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Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:08 am
by John W_Archive
I just hope after prison she ends up institutionalized for the rest of her life. Does anybody know about how things like this work? Is this, at least, a possibility?
When I heard about the sentencing last night, it really did a number on me. I, too, would like to convey my admiration, gratitude and respect for all those that followed this case so closely from session to session.
Take courage, friends.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:22 am
by El Protoolio_Archive
My best thoughts and wishes will always be with the family and friends of these 3 men that I never knew but wish I had. I have followed this discussion for over two years and am humbled by the courage and strength that you have all shown.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:03 am
by Mark Lansing_Archive
steve wrote:Tim, I cannot imagine having to tell people things about this out loud in open court. Literally cannot imagine myself doing it. You and the other witnesses have a kind of bravery (is that the right word?) I could not summon, and I admire it. You all did an important thing.
Whether or not it had any effect on the sentence (or the Sliwinski), making one more formal public appreciation of Michael, Doug and John at very least reminds the official part of the audience that this was all about them, not her.
Throughout the trial it was evident that the prosecution, the judge and the victims' loved ones were not out for revenge, but for some reasonable and honorable resolution. Whatever Sliwinski is allowed to do with the remains of her life, it will be because the court took a kind of pity on her.
Maybe with some reflection she can see the difference between herself and people like that -- people who, having suffered an incapacitating loss, are still capable of having a measure of human compassion for the selfish fuckup who killed three people they loved. Maybe a few more years in prison will suggest a better way to see the world than as something she can exploit to indulge her momentary desires.
Or not. I don't harbor any fantasy that she will change her stripes at this late stage. But the way everyone hung together and behaved honorably and respectfully throughout the whole process must have been apparent even to her, and that everyone did so is another testament to what Michael Doug and John meant.
Whatever the circumstances and however it was framed for legal reasons, Jeanette Sliwinski killed three beautiful people and nobody should do that without going to prison for a while.
I couldn't say it any better than that.
All I can add is that when Sliwinski told the court "There's not a day that goes by I do not think about the grief and the pain I have caused," I hope its true. Not that she needs to hang her head in shame for the rest of her days, but this was the act of someone clearly unconcerned with the consequences of her actions, which were very dear indeed. I can only hope she learned something from all this.
Again, my heart goes out to the families and friends of Michael, Doug and John at a time that must be bringing back a lot of the pain of July 2005.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:33 am
by tmidgett_Archive
John W. wrote:I just hope after prison she ends up institutionalized for the rest of her life. Does anybody know about how things like this work? Is this, at least, a possibility?
Nah. A year or so more in the clink is it.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:44 am
by Andy_Archive
What would a realistic, appropriate sentence have been? I've been thinking about this for the past week and still today.
I can understand the desire to "lock her up and throw away the key," but realistically what could we have expected?
What rankles me is that her years are concurrent, not consecutive. I understand (vaguely) the court's legal reasoning, but it's like she got to kill three for the price of one.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:45 am
by ubercat_Archive
My heart broke for you all last night when I read the sentence handed down by the court. I'm so terrribly sorry for any of you who have to endure this entire event, which now seems to include a miscarrage of justice.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:08 am
by matte_Archive
My skin still crawls almost 20 hours later at the thought of Attorney Breen standing there and saying how his life and the lives of the Sliwinski family would have been better had they known Doug, John and Michael.
That they seemed by all accounts to have been "really cool guys." I think he said that last thing twice.
His mouth uttering their names in a way that was meant to elicit sympathy from our side of the courtroom will haunt me for a while. Disgusting doesn't quite describe it.
"If by magic..." yeah. I'm sorry we all had to sit through that.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:14 am
by Andy_Archive
What really struck me was how irrelevant the entire show was.
The attorneys made their noises about "cool guys," and Tim and Becky and Scott got up there and told about the effects of the killings, and Sliwinski gave her little apology, and it was all irrelevant. The judge could just as well have taped up a sheet of paper on the door to 206 saying "8 years, concurrent" and saved the spectacle.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:28 am
by Braden_Archive
Andy wrote:What would a realistic, appropriate sentence have been? I've been thinking about this for the past week and still today.
I can understand the desire to "lock her up and throw away the key," but realistically what could we have expected?
What rankles me is that her years are concurrent, not consecutive. I understand (vaguely) the court's legal reasoning, but it's like she got to kill three for the price of one.
One thing I have learned from reading the court synopses is that even those most closely involved in this tragedy don't have any finite term for the guilty (There is too much grey area for even the judge to simply look in a book and hand down a sentence). You ask what a realistic sentence would be, but I don't think that can really be answered by anyone. If it's three years, life, or a death sentence, at the end of the day it's still the same thing, a tragedy. A terrible one.
There have been several times over the last 28 months that I have began writing in this tread but have deleted the text before posting. This thread, I have felt, should somehow be reserved for those who were deeply affected by this. So to you I say once again how sorry I am, and that I am relieved that you are past this long and tense trial of suffering. Also, a huge thanks to Jim for the note taking.
Remembering Michael, Doug, and John (was: not again)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:36 am
by stackmatic_Archive
Andy wrote:...and Tim and Becky and Scott got up there and told about the effects of the killings... and it was all irrelevant. The judge could just as well have taped up a sheet of paper on the door to 206 saying "8 years, concurrent" and saved the spectacle.
I wasn't in the courtroom, but I can't imagine how hearing Tim, Becky and Scott speak could have been irrelevant for anyone that was there. Hopefully, especially, for Sliwinski. Regardless of the sentencing.