I have absolutely no problem with any inmate getting his proper appeals and due process. Further, I'm actually all in favor of exceptionally harsh penalties for anyone caught abusing the system, such as prosecutors or law enforcement committing acts of intentional misconduct.
However, justice delayed is justice denied. taking 10 years or more to move something through the system is unaccpetable.
Being from Tennessee, and being an ex law enforcement officer, I guess my leanings are obvious.
Something else that drives me further is an ongoing incident that began more than TWENTY years ago. For nearly 22 years in fact, it has been common knowledge that David Kyle Gilley brutally murdered Laura Salmon, a girl whose mother was my senior English teacher, and whom I went out with and knew. He smashed her head with a rock until she could not be identified, and left her half naked covered with a pair of bloody jeans in a field next to a stone quarry just off the road, and not far from the school we went to. that was 1984.
Fast forward to 2001. Finally, DNA evidence was found to conclusively prove that David Kyle Gilley did in fact kill Laura Salmon. He was arrested and returned to Tennessee. For FOUR years now, because a judge allowed this scumbag cretin, who is well known for his cowardly propensity to assault women, to post bail, he has been appealing every single ruling made in court and has yet to go to trial! Had the judge only denied him bail (he was a resident of another state, charged with 1st degree murder, certainly a flight risk if there ever was one), he'd at least already be in jail, and I doubt he'd be so anxious to file the appeals. He will be convicted. He knows it, his lawyers know it, Hell everyone knows it. He has nothing to lose by abusing the appeals system as a delaying tactic to stay out of prison. This sordid Bravo Sierra has now gone on so long that my daughter has now had Laura Salmon's mother as HER senior English teacher, and she (Laura's mother) has retired.
THAT is the sort of thing I want to see stopped. Laura Salmon's mother has had to deal with this for over 20 years, including over 4 years of court battles and the little bastard has yet to face a trial and a jury. Laura has now been dead longer than she was alive, and he has been a free man longer than she was alive (using the term "man" loosely).
His bail has not been revoked, and every 6-7 months, as soon as an appeal is ruled on, his lawyers file another, and another, and another.
I'm beginning to wonder if Laura's mother will ever see justice for her daughter. I've watched this woman age until I barely recognize her. She was a wonderful happy woman who bounced into the room and made even a hardcore school hating redneck smile and at least partially enjoy a class. A great teacher and a great person. I saw her recently when my daughter graduated, she could barely walk up the steps to the stage, she could not stand long enough to pass out diplomas at her last graduation. She was stooped and tired, those of us who knew her then could tell she struggled to force a smile.
The years of waiting and now suffering through the continual "legal process" have taken a horrible toll. Her child has been dead almost 22 years. She's seen her students children pass through her class, knowing she might have had grandchildren their age. My daughter began using her middle name, Nicole, because she knew her first name, Laura, could bring unbearable pain for a teacher she came to love dearly.
After this continual miscarraige of justice, along with a few others, I've become jaded, angry, bitter, and disillusioned with our "legal system".
My daughter, now in college, has decided to become a lawyer. More specifically, her goal is to be a prosecutor. Hell, at the rate it's going, she may graduate in time to try that little bastard.
