Weir Thinking About It

On a bitter cold December night in 2000, five people were brought to a deserted soccer field where they were forced to kneel down in the snow as their abductors shot them in the back of the head, execution style. Then, as the naked bodies lay bleeding to death in the snow, a pickup truck was driven over them. This murderous assault didn't happen in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Bosnia; it happened in Wichita, Kansas. Three men and two women, all in their twenties, were spending the evening at a townhouse owned by one of them, when two men burst into the place brandishing guns. Thus began a night of unimaginable hell for the helpless victims. After being subjected to hours of rape and sexual perversion, the five horror—stricken people were driven to the remote field on the outskirts of the town, where, amidst their pleas for mercy, their lives were brutally snuffed out.

But the cold—blooded killers made a mistake; one of their victims lived. In what can only be described as a miracle, a 25 year—old woman, bleeding from a head wound as a result of a bullet lodged in her skull, and lying naked in the 17—degree weather, managed to get up and trudge through the snow for a mile before seeing the Christmas lights on a home in the distance. Her report to the police led to the arrest of the two savages a short time later. Jonathan and Reginald Carr, 22 and 24 respectively, at the time of their capture, had property belonging to their victims. One of the items was an engagement ring that was to be presented to the surviving woman by her fiancé that night. Instead, she watched him die in the blood—soaked snow a few inches away from her.

The trial began about 2 months later with the usual defense attorney attempts to blame the atrocity on the unstable childhood in which the defendants were raised, even having psychologists testify that their brains were wired for violence and therefore they couldn't help engaging in 'this type of antisocial behavior.' The defense coyly told the jury that the evaluation wasn't meant to excuse the crimes, but merely to explain what led to them.

Are you getting as disgusted as I am about hearing why people commit murder? Trials are supposed to be about presenting evidence to a jury that either proves or fails to prove that the defendants committed the crimes charged.

Here we have what anyone of sound mind would agree is an open and shut case. We have an eyewitness who miraculously survived a night of torture at the hands of two subhuman creatures. She positively identified them as the rapist—murderers who took the lives of four of her friends and did everything they thought was necessary to take hers. The victims' DNA was all over the defendants clothing, and the property robbed from them was found on the defendants. Why in Heaven's name did it take two years for this trial to be concluded? And now, 2 years after a guilty verdict, we have the usual pleas for mercy from relatives and counsel. Once again, we're being told that capital punishment is not a deterrent; therefore its use is nothing less than society's quest for revenge. So, what's wrong with that?

Perhaps, as a society, we need to scream bitterly for the satisfaction of revenge, if only to let the word go forth that convicted murderers will face an angry and implacable group of righteous citizens who will give them as much mercy as they gave their victims. After what was done to those innocent young people during what must have seemed like an eternity of torture and morally repulsive indignities, these murderers should feel lucky to be executed quickly. In a country less constrained by inhibitions about punishment, these monsters would be begging for the relief of death, rather than contemplating the span of life. The reason execution is not seen as a deterrent is because the cretins who plan to murder know how long it takes before they're likely to face the Grim Reaper. The average time for exhausting the appeal process is 14 years.

Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26; and Heather Muller, 25 were forced to face an ignominious death in the sub—freezing temperature of a dark, empty field in the middle of the night. They weren't granted any appeals, they didn't have a chance to say goodbye to relatives, and they hadn't even committed a crime. The vermin who killed them have already lived too long, and other predators are out there watching the long delays, soft treatment and permissive attitudes and they're learning that murder is not really taken that seriously, so why not take a chance?

Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City policy department. He is the editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. BobWeir777@aol.com