[ql06] CRIMINAL: 25 years
- From: "Kenneth Campbell [QL06]" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 10:43:04 -0500
Why do I even read the news?
I will be having dinner (I think) with Trotter on Monday. I hope to talk
about what the whole criminal law game is about.
I wrote recently to a dear friend that I found criminal law "clear" --
not messy, but the law itself is much more "perfected" because it is
continually "worked upon." It is always being examined and re-examined.
That is refreshing.
Justice Laskin commented, when a few students went to the Frontenac
Court House, that criminal lawyers are better than most of the lawyers
from his civil litigation background. He said they know what they want,
what the law is, and how to ask for it.
I talked with another friend, a male mature student not part of our
little cabal, and he was telling me about the corporate law tour. He
attended it and was leaning to criminal law, because it is government
work and thus treated more humanely the lawyers it employs. (He talked
about the haggard looking lawyers in the corporate firms, especially
Davies.)
All these things are good points...
But then there is _reality_.
Not to be melodramatic, but I attach the kind of story in regards to
criminal I can barely stand to read.
I thought R. v. Smith (the Saskatchewan execution-style murder) was the
most disgusting, heartbreaking thing I'd ever read.
I stand corrected.
When I have to see this kind of thing, and make rational decisions about
it (determining first v. second degree murder, which is what the 25
years below refers to), I realize how stupid all the public law talk
about marriage is -- or limiting what human adults can consensually do.
It is so fucking trivial. If guys or gals wanna go down on each other
and say I love you in the process... who the hell does that hurt?
My heart goes out to the parents -- especially that last line.
Why do I even read the news?
Ken.
------
The desire of the moth for the star,
Of the night for the morrow,
The devotion to something afar
From the sphere of our sorrow.
-- Shelley
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Man gets 25 years for child's slaying
Convicted of kidnap, first-degree murder
PAT CURRIE
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
TORONTO STAR
Dec. 13, 2003
LONDON, Ont. -— A 21-year-old man was yesterday found guilty of the
first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of
5-year-old Naiomi Almeida.
Thomas Hurst, who confessed the crime to London police, was sentenced to
life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Asked by Justice Lynda Templeton if he had anything to say before being
sentenced, Hurst apologized to the Almeida family and his own.
Hurst maintained Naiomi's death was an accident.
"But the jury has decided," he said, "and I'll take my punishment like a
man. Take me to a hospital. I have an illness."
Court had already heard that Hurst kidnapped Naiomi on Aug. 29, 2001,
from the couch in her father's apartment where she had been sleeping.
He punched her into unconsciousness, took her to his home, sexually
attacked her at least five times, and eventually killed her.
Before Hurst's sentencing, the girl's father, Al Almeida, spoke of being
tormented by guilt because "I was sleeping in the next room and did
nothing to save my daughter.
"My pain is like a big gash and the only way it will close is if I know
Naiomi will rest in peace and this will never happen to another child,"
he said after the trial.
Too emotional to read her victim-impact statement in court, Naiomi's
mother Shawna Turner, said later she was glad Hurst was found guilty but
sympathized with Hurst's mother.
"I lost my child and now she is losing hers."
Turner said she had tried to commit suicide and has undergone
psychiatric treatment for depression since she realized Naiomi "was gone
forever and ever."
Later, the Hurst family released a statement saying in part: "We had no
idea he had sick notions for children."
As he had done since the trial began Nov. 26, Hurst sat impassively in
the prisoner's dock as the verdicts were announced in the courtroom
where 16 armed police and court security officers were stationed.
Four of them flanked Hurst and two more bracketed Almeida, who was
allowed into the courtroom for the verdict after being barred last
Friday after a sudden attack on Hurst as the accused was being led into
the court.
Almeida, a short but powerfully built man, had Hurst in a stranglehold
when both were grappled by security officers.
Almeida said he hadn't planned the attack but snapped suddenly after a
day of gruesome testimony in which the attacks and the 105 separate
injuries to his daughter had been detailed.
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