Victims Speak Out for DP: The brothers of 18-year-old Jody Stambaugh , who was raped and murdered in 1972 by a habitual sex offender, detail the ordeal they and the family of another victim have gone through over the years in this article in the Anchorage Daily News. Alllen Walunga was convicted of what the judge called "probably the most vicious crime that I have had contact with," for the rape and murder of Stambaugh and the attempted murder of her college roommate. Walunga was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole plus 15 years, primarily because Alaska did not have a death penalty. The Stambaughs and the roommate and her family have spent the last 37 years fighting to prevent the state from granting Walunga's repeated applications for parole.
Guilty Plea to Avoid DP: The wife of a college football player charged with the 2008 murder of a cheerleader has pleaded guilty in order to avoid a death sentence for assisting in the crime, according to this Associated Press story from South Carolina. Prosecutors have announced that they will seek a death sentence for her husband, Parnell Thompson, who has pleaded not guilty to stabbing 16-year-old Marisha Jeter to death and leaving her body under a bridge.
Dealing With Prison Overcrowding in Arkansas may include letting convicted murderers out of jail on work-release, according to this story by Lacey Crisp of Eyewitness News. Fortunately the family of Kenya Thigpen, who was reportedly shot at least seven times by her boyfriend Leon Jackson, was able to discourage Arkansas authorities from letting the killer participate, although he appears to have been eligible. The crackdown on habitual felons over the past 20 years, coupled with a reluctance by politicians to fund expansion of corrections facilities, have left many states with overcrowded prisons. Rather than set priorities that assure the safety of the public, a remedy that failed miserably in the late 60s is gaining popularity among states such as Arkansas. Expanding community release programs to reduce prison population will certainly cause crime rates to rise. Eventually, after the lives of several million innocent people are destroyed or seriously impacted by crime as occurred in the 1970s, the public will demand a new crackdown.
Guilty Plea to Avoid DP: The wife of a college football player charged with the 2008 murder of a cheerleader has pleaded guilty in order to avoid a death sentence for assisting in the crime, according to this Associated Press story from South Carolina. Prosecutors have announced that they will seek a death sentence for her husband, Parnell Thompson, who has pleaded not guilty to stabbing 16-year-old Marisha Jeter to death and leaving her body under a bridge.
Dealing With Prison Overcrowding in Arkansas may include letting convicted murderers out of jail on work-release, according to this story by Lacey Crisp of Eyewitness News. Fortunately the family of Kenya Thigpen, who was reportedly shot at least seven times by her boyfriend Leon Jackson, was able to discourage Arkansas authorities from letting the killer participate, although he appears to have been eligible. The crackdown on habitual felons over the past 20 years, coupled with a reluctance by politicians to fund expansion of corrections facilities, have left many states with overcrowded prisons. Rather than set priorities that assure the safety of the public, a remedy that failed miserably in the late 60s is gaining popularity among states such as Arkansas. Expanding community release programs to reduce prison population will certainly cause crime rates to rise. Eventually, after the lives of several million innocent people are destroyed or seriously impacted by crime as occurred in the 1970s, the public will demand a new crackdown.
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