E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Monroe County Sheriff's Office via Reuters
William Spengler spent 17 years in prison for murder.
Nine years after brutally slaying his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer, the man who opened fire on volunteer firefighters on Christmas Eve in upstate New York told a parole board in 1989 that he was worried he might kill again if freed, according to court documents.
“If you were capable of it once, are you capable of it again?" William Spengler wondered out loud at an Oct. 3, 1989, parole hearing, according to state criminal records released by the New York Department of Corrections in the wake of Monday’s shooting.
"There is no reason why it should have happened,” he told commission members. “It makes no sense whatsoever. You know, hindsight is a great thing but it does no good."
That exchange, which occurred at one in a series of parole board hearings from 1989-’97, took on added significance in the aftermath of the Christmas Eve attack, in which authorities say the 62-year-old Spengler set his home in Webster, N.Y., afire and then shot volunteer firefighters who came to put it out. Two firefighters were killed and three others, including a police officer, were seriously injured. Spengler then killed himself as police closed in.
The documents offer little insight into Spengler’s mental state leading up to the Dec. 24 attack, except to demonstrate that he unable to comprehend why he killed the first time.
Spengler frequently quarreled with the parole board members during the hearings, disputing how many times he struck his grandmother with the hammer in the July 18, 1980, attack, for example
Woman charged in connection with New York firefighter shootings
He also blamed his grandmother for precipitating the attack by hitting him in the groin, and said he only had the hammer because he was preparing to board up a basement door to prevent his grandmother from going to the cellar.
The parole board unanimously denied Spengler’s release in 1989, and subsequent boards did the same for six years, through 1997, when members said that “the extreme serious nature of your crime, the brutal beating of a 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer continues to militate against discretionary release."
It is unclear what led to Spengler’s release the following year. After spending 18 years behind bars he was well within the sentencing guidelines – between 8 1/3 and 25 years. But authorities could have held him another seven years.
The state Department of Corrections provided this statement in response to an inquiry by NBC News.
"The last time he appeared before the Board was 1997. He was conditionally released in 1998 as matter of law and remained under community supervision until the end of his sentence in 2006."
More from Open Channel:
- After buyout, union workers get a lesson in moden economics
- A buyout, a reorganization and the new face of job security
- Critical EPA report highlighting chemical dangers to kids is sidetracked
- Despite warnings, aging firefighting aircraft still flying -- and crashing
- Kitchen calamity: Reports of shattering cookware are on the rise
- Authorities establish timeline of gun purchases in Conn. school shooting
- Paula Broadwell won't face cyberstalking charges in Petraeus scandal
- New details emerge on private lives of school gunman and his mother
- Mom of suspected shooter, first to die, was avid gun enthusiast
Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
The problem here was not gun laws but the liberal justice system. The fact that he was even eligible for parole after only 8 1/3 years is despicable. He should have died behind bars.
His right to bear arms was denied, so with a record like his, his protection against search and seizure should also have been denied. Any legal scholars out there care to comment?
No it was he was given only 25 years. This article is very suspect. It tries to imply the parole system caused the issue. He would have been out in 2006 anyway. To a point it proves the parole system worked that he caused no trouble between the time he was released and the end of his normal sentence.
The question would be is the statement he made related to harming someone go over the threshold to have him committed. You never know some people like to stay in jail compared to living in the street.
This bull@!$%# of degrees of MURDER dictating years a killer must serve mus end. Aside from manslaughter, all murderers should receive the DEATH PENALTY! And none of this 10-12 years of appeals on the taxpayer dime, HANG 'EM HIGH AND QUICK. That will cut down on this repeat offender crap.
And the stupid parole board set him free. Aren't they are as guilty of murder as he is?
Obviously, you are a woman. Otherwise you would know just how painful being kicked in the groin is.
About normal for unruly children. But that's pretty whack for an adult woman to do.
However, the proper response to abuse is to kick her out of the house if you own or rent it, or leave if she has property rights. But given her nature I doubt she was intelligent enough to educate him on how to legally address abusive behavior since if she did kick him in the groin she obviously has no comprehension or regard for the law.
I don't think he grabbed a hammer and hit her for no reason. Unjustifiable but if she is physically abusive, an authority figure, who is going to educate him on how to address it. Where is the patriarch of the family, he should have flat out condemned grandma's behavior.
