Halloween prank turns deadly

I was reading a story just a little while ago that really broke my heart. It happened pretty close to home too. Just down the road in Atlanta.

It didn't just break my heart. It made me mad too. Because it was senseless.

Continue>>

One down, one to go

Riley Ann Sawyer was two years old when she was brutally murdered. She was beaten with belts, thrown across the room and dunked into a tub full of cold water. Her battered lifeless body was then stuffed in a trunk, hidden in a storage shed and then later thrown into the ocean. Who would do such a thing to a precious child? According to prosecutors in Galveston County it was her mother and her step-father.

After two hours of deliberation a jury found Kimberly Dawn Trenor guilty of capital murder. Trenor’s husband Royce Clyde Zeigler II is still jailed and awaiting his trial.

Trenor claims she did not kill her daughter. She says it was all Zeigler. Jury members were not swayed by her testimony. Randall Rothschild, the jury foreman, said emotion did not play a role in the verdict and they believe justice was served. I completely agree.

When the remains of the toddler were first discovered on Galveston Island my heart went out to whomever the baby belonged to. I felt so sorry for the family of the baby they had dubbed “Baby Grace”. I thought some terrible person had taken this child, tortured her and then cast her away like she was a piece of trash. I never imagined it was her own mother that was the guilty person.

Then several weeks after the trunk containing little Riley’s body had washed up on shore, Riley’s grandparents saw an artists sketch on TV and called authorities because they believed the picture looked liked their granddaughter. Sadly they were right.

Trenor received life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. It is required to prove that the person on trial would be a future danger to seek the death penalty and they didn’t believe they could prove that. That’s something I just don’t understand. If they’ve killed once isn’t that enough? I could see if it was a case of accidental death but this certainly was not. Riley was attacked and murdered out of anger. There’s nothing accidental about that. If I had my way, Trenor would be sitting on death row.

On the web: Texas jury convicts mother in 'Baby Grace' slay

Facebook: A reason to kill?

In the virtual world, Facebook is at the top of the list of social networking sites. Millions of people all over the world connect through Facebook every day. On the front page it tells you that "Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life". It also encourages you to participate by announcing "It's free and anyone can join".

I have a Facebook page. I think most people know that if it's available online, more than likely I have something there. I enjoy my time on Facebook. I play several of the games. Sometimes I write there, although most of my writing is here on Blogger. I keep up with several family members and friends that live far from me. It is a connection site for me.

And it is a connection site for many other people all around the world. I came across this story out of Britian last night about Facebook. A 41 year old man became enraged when his estranged 26 year old wife changed her status on Facebook to single.

Sarah Richardson moved back in with her parents back in April of 2008 because she had decided her marriage to Edward Richardson was over. She had stopped responding to his calls and texts and changed her Facebook status to single. Edward then went to her family home, broke the window in the front door and attacked and murdered her in her bedroom.

After stabbing her to death he attempted to take his own life but failed. On Friday Edward was convicted of the killing and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

The headline of the story from The Independent was 'Life for wife-killer enraged by Facebook change'. Well I'm sorry but 18 years is not LIFE. He'll be 59 when he gets out of prison. 59 doesn't seem old to me. It seems like he'll have a lot of life left to live after his "life" sentence is completed.

According to the Wikipedia free encyclopedia, life imprisonment time varies from country to country and ranges from a minimum of 7 years to the death of the prisoner. Some countries have banned life imprisonment saying that it violates human rights.

What I want to know is what about the human rights of the people that were murdered? Did they not have the right to live their lives until a natural death occurred? And why does the person that took someone's life have more rights than the person they killed? That's basically what I feel they are saying. We know you killed someone and violated their right to live in the most heinous way, but we don't want to violate your right to live your life. We'll just keep you here and feed you for a few years and then we'll let you go...if that's alright with you.

Why worry about what they deserve? They MURDERED another human being. That person has no rights anymore to me. They don't get to decide anything. They ended someone's life therefore I believe their life should be ended too. Not just 18 years worth either. Forever.