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| A better way to judge prisoners |
| By citizen.com |
| Published: 12/22/2009 |
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Convicted killers will no longer be able to rely on a recommendation of a panel of corrections officials to advance their freedom from prison. It took only one day and a judge's refusal to follow a prison board's recommendation to see a convicted murderer go back to prison and a prison official revise the way in which a statute is enforced. Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn pulled one of the teeth of the State Prison's Sentence Modification Review Board last Thursday, taking away the ability of murderers and violent offenders to petition the panel to recommend freedom for them. Eric Grant went before a Superior Court judge last week and the result was his being sent back to prison — at least until he becomes eligible for parole. Grant's brutal beating of Brenda Hughes at the couple's home on a night in 1990 resulted in the woman's agonizing death. Grant later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. The horrible killing took place 19 years ago, leaving Grant with his first bite of the parole apple still eight years away. The savage nature of the attack on Brenda Hughes was graphically explained in testimony by a former deputy, Brenda Blomigen. "I remember because of the horrendous crime scene I responded to," she said. "The blood on the crime scene was indescribable. That was the worse crime scene I ever responded to." Senior Assistant Attorney General William Delker emphasized the enormity of Grant's crime in telling of the man's inability to walk the next day because his feet were swollen from kicking his victim. In the case of Eric Grant, the Sentence Modification Review Board relied heavily on his performance as a prisoner. One person after another described how greatly he had changed, how he had succeeded in becoming better educated and the extent of self-improvement he had undergone. A changed man, the panel implied and had inferred. But Eric Grant remains a convicted murderer, no matter his lifestyle in incarceration. And because of his uncontrolled rage in 1990, Brenda Hughes cannot enjoy the beauty of life to which she was entitled. Read More. |
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