Not long enough

I really wasn't planning on two blogs in the same week let along the same day. I wanted to space it out a little bit but I came across something and had to get it off my chest.

There is a March 31st parole hearing for the two jerkoffs who started the Boland Hall fire at Seton Hall University on January 19, 2000. In the full interest of disclosure I should point out that I was asleep on the third floor of Boland Hall about 20 yards from where the fire started.

Joseph LePore and Sean Ryan were sentenced to five years in prison a little over a year ago. If they are granted parole they will be released in May, just 16 months into that sentence. If you ask me it would be way too early. Three freshman died in that fire. Over fifty others were seriously injured and countless others will never be the same again. I thought five years was too lenient of a sentence. It should have been five years per casualty and another five years for everyone else. Let them rot in there for 20 years.

Maybe they didnt mean to kill anybody but you know what, they did, three times over. And then they proceeded to lie about it for seven years before they finally copped a plea and admitted to the crime, showing as little remorse as possible. One of their lawyers called them "Model Prisoners" as if we should just forget that the key word there is prisoner. Of course they will be good in there, they are in fucking jail. Calling these jackasses Model Prisoners is like calling Marion Jones a fast prisoner. They are still prisoners and still criminals.

I was lucky. I came out of the fire relatively unscathed. But I know people who were affected much more than I was. About a year or so ago, I was approached by the Prosecutor's Office and had there been a trial, I was most likely going to be called in as a witness. Apparently my testimony eight years ago was spot on and I was needed. It was something I was dreading. I can relive every minute of that night but its not something I wanted to do on a witness stand. I guess now I wish i had the opportunity. Maybe had it gone to trial we could have put those bastards away for longer.

I pray that this parole hearing is just a formality and it will be rejected. I'm not an evil guy but 16 months in a Youth Correctional Facility is just not long enough for what they did to those three families and hundreds of others.

My prayers are not for me. They are for Frank. They are for John. They are for Aaron. They are for everyone who stood with me outside on that cold January morning. And they are for everyone who has been touched by that horrific event.

I pray for Joseph and Sean too. What they will have to live with I wouldn't wish on anybody. I just hope they have to live with it behind bars for more than just another two months.