Buds, how much worse could it be to be hit in the groin by a 92 year old rather than giving birth without meds or having your tooth pulled without local. I've had both and I didn't even smack the doctor/dentist.
According to Catholic doctrine pain in child birth is function of justice against women for Eve giving into the seductions of evil spirits and disobedience.
That sounds like a just penalty to me.
What exactly could he have done to deserve to be kicked in the groin, and whose house was it?
Manslaughter is not punishable by life in prison, nor should it be. The judicial system followed sentencing guidelines.
Actually, Deborah, he would have been released after a maximum of 7 more years, or 8 years before this shooting.
Instead of blaming the Parole Board, which is constrained by certain guidelines, why not blame the prosecutor, who choose to try him on a charge of First Degree Manslaughter, as opposed to First Degree Murder.
The Parole Board makes a good whipping boy in cases like this one, but it can only work with the sentence meted out by the courts, which in turn is dependent on the charges filed by the prosecution.
Who was the prosecutor, 32 years ago, and what was he smoking?
Flat. The Fact that People don't want to pay the cost of keeping these crazy people in prison is the problem. It seems to me that is more people like you. You don't want a woman to have an abortion if she can't afford to have a kid, yet you don't want her on Welfare so the kid starves to death. You can't have it both ways. This all started when Reagan stopped funding for State Hospitals. The mentally Ill were sent to prisons. Prisons were over crowded, And Budgets were over run. Its always about money. That has to do with all of us.
Janet giving birth is nothing compared to getting circumcised, it took almost a year to walk after I had mine.
the problem is the prison system itself. We have people in jail for long stretches of time for minor things like a small amount of weed, or three minor violations leading to the three strike law. Because of this the prisons are overcrowded, and people are let out early. further more, or prison system is more concerned with isolating and punishing. that is fine for people who are going to die in prison, but the people who are going to be reintegrated into society need to have more time spent on them making sure the reason they committed the crime is addressed. This guy was obviously messed up, and if he was going to be released, they prison should have provided him more mental counseling.
im shocked he beat his grandma to death with a hammer and got out and killed again how can this be? the prison system fixed him! these scumbags should get the nite nite needle and be done with it. if parole boards think someone who can beat another human being to death with a hammer thinks they deserve a second chance they are part of the problem!
Liberals didn't parole him:
.
George E. Pataki, Republican...53rd Governor of New York
In office....January 1, 1995 – December 31, 2006
============================
Mario Cuomo, Democrat, 52nd Governor of New York
In Office....January 1, 1983......December 31, 1994
Since you're nit-picking I thought I should point out to you a republican governor signed the parole order!!
George Pataki, maybe?
What makes you so sure liberality had anything to do with the decision by the parole board to dismiss him? Do you have any proof as to the sociopolitical stance of the members of the board? I would guess that the use of liberal is somewhat akin to another's use of the word gay.
dman, it all seems crazy to me. He beat his sweet grandmother to death with a hammer and he lived to get out of prison!!! What happen to proper justice? His attorneys? The judge? The Jury?
Justice system = Justice
Criminal court system = Money
which one do you believe you have now?
@Buds...rolling my eyes at your STUPID comment
Nothing like the weekend edition of the vine...on an article dealing with CRIME we find.....
.
Jane.. V's..Bud
Man..V's..Woman
Subject;...Which is more painfull...a kick to the crouch or childbirth?
.
Are you two for real?
.
But if it will help settle your little feud,let me offer this little tid-bit....
I have heard many a woman say ... "why yes..come to think on it... would love to have another child"...
But i have never heard ONE man say... " why yes, come to think on it... i would love another kick in the balls"
ROFL Scooter....
But don't you EVER get into this discussion with a room full of women or I will be sending flowers to your funeral...
There should never be plea bargains on killings like these. He killed his grandmother with a hammer, for heaven's sake! To beat someone to death like that, especially a grandmother, shows a lack of social conscience that should never be set loose in society again.
B&S; Just how hard a kick (hit) would you expect from a 92 year old? I find it difficult to believe that a ninety-two year old can do a kick. Think maybe he earned it? And then folks bringing childbirth, circumcision and other assorted oweey, owees into the discussion, Wow....
Finally, by seventy-five, I learned if I'm in a room full of women...act like a mute fly on the wall!
