Equal Justice For All

Recently our community relived some of the incomprehensible agony of last fall, as Steven Pieper was sentenced to his agreed-upon term of 23 years to life for killing Jenni-Lyn Watson, a beautiful young suburban college student home for Thanksgiving break.  Pieper, her former boyfriend, admitted killing Jenni-Lyn and leaving her body in a town park, where she was found several days later.  Our collective hearts continue to go out to the Watson family, each of whom spoke very personally and eloquently at the sentencing about the grief, pain, anger and loss they live with every day.  So did our long-time DA, Bill Fitzpatrick.

Fitz is one of those people, you either love the guy or you don’t. I’m not one of his fans, and I haven’t been for quite a long time. I confess to finding him funny, on occasion – his quick wit is widely known – but over the years he’s made a number of decisions that I disagree with.  I guess that’s not surprising, given he’s just announced he’s going to run for a sixth term. 

Pieper’s sentence was determined through a plea bargain, so there was really no suspense in that regard. In his statement Fitz, by his own admission, was speaking to the Parole Board which will have to decide more than two decades from now whether Pieper deserves to be released.  And I suppose it’s OK for the DA to do that. 

What upsets me is how quickly he seized on the Watson case as a personal issue, when around the same time our community suffered two other high visibility losses: Rashaad Walker Jr, a twenty-month old baby, and Kihary Blue, a 19-year-old former star athlete at a local high school.  Both of these children were senselessly gunned down, their lives taken before they had a chance to live their dreams, find true love, or achieve their goals, just like Jenni-Lyn. They too were innocent victims of violence – not domestic violence, and not white suburban victims – but black, inner-city victims of gang violence.

I remember Fitz saying that he would personally prosecute whoever killed Jenni-Lyn. I questioned back then where was that same commitment to personally prosecute the other two cases. And a search of new reports on those two cases doesn’t indicate that Fitz is personally involved in them, but maybe that will happen. 

Whether those cases are ultimately resolved at trial or via plea bargain, I wonder if Fitz will emotionally speak to the judges and the Parole Board at the sentencings, to ensure the killers don’t ever see the light of day?  Will he personally express “the magnitude of (these) crimes”, or “come to know” the victims, as he did Jenni-Lyn?   Will he talk about how these families have to live with knowing “their angel is not coming home”, as the Watson family does?  And will he encourage the Parole Board to “look into (Rashaad’s and Kihary’s) eyes”, not just the eyes of their killers who may stand before them asking for parole?

Here are the closing words of Fitz’s statement at Pieper’s sentencing:  

“I’m envious of one thing: many decades from now when the Lord calls you home after years of missing your daughter, of missing your sister, when you’re swept into the rapture of heaven, waiting for you at the gates will be heaven’s most beautiful ballerina and you can hold her in your arms knowing that no one can ever separate you or ever hurt your angel again for all eternity.”

Swap daughter/sister for son/brother, swap ballerina for toddler or basketball player, and you’ve got a message of equal justice for all.