It isn't always possible to both know exactly what the truth is and be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt to a court of law. Which means it isn't always possible to get justice, at least not through proper channels.
“From the time I was 8 years old until I was 12, I was sexually assaulted and raped by Dennis Pegg,” said Clark Fredericks, a former scout who spoke in a tense Newton, New Jersey, courtroom about the reasons for his killing.
Part of the reason Fredericks said he kept silent was because he didn’t think anyone would believe him, due to Pegg’s police badge, and part was due to fear.
“Dennis Pegg controlled me by torturing and killing animals in front of me, saying he would do the same to me if I told anyone about our secret,” Fredericks said.
“I started stabbing Dennis,” Fredericks said. “I said, ‘How does it feel raping little kids now. It’s not so fun raping little kids now, is it?’ At the end, I slit his throat.”
The courtroom broke into applause after Fredericks finished testifying, shocking the prosecutor, NBC New York reported.Let me explain it to you Mr. Prosecutor.
He killed a cop, a man who by virtue of his employment is above the law. This cop abused his position of trust in the community and prayed on little boys. There was nothing Clark could do about it when he was 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 years old. NOTHING! There wasn't a single member of your office who would have believed him, or his friends. Not then, not now, not ever. Because the criminal was a cop, there will almost never be justice in these instances, unless it's privately administered.
Which is what happened. When cops and lawyers are corrupt there is no "proper channel" that a citizen can turn to, but that doesn't mean that there can't be justice. When justice comes people cheer, because they know that nobody would have believed 8 year old Clark, but they believe him now.
What is sad here is feeling like he could not tell his own parents about this. On the one hand, I agree with you here. But OTOH, society has become so full of liars that I have gotten just a little cynical, and I like to hear both sides of the argument.
ReplyDeleteThen I would come down on the side of the victim. Not that I would EVER excuse a deviant person, but there are two sides to every story.
This cop was a deviant, but he still had the right in a court of law to be heard.
I know I am sounding wishy washy here, but I would have been happier if the kid would have tried it through the legal way first. Then go to town on the dirty cop.
I know I would feel horrible if I found out now that one of my adult kids did not feel I was listening to them. Their view was that mom was listening too closely, and mom would gladly have confronted this cop if that had been my boy.
So I usually found out about stuff long after it was too late to do anything about it. I would rather have that, then to have my kids feel like that young man did.
I think what happened was that the killer snapped years after the abuse happened. The man is going to get 5 to 10 years for murder. I get why they clapped for him. If I was on that jury I would have had to vote guilty too. I would have wanted to buy him a beer first because I get what he did. When he gets out I'd give him a shot at a job too.
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