"He didn't murder her, he just killed her"

A convicted murderer was released from prison yesterday after his fourth trial convicted him of manslaughter instead of murder. Three previous times he had been convicted of murder and had even spent time on death row prior to the Supreme Court ruling the death penalty unconstitutional for a few years. His defense attorney basically blamed his previous convictions on the racial problems prevalent at the time of his original trial. I will not defend the horrendous treatment of people of color in the past. However, none of that changes the facts. He robbed a bank and killed a woman during his get away.
Prosecutors derided Rideau's contention that he acted in confusion. The crime was deliberate and coldly executed.

"I thought the most interesting part of his entire story was, 'I didn't murder her, I killed her,"' Calcasieu Parish District Attorney Rick Bryant said in his closing argument.

"The passage of time has made him older and hopefully wiser, but it certainly has not made him less guilty," Bryant told the jury Saturday. "Time and age do not give you innocence."

Included in the story is the information that he became a published author and co-directed a movie while in prison. As he was becoming famous his victim just got forgotten. I don't have all the answers but I know when something is wrong and this is just wrong. I have no way of knowing if he is rehabilitated and don't care. Drug abusers and drunk drivers get rehabilitated not murderers. Some will say over 40 years in prison is punishment enough, not I. If his victim is still dead he didn't serve enough time. Maybe I'm being too harsh since he at least served some time which is more than can be said of the senior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.