Join The Million Voices Campaign to End Domestic Violence
Hi All...
Please join "The million voices to end domestic violence" by following this link and signing
up to be "a voice." Join The Million Voices Campaign to End Domestic Violence
It's a small but important committment...
And/or Donate to NDVH (National Domestic Violence Hotline)
http://www.ndvh.org/support-ndvh/donate/
http://www.ndvh.org/support-ndvh/donate/
OR..Volunteer your time, it is a precious resource and can help save lives.
http://www.ndvh.org/support-ndvh/support-the-national-domestic-violence-hotline/volunteering
http://www.ndvh.org/support-ndvh/support-the-national-domestic-violence-hotline/volunteering
Either way, please get involved!
3 out of 5 women and teenage girls in the U.S will experience Intimate or domestic violence within their lifetime. For some, it will be fatal.
Aug 1, 2008
Warning Signs of Abusive Relationship
The link above brings you to the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence website and a list of the warning signs of abusive relationships.
This next link brings you to website called www.loveisrespect.org/ It is a teen dating violence prevention site, and includes a live web based helpline for teens as well as a new 1 800 phone line for teens who need help with dating violence issues. The national hotline is (866) 331 9474
This information is for important for anyone who thinks that they might be in an abusive relationship as well family friends co-workers of someone that we suspect might be in such a situation.
Everyone should become familiar with the signs of abusive behavior and this includes teenagers of dating age. And while this may seem premature to some parents, it truly isn't; teen dating violence is on the rise in the U.S, and as long as our youth are dating at younger ages, this information needs to become common knowledge. I cannot stress this enough-These seeds planted early in life will help save lives in the future. Knowledge and awareness equals power. We will be in effect preemptively reducing partner violence by facing it head on.
In most cases of abusive relationships, it is statistically girls and women who are most vulnerable, although boys/men can be abused as well . As such, we must familiarize our girls with the basic tenets of abuse- What it is, how we know if its happening, the hallmarks of the abusive personality and what to do about it if it is happening to us or someone that we know.
Most often physical abuse is preceded by emotional and/or verbal abuse-Sometimes the person will verbally abuse their partner in front of others, but many times, they do so in private, relying on an acceptable respectable facade in front of others.
This is the most dangerous type of abuser, as he is showing the propensity for deceitfulness and manipulation, hallmarks of sociopathic behavior, which according to the DSM, (diagnostic statistical manual), is termed "conduct disorder" when it begins before the age of 17.
It is usually a precursor to full blown sociopath status by the time the child/teen becomes an adult.
Sociopaths are predators and we need our young people to identify and avoid such people at all costs. This isn't often easy for many adults, as sociopaths can be the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. They can be expert at charming and manipulating others. Sizing up peoples needs and weaknesses in order to procure whatever it is that they happen to want from them.
They see others as potential victims, marks in effect, to take what they can from, In this way they are parasites and have no conscience or compunction about this. In fact, they hold their victims in disdain for being victimized. And rarely will they ever admit guilt. They recognize that what they do is wrong in society's eyes thus manipulation and deceitfulness become as necessary to them as the air is to the rest of us... Is it any wonder that most people are acutely uncomfortable even thinking about their existence among us-After all, this goes what I have just described goes against everything that we are taught is right, is human.
But the sad Fact is that they are among us and they are dangerous. For this reason we need to become comfortable ourselves, learning about this difficult subject And talking about them-Our teens particularly our girls, do not stand a chance if we continue to avoid educating them about the realm of predators in the world, either because it is unpleasant, because we are afraid they cannot process it emotionally, or worse, because we ourselves choose not to avail ourselves of this knowledge.
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