Life sentences seldom mean life
In a recent letter opposing the death penalty, the writer makes an interesting claim about jury instructions. He writes: "In capital trials where only one individual is murdered, the jury is not given [the option of life without the possibility of parole]. This jury typically fears that the defendant will be prowling the streets in a few years and thus chooses death."
On June 20, 1972, Joseph Yandle and Edward Fielding murdered Joe Reppucci. Both were sentenced to life without parole.
In May 1995, Massachusetts Governor William Weld recommended Yandle's sentence be commuted. In June 1997, the Governor's Council voted 5-1 to let him go.
On Oct. 11, 1997 Yandle was paroled from a sentence of life without parole.
On March 9, 1963, Ian Campbell, a police officer who was on duty and in uniform, was murdered, execution style, by Jimmy Lee Smith and Gregory Powell. The "Onion Field" murder was the stuff of a best-selling novel and major motion picture. On Sept. 12, 1963, both were sentenced to death.
In July 1967, their convictions were voided because of Miranda. The retrials started in January 1968 and ended in November 1969. Smith got life. In February of 1982, Smith was paroled.
If a life sentence for the high-profile execution of an on-duty, uniformed police officer won't keep a convicted killer behind bars for 21 years, then what will?!
At the Nuremberg trials, Rudolf Hess was sentenced to life in prison. For more than a dozen years, the US wanted to pardon the aging Nazi. The only reason Hess died in prison was that the Soviet Union had a more literal definition about what "life in prison" means.
We live in a culture where "Truth in Sentencing," meaning you will serve at least 85 percent of your time, is a radical concept -- and that reality is why juries typically fear convicted killers will be prowling the streets in a few years.
Lou Eisenberg
Buffalo Grove