I had initially established this forum to function as a dialogue to discuss the issue of very long sentences for juveniles convicted of very serious crimes. It has been far easier to seek out stories of the offenders than it has been to share the stories of the victims, their families and those who loved them. I am grateful to you for commenting and I thank you for bringing more perspective to this story. Words would fail to express the sadness that I feel for you at the loss of your friends and the pain that you and their families must feel and surely always will.

I have tried to look at the issue of juveniles sentenced to life as an open ended question as to whether youthful offenders can feel remorse, be rehabilitated and at some point, be given a second chance to live among us.

As someone without ties to any offender or a victim of murder, my experiences since starting this blog have taught me that there is no clear answer to that question. Like you, I object to the use of the term “child” or “children” when talking about the offenders. I always refer to them as juveniles because despite my belief that teenagers don’t have the same capacity to recognize the consequences of their actions, I also admit to difficulty understanding how any of the juveniles sentenced to LWOP or effective life sentences came to make the decisions they did.

As an individual and as someone who lives in a world outside of all of these cases, I have no way of knowing what’s truly in another’s heart. I suppose the only thing that I can say is that perhaps we should consider time served and what we can see as factors in considering whether or not the state should consider a reduction in sentencing.

It goes without saying that the circumstances of the crime must be factored in and the voices of the victims must be heard through those left behind.

I truly appreciate you making your voice heard. Cheryl has a lot of support, but we can never, ever forget that there are those who still suffer.

Thank you,

Lisa

I would like to shed some light from a perspective of a person who “dealt” with knowing a childhood friend (an pregnant girlfriend) was brutally murdered and several teens KNEW their bodies lay dead in Terrance’s house rotting - while his parents were on vacation. Teens who KNEW murders were committed but did not have the remorse THEN to do anything about it… Now if I compare my own stupid mistakes as a teen, I KNOW there is no way I could have slept at night knowing 2 bodies lay dead in a house for family members to stumble upon. I remember paging Terrance over and over and over wondering why he was not returning my calls… where was he? Only to find out –I was paging him as he lay dead at home… at age 16, dealing with a friend who was maliciously murdered and those who participated never felt remorse until they were sentenced… was hard. Trying to understand at that age why life seemed so unfair… why God would allow such a terrible thing to happen. Why they didnt feel such a guilt to call the police? Following the court cases… esp. Cheryl’s I personally didnt sense any remorse for Terrance (or Rachelle)… just that she felt sorry for herself. I cannot doubt Cheryl has made a conscience effort to become a better person… she is making the most of her time in prion, but it upsets me when people say –Cheryl was a child at that time…we all made mistakes as a youth and the punishment does not fit the crime…-surely she could not comprehend how serious murder was, etc etc…. but how it is that I was 16 as well and the pain I was feeling in my heart and the anxiety I felt in my stomach was so real as the details were revealed in court. Cheryl was so obsessed back then to the point that murder became ok? To know for days two people lay dead in a house decomposing… to continue to live as though nothing had happened… I think the punishment definitely fits the crime… and life in prison is doing justice by allowing her the opportunity to become a better person… I hope that her story can inspire another youth to think before partcipating in a MURDER — yes she only drove the get away car… however, she really was the mastermind, she was manipulative and was determined to make sure T and R suffered to the extent that DEATH did not matter - now our families (13 years later) still struggle to find ways to continue to be positive about life and learn from this experience we were force into..we had no choice in the matter — but Cheryl did and even after the fact… she continued to have a choice and continued to make the wrong decision.

May Mayo (and Peterson) continue to rest in peace.

I will add your link and spread the word. Your site and your blog are great.

Lisa

I want people interested in these programs to be aware of our new blog and web site, so that you can contribute to the conversation if you’d like. We’re working to make this a resource and referral center over time as well. If you have a relevant rescue, prison dog program, prison reform web site or blg–let me know, and we can link to it, and you to ours.

Please take a look–and sign up for our newsletter as well. I’m also open to stories about dogs, people, programs that I didn’t interview previously.

When the book is out, we’ll be offering copies at reduced rates for fundraising purposes.

Regards,
Patty
http://www.prisondogsbook.com

The other thing that you can do to find out how you can help is to contact The Pendulum Foundation (link is at the top of the sidebar at this site) and you can check out the website for Erik’s Next Day Foundation (link is listed under the Resources sidebar).

Erik DOES NOT deserve a life sentence. He’s done 10 years already and maybe 2 - 5 more years is reasonable, but life? …without cance of patrol?!

What has the American justice system come to?

This is an outrage.

Something must be done.

WHERE’S THE PETITION?

This particular case of mind boggling outrageous injustice is incomprhendible to me and

By the power of the poeple I hope Cheryl is set free.

Courage, much strength and salutations.

-Gwilym