On the Gaffney Killer
Patrick Tracy Burris compiled a rap sheet a mile long in five states (Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia) before murdering 5 innocent people in a sixth (SC), and finally committing suicide-by-cop in the state that enabled all five killings by allowing him out on parole. State Law Enforcement Division Reggie Lloyd waved a copy of his criminal record in a press conference saying “Look at this. This is like 25 pages. At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street.” No kidding, particularly given that the principal offense he was serving time for was being an habitual felon. If being an “habitual” anything doesn’t disqualify one from parole, what on earth does? And why do we never hear from the people on the parole board in cases like this? Shouldn’t journalists be on them like white on rice, asking them what on earth they were thinking then, and why they still consider themselves fit to serve on parole boards now?
Meanwhile, during that same week, in some small California town you’ve never heard of, a 63-year old peach farmer was found alive and well by his wife when she returned home after running some errands. Four days following that non-incident, an 83-year-old woman in the same community invited her 50-year-old daughter over for tea. The two had a friendly chat, during which no one broke in, tied them up, shot them to death or disturbed them in any way. And the day after that, some middle aged man and his 15-year-old daughter worked at their family business, which they closed down for the day at the usual time without incident to re-open the next day. All because California’s answer to Patrick Tracy Burris is rotting in prison, courtesy of the much-maligned Three Strikes Law. We need that same law in the Tarheel State yesterday. And we owe our neighbors to the south a huge apology for the murders of five innocent people that we could and should have prevented.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I STILL believe in running the gauntlet, the stocks, hanging, and other forms of publicly-displayed punishment as a deterrent to crime. . . So sue me.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:01 am
[...] Yup: At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 9:59 am
This was not a suicide by cop. He tried to shoot it out with the County PD, and one officer was wounded in the leg. Treated and released from a local hospital the same day.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
So it appears the land of fruits and nuts does have something going for it, besides high taxes. Three Strikes works.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Yup. More generally, what the land of fruits and nuts really has going for it is a strong voter initiative process, without which Three Strikes would never have passed. I have little doubt North Carolina voters would enact the same law in a heartbeat, were we allowed to vote on it directly.