Paroled killer is heavily montitored
Malificynt
Paroled Killer Is Heavily Monitored
By SYLVIA LEE WINGFIELD
.c The Associated Press
AP-NY-05-16-98
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Wesley Wayne Miller is the most-watched paroled
convict in Texas - maybe even the whole nation.
Sixteen years after stabbing and mutilating a high school classmate, the killer
was moved from state prison Friday to the Tarrant County Jail, where he will
live in a one-man cell for six months, leaving only under escort to attend
counseling or a job. At all times, he will be hooked up to an electronic
monitor on one ankle and a satellite tracking device on the other.
Satellites will log his location every four seconds. If he ever approaches
forbidden locations such as the homes or workplaces of people who have asked to
be protected from him, an alarm will go off.
In addition, he must always wear a pager. When Miller responds to pages from
his parole officer, voice-recognition technology will make sure it is really
him calling.
After six months, Miller may be transferred to a halfway house or permitted to
live in the community. The monitoring and other restrictions could continue
until 2007, when his parole ends.
``I believe it is safe to say it is a truly unique situation,'' said David
Smith of Boulder, Colo.-based BI Inc., the company providing the conventional
electronic monitor. ``I've never heard of an individual being placed on three
different types of monitoring.''
The monitoring is part of the state's Super-Intensive Supervision Program,
begun eight months ago as a way to track parolees considered likely to break
the law again. More than 1,000 inmates are already being watched through the
program, but none this closely. The others have the conventional electronic
ankle device only.
Richard Nicotero of ABS Inc., in Omaha, Neb., which is providing the satellite
monitoring, said about a dozen people in New Jersey, Kansas and Iowa are also
under satellite surveillance. But he is not aware of anyone being monitored by
the multiple systems Texas has on Miller.
Miller was chosen by the Board of Pardons and Paroles because of the
seriousness of his crime and because the last time he won his freedom, in 1991,
his parole was revoked when he was found stalking another woman.
``I think that all of us are going to be watching very, very closely just how
well this system works, and I hope it works as well as it's intended,'' said
state Sen. Mike Moncrief, a Democrat from Fort Worth.
Miller, now 35, was 19 when he was convicted of murdering 18-year-old Retha
Stratton, a former cheerleader whose body was found in a closet of her home.
Her panties had been stuffed in her mouth, and she had been stabbed 38 times. A
knife was left embedded in her heart. Prosecutors believe it was a rape
attempt.
During Miller's 1982 trial, a strong defense and a sympathetic jury enabled the
popular, three-sport athlete from the blue-collar suburb of River Oaks to
receive a 25-year sentence instead of the maximum 99 years. In Texas, the jury
decides on the sentence.
``If you could see the crime scene pictures, you'd see that there's no justice
in the fact that he's ever going to walk the streets again,'' said the victim's
sister, Rona Stratton Smith. ``It's not just right.''
Miller's early release was forced by a 1980s law - aimed at easing prison
overcrowding - that required inmates to be released once they earned enough
``good time.'' Last year, lawmakers ended mandatory parole for all future
convictions and began the intense supervision program for dangerous parolees.
Miller has not been available for comment. His father, who has an unlisted
number, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in November that his son ``would
never retaliate against anybody'' and was looking forward to resuming his life.
His former defense attorney, Jack Strickland, suggested the intense monitoring
is motivated by election-year politics.
``Given the horrendous nature of the crime of which Wesley was convicted, more
than the usual amount of control is warranted, but I do wonder why there is so
much piling on in this case,'' he said. ``I can't help but wonder that it's
being done with an eye toward hoping that the parolee will fail.''
Miller's surveillance will cost the state about $9 a day, only a little more
than the $8.49 expense of monitoring others in the same program, said Stennett
Posey, a spokesman for the parole board.
It would be much higher, but the state is trying out the satellite system for
free while it decides whether to buy the service. The usual cost for the
service would be about $25 a day, said Keith Fellmeier of ABS.
Even if the state were paying for the satellite system, the high-tech
surveillance would still be cheaper than the $40 per day it costs the state to
keep someone behind bars, Posey said.
The satellites are part of the Global Positioning System that was set up by the
Pentagon and is used by everyone from U.S. soldiers to hunters and hikers.
During his parole, Miller will have to abide by a detailed set of rules
commonly imposed on stalkers and sex offenders.
The 14-page list of restrictions, worked out with the victim's family, covers
``everything from not owning a camera to no access to a computer system, no
contact with the victims and a whole list of people who have wished not to be
contacted by him, fax, e-mail or third party,'' Ms. Smith said. ``I can't think
of anything else that I can ask for that they aren't already giving us.''
GLC1173
Malificynt quoted:
>FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Wesley Wayne Miller is the >most-watched paroled
>convict in Texas - maybe even the whole nation.
>Sixteen years after stabbing and mutilating a high school >classmate, the
>killer
>was moved from state prison Friday to the Tarrant County Jail, >where he will
>live in a one-man cell for six months, leaving only under escort >to attend
>counseling or a job. At all times, he will be hooked up to an >electronic
>monitor on one ankle and a satellite tracking device on the >other.
>seriousness of his crime and because the last time he won his >freedom, in
>1991,
>his parole was revoked when he was found stalking another >woman.
Can anyone explain why this punk should even get parole - at all, instead of
serving his full 25-year sentence?
Texas judges write to Ann Landers or Dear Abby after "miscarriage of
justice" parole stories to say that only 1 in 10 inmates in Texas gets parole
anyway, that they are carefully screened before being chosen for parole - yet
here we have a murderer who already flunked parole was revoked seven years ago,
hardly a good risk, particularly when that revocation was for stalking another
woman.
>Miller, now 35, was 19 when he was convicted of murdering >18-year-old Retha
>Stratton, a former cheerleader whose body was found in a closet >of her home.
>Her panties had been stuffed in her mouth, and she had been >stabbed 38 times.
>A
>knife was left embedded in her heart. Prosecutors believe it was >a rape
>attempt.
Why should a convict such as this get parole, ever?
Usual parole conditions include gainful employment - but who in their right
mind will employ this parolee, unless they are totally unaware of his past?
>His former defense attorney, Jack Strickland, suggested the >intense
>monitoring
>is motivated by election-year politics.
His damned client is lucky to ever get parole, under the circumstances.
glc1173*NOS...@aol.com (GLC1173)