I'm not trying to one up anyone. People should be able to control themselves! And to the dude who couldn't walk after a year.... that is very unusual.
@Flatiron72- that's the problem with liberal systems: They lead to the same sad outcomes (e.g. our economy, unworkable immigration policy, unending wars)
The fact that this guy was an ex-convict is immaterial. He could have committed this crime whether he had previously killed his grandmother or not.
The kid that shout 20+ children to death in Newtown didn't have any priors. The Aurora massacre shooter with 70 people wounded or dead had no priors. The Muslim guy that shot up the barracks had no priors. The Norway massacre. etc.
So trying to blame this on the "liberals" is absurd.
The bottom line is we need to limit the availability of assault weapons. They're just too prolific and to easy to obtain legally.
over crowded prisons are a concern when the parole board allows a convicted murderer out on parole so there is a cell open for some kid that was caught smokeing in the school bathroom
If they had fried this POS then the only over crowding problem would be in the hole they dropped his rotting corpse in.
Does anyone really think a guy who beats his grandmother to death with a hammer is going to rehabilitate????
Ya didn't think so.
This EXCELLENTLY demonstrates the problem that lies within NOT a proper separation of "a matter of Law" and a "matter of Mental Health". It seems like ALL FOCUS back then and even to a great extent, now, is, was and had been on "what he did", exclusively of "why he did it".
"HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED RIGHT THEN AND THERE BACK THEN! THEN THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!!!!" To those who say that, HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN "PROPERLY", "ADEQUATELY" AND "SUFFICIENTLY" ACKNOWLEDGED FOR REHABILITATION! THEN THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!!!!
WHAT A BLATANT "MISSED AND DISCARDED OPPORTUNITY" to have learned so much about what was going on in and with his psyche while he was incarcerated. THERE WERE "RED FLAGS" GALORE!!! (but NOBODY and not the PROPER SOMEBODY there to SEE THEM!!!) There still there, AND THEY STILL APPLY! I only hope the PROPER SOMEBODY/S will be ALLOWED to see, speak and deal with them NOW! A Sociologist/s and Psychologist/s.
WHAT AN OUTRAGE!!! Just like the Sociologist has been replaced by "The Economist", and The Psychiatrist by The Pill-Pusher, "THE PSYCHOLOGIST AND PSYCHOLOGY" has been DETRIMENTALLY replaced by "mass-produced-made-in-China-SOCIAL-WORKERS", POLICE AND JAILERS AND "SUPPOSED CRIMINAL JUSTICE"!!!!!
Hmmm.. a convicted killer wonders out loud in front of a parole board "could i, will i kill again?" naturally he's let out. you really can't make stuff up like this.unreal.
Everyone here is missing the point on how he got out of prison, and it's total irrelevance to the shootings.
The story is misleading, and should have emphasized this point:
Conditional release in New York State, means that with earned good time, he had to be released. No Parole Board released him, ever!
But the fact that his full 25 year sentence was up in 2006, means that there was no way he would still be in prison or under Parole supervision, under any circumstances after that date. After 2006, it's as if he served 25 years anyway.
Just wondering if you think that beating his grandmother to death with a hammer warrants him never getting out or even better being executed for his crime?????
He never should have been released from prison. In fact he should of been given the death penalty for his horrific crime of MURDER!
So I must ask all the libtards reading this....How is all that rehabbing the murderers going for ya? Idiots.
It is time for the bleeding hearts of America to shut up and let the Death Penalty be reinstated for violent crimes. At least this guy took his life saving taxpayers time and money to prosecute him again.
Though I am sure there is some bleeding heart out their feeling sorry for him and finding fault elsewhere for his actions.
Robbob, if you are asking me what I think. I personally think he is a sick bastard that should have never been allowed to be free.
Either he be executed, or life in prison, I don't care which. (although New York doesn't have a death penalty)
I hope the familys of the firefights have the good sense to sue New York Prison Board for letting this killer go free in the first place. Once again the Justice system have failed the people that they are sworn to protect. Anybody that kills there grandmother with a hammer does not belong on the street at all! Instead of taking away people gun rights they need to put some of these killers to death instead of letting them roam free. Locking them up in jail doesn't work which is clearly shown in this case. Just like all the sex offenders and rapist that they let out on the streets too. Our country will never be safe as long the Justice system keeps letting the killers go free. I don't care if you took every gun away from everybody here in America a killer will still kill. This man didn't use a gun when he killed his Grandmother he use a hammer on her which just proves you don't need a gun to kill. If you want a safer country to live in then we need to demand that our Justice system start killing some of the killers instead of letting them run free or living out a life in jail.
