78-15-B1
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Crime[edit]
Transcript[edit]An off-duty police officer, working as a security guard at a Los Angeles bus depot, recently placed a man under citizen's arrest for loitering in the early morning hours. When Los Angeles police checked the man's identity he turned out to be a suspect they had been seeking since September 28th. They had already arrested two members of his family as accomplices in the September 28th crime, but he had escaped. The crime was the kidnapping, rape and murder of a University librarian. He was also wanted in connection with three other kidnappings and rapes, one of an 18 year old coed. It is alleged that the suspect kidnapped the young librarian from a bus stop at gun point. She was taken to his family home where she was-- as the press reported it--sexually molested and then shot at close range. Her body was dumped in an ally a few blocks away. The suspect, according to the police, was also wanted along with others for kidnapping two women, taking them to the same house where--at gun point-- they were forced to perform unnatural acts with each other and raped by five men. One was pistol whipped, suffering a broken jaw. The following night, the young coed was kidnapped from in front of a cafe by two men, taken to the same home where she, too, was raped and held for 11 hours. She was released in the morning and subsequently led the police to the house where she had been held and where it is assumed the other crimes had taken place. Now the suspect and his sister have been charged with murder. In all, he is charged with 15 felonies including the murder (in addition to kidnapping, rape, robbery and others). One can't help but have an overwhelming feeling of compassion for the victims who were forced to endure such nightmares of horror and degradation. And in the case of one-death. But let me make it clear. I did not subject you to this account of brutal crimes just for the shock of telling a horror story. The shock is-- and this is my reason for telling the story--the man charged with these crimes was sent to state prison for bludgeoning a man to death in 1976. On September 13, 1978--just two years later--he was paroled and put back on the street where, in a matter of days, he allegedly committed the crimes I have described. Our system of justice calls for punishment only if guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Is it too much to ask of a parole board that they have confidence in a man's rehabilitation beyond reasonable doubt before they free him? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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