No, You Haven't Seen It All
I have written a couple of times about a recent murder trial here in Philadelphia. The victim was 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs, who was killed when a gun fight broke out between drug gangs as he walked to school in February 2004. Two men were convicted for Faheem's murder, in a trial notable for featuring several witnesses who changed previous testimony or statements to police, out of fear or for other reasons. As I noted on April 25 (see entry titled "Pushing Back"), the DA has charged the father of one of the recanting witnesses for openly encouraging his daughter not to cooperate with prosecutors.
On Friday, with the defendants back in court to formally receive their mandatory life sentences, the trial process came to an stunning, depressing, and unspeakably cruel end. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, when given the chance to speak before imposition of sentence, one defendant turned toward Faheem's family and said: "You don't give a f--- about my life, and I don't give a f--- about his. F--- him." The other defendant shouted: "I'll haunt you motherf------ until my appeal comes."
The assessment of the judge in the case says it all, I think: "It's hard to understand the depths of evil coming out of these two men. The tragedy of this case is beyond recognition."
On Friday, with the defendants back in court to formally receive their mandatory life sentences, the trial process came to an stunning, depressing, and unspeakably cruel end. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, when given the chance to speak before imposition of sentence, one defendant turned toward Faheem's family and said: "You don't give a f--- about my life, and I don't give a f--- about his. F--- him." The other defendant shouted: "I'll haunt you motherf------ until my appeal comes."
The assessment of the judge in the case says it all, I think: "It's hard to understand the depths of evil coming out of these two men. The tragedy of this case is beyond recognition."
posted by FCB at 11:13 AM
1 Comments:
But, remarkably, this doesn't make the national news; there's no family interview on Larry King. Perhaps if some attractive blond had been killed in this gun fight or if the shooters and their victim had been of different races or if we could figure out a sex or money or power angle of some kind.
Just plain tragedy - even tragedy "beyond recognition" - is boring, I guess.
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