As I tried to explain in #1.31, the Parole Board never did let him out. A C.R. release is a legally mandated release date.
In this case, even if he had served his full 25 years in prison, he still would have been out on the streets since 2006. There was no legal way to keep him in prison from 2006 until now.
That is why I feel that the article is somewhat misleading for not making that point clear.
This never should have happened. This man should have been executed after his 1st murder. Capital Punishment means nothing unless carried out in a timely manner..... That will also reduce the over all cost of supporting these Scum Bags while they sit in Jail, (Over all Cost Food, Lodging, Medical, Clothing, Jailers, Legal Representative)..... The HUGH cost of Jailers & Legal are the main reason we can not afford to keep Criminals Locked Up.....
@OHGuy - The cost of executing someone v. keeping them in prison for life is huge. Here is some reading on it.
h t t p:// deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001000
I used to work for corrections, and this was a huge talk that would come up all the time be it staff or inmates. And surprisingly, most inmates thought that the extra cash spent on the death penalty should actually be spent on programs to prevent repeat offenders, drug use, etc.
The prison system is VERY flawed, and will set people up for failure. A lot of inmates (And this is just an example) need various meds to stay on an even keel, and when they get out of prison, they are usually given about one to two weeks worth of said meds, with no way of having them filled out after for more. A lot of people will just do something to get back in jail so that they can get them again to not feel mentally unstable.
I think that people who kill should just rot in jail and not waste every ones time on appeals, multiple trials, parole etc. Take that money and put it into programs that will help to prevent repeat offending, or any first time offense. Education is key. Just look at how the prison systems in Europe work. They have lower rates for offense, repeat offending etc, all due to how they spend their moneys on preventative programs.
His right to bear arms was denied, so with a record like his, his protection against search and seizure should also have been denied.
I guess they released him to free up a bed for a pot dealer.
Probably. The war on drugs is FAR too profitable for all the agencies and the legal/justice system. Why take up valuable prison space with a murderer when there are billions of dollars spread around on the drug "problem".
what part of the word "dealer" do you not understand? small timers are rarely sent to PRISON. a county stint or rehab is the general rule. for SMALL dealers if a dealer is in PRISON there is a reason for it.
The justice system will always fail us. Its been proven time and time again. The mental health system has never been anything more than a bunch of Walmart-greeter degree ringers who have more issues with themselves than their clients and not enough sense to come in out of the rain. Ban guns? Yeah, with the millions of guns out there already, thats going to work swell.....and THIS fricking nutjob.....the morons who let this screwball out should be tried for contributory manslaughter.
I agree. When they bulldozed the State Mental Hospitals and turned the dangerous psychotics out onto the street, the negative societal impact has ranged from herds of homeless to repeat murderers. The mental health "industry" is a system of epic failure.
I agree that the morons who let this screwball out are responsible and now should pay the price.
Justice system ?....Surprise ....we do not have, nor have ever had, a "justice system" we have a criminal court system...BIG difference. one seeks justice......one seeks money....
to do so would effectively eliminate the parole system all together. is that what you are calling for?
Everyone here is missing the point on how he got out of prison, and it's total irrelevance.
The story is misleading, and should have emphasized this point:
Conditional release in New York State, means that with earned good time, he had to be released. No Parole Board released him, ever!
But the fact that his full 25 year sentence was up in 2006, means that there was no way he would still be in prison or under Parole supervision, under any circumstances after that date.
He should have been put down when he killed Grandma. Being that didn't happen, the scum should have finished his 25 year sentence and then been institutionalized in the nut farm for the rest of his sorry life. I can only hope the dumb a@@ that supplied him with her "stolen" guns, rots in hell for her part in all this! Hopefully she'll get a minimum of 25 years and they carry it out to term!
Stop showing the picture of the muderer. Show the pictures of the Heros that answered the call of help that fateful morning. Their images should be the ones that we should only see. Let the devil see the muderer's face in hell.
sorry they dont do that here depending on what the perp looks like of course.
Holy SHIDT NBC report the FRIKKIN news and move on!! Quit gutting our hearts with this scumbag or that scumbag!! I'm a 23 yr ex-firefighter and am SOOO sick of you guys plastering this pukes face on the page everyday!!
standard weekend edition........re-hash...its whats for dinner.
Apparently, this individual shouldn't have gotten out after he beat Granny in the head with a hammer! The person that bought him the guns should be looking at life without parole as well! I myself, am a convicted felon with a record of violence. People like me should NEVER be allowed to possess firearms! There is a federal law against convicted felons possessing firearms. This only means that we can't purchase a gun in a store, or get caught with one; It doesn't mean we can't get our hands on a firearm! All gun control is going to do is take guns away from responsible citizens; Not take them out of the hands of criminals! Responsible ownership is the only answer that works! I also believe that anybody that leaves firearms unsecured, that end up stolen and used in a crime, should face the same consequences as the criminal that used the gun! See how fast people go out and get gun safes and trigger locks then!
Blame the PAROLE BOARD, not GUNS!
the Murderer is wholly and totally responsible here. no one else...all other finger pointing is pure lib blame game nonsense
Guns don't do anything, but they are good paper weights when fully loaded.
True...checked mine this morning and none of them jumped up and went on a killing spree last night.
where you keep them is directly proportional to the risk of someone you don't even know sticking your firearms in some 6 year old kids face. The risk of someone you do know is greater yet. The responsibility is heavy.
Aside from all the "Guns are bad!" and "Guns are good" debates, which never convince anybody, one wonders why William Spengler was not sentenced to life without parole, or to death, if that was a statutory option.
This is a man who repeatedly struck his own grand mother in the head with a hammer. If that does not constitute a brutal and intentional murder, meriting the maximum punishment under law, what the hell does?
So, in 1997, they let out Maxwell Silver Hammer, and 15 years later he kills again, his actions as senseless and brutal as those of his original crime.
Who is surprised?
The prosecutor in the original case, obviously. What was he [or she] thinking? Or was he just to lazy and indecisive to try him on a murder-one charge?
What is the solution?
Simply banning all guns, or certain types of guns might have prevented this particular killing; I don't see a 60+ year-old man successfully assaulting multiple fire fighters with a hammer. But, from the moment of his release, William Spengler was poised to kill again, with a gun, a knife, or a hammer. Simply put, his initial crime was sufficient to justify his incarceration for life, both in the interests of justice and of public safety.
He should never have been let out.
Why was he?
I wonder about these high profile gun cases. You tube and type in aurora sandy hook dark knight. The latest batman movie there are two scenes that aurora in in neon lite top of building and sandy hook is on a map the only other readable name other than gothem?
Hindsight is always 20/20. Accoding to the information available so far, he was incarcerated for most of his sentence without any incidents and he was on parole for the remainder of his full sentence without any incidents. Upon release, he was living in a stable household with family members. There are thousands and thousands of parolees whose situation is identical and who never recidivate.
In this case, the only way to know in advance if this situation was likely to spiral out of control was if his sister/relative/neighbor came forward if they had suspicion of possible violent behavior.
OR....
Authorities had a crystal ball.
When the murderer says he will do it again, how much of a crystal ball do you need. How's Bevis, by the way?
Steve, he was only convicted of First Degree Manslaughter, not First Degree Murder. Neither a death sentence, nor life in prison was a possibility.
From the moment of sentencing it was a forgone conclusion that he would get out again. If you don't like that result, blame the prosecution of the case, 30+ years ago, not the parole board.
BTW: He didn't say he would do it again, he said he wondered if he would do it again,
...eight years before parole was granted, in 1997.
That's right in the second paragraph of a very brief article. But don't feel too bad. I'm sure Bevis wouldn't have caught that either.
moot point he would have been released 2006 without ANY type of containment...AKA parole.
This is a perfect case for execution for murder. If this jackass had been executed after his first murder, HE WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT AGAIN.
Execution is not a deterrent. It doesn't bring back the victim. It doesn't erase the grief of those who were close to the victim. Blah blah blah....but it does assure that the murderer will never do it again. That is the only valid reason for the death sentence, but it is the overwhelmingly intelligent thing to do. Do we really need murderers back out on the street? Now there are more victims, all predictable, and all avoidable.
agreed
The nice thing about the dead is that they don't cost much to house and feed.
In this case I would have to say we need murderer control not gun control. He should have died killing a 92 year old woman. We have put such a low cost on life no wonder so many decide to take it.
I think we all agree it is time for an assault weapon ban. The circumcision joke was good if you got it.
And here is the problem.........."Spengler had been charged with murder in his grandmother's death but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, apparently to spare his family a trial." (Huffington Post 12/29/12)
He should have NEVER been offered the opportunity of a plea bargain. No place for them in the case of violent crimes.
If they had dropped him into a wood chipper, and blew him into a hog pen, he might have had some purpose. Other than that, the fact that he breathed the same air as everyone else is an insult to humanity. Subhumans who can beat their grandmothers to death with a hammer will always find a reason to kill again.
sounds like a sure fire way to curb terrorism ...too bad it isn't P.C.
Reading the comments makes me wonder, How many convicted murderers are out in society right now in America?
Way more than you want to know.
I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I can think of at least 10-12 without much effort.
The bad thing about our justice system is that it's underfunded and not very efficient. Prosecutors are pressured to push as many cases through as possible, so if a suspect is willing to plead to a lessor charge, that case is closed, and they can move on to the next one.
Also, due to prison overcrowding, some state legislators have come up with various early release programs, actually bypassing the parole board. And some real bad folks were let out due to these programs. Had they appeared before the parole board, they might have had to complete their sentence.
Google Stephanie Schmidt Kansas. She was a college student that was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a convicted murderer that was let out of prison because of one of these cost-saving programs. Not by the parole board.
Killing via hammer attack seems pretty brutal to be allowed to plead down to manslaughter
Yeah, I'm pretty certain if you can bludgeon your own elderly grandmother to death with a hammer and then ponder the prospect of whether you might kill again at your parole hearing... there's a distinct possibility you have NOT been rehabilitated. DUH!
moot point...he would have been released in 2006 irregardless.
Where did it say he "bludgeoned" her to death? One blow with a hammer to anybody's head could kill a person.
Maximum prison time should be limited to 5 years.
followed by execution or release.
In most places it already is, minus the execution of course.....not P.C. ya know.
GM Warren
Mornin scooter
What I don't understand is why there is any mystery about what triggered Spengler. The mystery is why was he released to live next door to where he killed his Grandmother.
His act of murder in 1980 almost has the look of a flashback ; As if he'd been cornered in that basement before. In 1980 he lashed out, and happened to have a hammer.
I'm not making excuses for Spengler. He himself didn't know what happened or why. He himself was concerned he could kill again, and all he got was "rest" at Marcy. Was he supposed to diagnose, treat, and cure his own mental illness? He should've pursued the answers, but didn't. Or couldn't. He should've been released into a halfway house with regular mental health and substance abuse monitoring. He should never have gone back home, to the scene of the murder.
He probably went back because he felt it was the only option he felt he had. And so we have a mentally ill person, further disturbed by doing time, going back to live at the scene of the murder and surrounded by many of the dynamics that triggered the first murder. His past was never far behind him.
Did the police respond with the fire department that is a normal practice in most communites including mine?
The problem starts with a paltry 25 years for beating a 92-year-old woman to death, never mind a woman who was his own flesh & blood. That act clearly showed Spengler was not fit to live in society, ever. He should have been imprisoned for the rest of his life, for the safety of the community, which has a right to protect itself. A lot of people are in prison with long sentences for non-violent drug violations but a clearly dangerous man like Spengler gets out. There is no common sense in the criminal "justice" system. Why do a lot of people feel the need to own guns? Because they know that police, judges, juries, & parole boards will not protect them & are desperate to do something, anything, to mitigate the carelessness & lack of common sense of the agencies that are supposed to make the need for private actions unnecessary.
Part of the problem is we buy and sell the LAW today, just like everything else. Liberals think they are doing a great service to society, in being lenient and forgiving; conservatives just want to take all the money away from the needless expense of jailing people. People like this should be put away for life, and big lawyers shouldn't be making themselves famous getting people like this reduced sentences, and paroles. Yet they continue to blame guns, and think that freedom has a price tag attached. The problem is our society doesn't understand what justice is; and the law is all about, who you know, and, how much you have, and, how can this case make my career rise! Our justice system is utter chaos!