Man who hacked his parents to death sentenced
DOG3
Man who hacked his parents to death sentenced to state hospital
Associated Press, 04/12/98 21:39
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The night before he killed his parents, Michael G.
Pepper apologized to them for being so much trouble, and told them they were
great parents.
The 35-year-old former chemical engineer had a long history of mental illness
and had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication.
Pepper admitted to police he hacked his parents to death with an ax, after
practicing by killing animals, including the family dog and rats, according to
the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester.
Pepper pleaded guilty last week to two charges of manslaughter in the May 30
deaths of Eleanor Pepper, 64, and John Pepper, 65. The case was to have gone to
trial May 5.
Judge Herbert F. Travers Jr. sentenced Pepper to 24 to 26 years in prison
without possibility of parole until 2022. Under the plea agreement, District
Attorney John Conte dropped two first-degree murder charges.
The plea deal came as a surprise to some because Pepper had admitted in a
television interview that he killed his parents.
But his attorney, Michael S. Hussey, planned an insanity defense, and even the
judge in the case acknowledged both sides had compelling cases to make.
``There was clearly evidence that warrants a jury finding the defendant not
guilty by reason of insanity,'' Travers said.
``There is also evidence that a jury could determine beyond reasonable doubt
that you were responsible,'' he added, pointing to the planning that went into
the crime.
Prosecutors said Pepper told state police that the killings were ``an act of
euthanasia to save them from greater suffering and the harm of outside
forces.''
Worcester County Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Murphy said Pepper told
police he sneaked into his parents' room and ``made sure I did it good because
I didn't want them lingering.''
After the killings, Pepper apparently drove about 50 miles to Smith College in
Northampton, where police found him sitting on a small island in the middle of
Paradise Pond. His car was submerged in the pond.
Travers sentenced Pepper to Bridgewater State Hospital, a prison for the
criminally insane.
``It is absolutely clear that this man suffers from mental illness, that it is
chronic, and that at present, because of treatment, it is under control,'' he
said.
Advocates for the mentally ill said they hope that Pepper remains incarcerated
at Bridgewater, rather than be transferred to MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole.
``It would be cruelty to put him in prison,'' James E. McDonald of Shrewsbury,
a member of the advisory board of the state Department of Mental Health, said.
``Because of the kind of person he is he would be preyed upon and probably end
up committing suicide.''
The state Department of Correction decides how long Pepper will remain at
Bridgewater.
Hussey said, ``I'd be very concerned for his safety both because of the
notoriety of his crime and the severity of his condition.''
------------------- In taberna mori
Ut sint vina proxima
Morientis ori.
-- The Archpoet, 12th Century
Joe1orbit
do...@aol.com (DOG3) Wrote:
Hello,
Great post! You know how much I admire and appreciate news events in which a
biological creation chooses to murder one or both of his biological
creators/slaveowners. :)
Below is another article on this case, that provides us with an interesting
and absolutely true perspective on why people like Michael should be kept in
mental institutions, and not transferred to prison, which is something that
authorities CAN legally do. In fact, it sounds like they are planning to
transfer Michael from Bridgewater, which is a "prison for the criminally
insane", to MCI-Cedar Junction, which is an OPRDINARY prison with no mental
health facilities or treatment at all. That type of a transfer would be
outrageous, considering the fact that Michael is clearly mentally ill, as
licensed psychiatrists have testified and affirmed.
The fact that your society, YOU HUMANS, would allow a mentally ill person to
be unfairly REMOVED from a prison that is specifically designed to house
mentally ill inmates, and place him in an ordinary prison, with no such
facilities, demonstrates the level of perversity and maliciousness that exists
within you and your society. Michael is nothing more than a VICTIM, and should
be treated as such. The fact that he successfully slaughtered his two Parental
Units should play NO role in Michael being denied full and proper mental health
care and services.
You folks will of course recall the name John Salvi. He WAS the young
abortion clinic gunman in MA who was UNDENIABLY mentally ill, and yet your
pathetic society chose to place him in a prison, rather than in a mental health
facility. He killed himself in that prison in 1996. Rest In Peace, John. John
Salvi, another VICTIM of your pathetic and malicious society. Despite that
tragedy, Michael Pepper just might be taken out of the mental favcility he is
in now, and transferred to an ordinary prison. What an OUTRAGE that would be,
for the State of MA to allow this to occur, less than 2 years after john
Salvi's tragic suicide.
This article does end on a very negative and irrational note, with a
president of a group that CLAIMS to be an "alliance for the mentally ill"
declaring that Michael should have been INVOLUNTARILY committed to a mental
hospital BEFORE he had a chance to kill his parents, just because he was
mentally ill and "dangerous" as judged by psychiatrists. I disagree TOTALLY. No
person should EVER be involuntarily committed in any way, shape, or form,
unless they FIRST COMMIT an ACTUAL CRIME of violence, in which they break the
law in a violent fashion. No other person, regardless of how "dangerous"
psychiatrists judge him/her to be, should ever be robbed of their freedom, even
if they THREATEN violence. Only committing ACTUAL ACTS of violence, which
VIOLATE existing LAW, should result in any type of an involuntary commital
option being available.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 4/12/98 online edition of The
Worchester Telegram & Gazette newspaper:
Pepper could be transferred from hospital to Walpole
Sunday, April 12, 1998
By Shaun Sutner
Telegram & Gazette Staff
What are ramifications of Pepper's sentence?
Michael G. Pepper of Westboro, who brutally hacked his parents to
death with an ax last year, could kill himself or hurt others if he is sent to
prison instead of a mental hospital, say advocates for the mentally ill.
That view, however, co-exists with the perception that the public has
little compassion for people such as Pepper and abortion clinic killer John C.
Salvi III -- who committed suicide in prison -- whether or not they are
mentally ill.
"It would be cruelty to put him in prison,"James E. McDonald of
Shrewsbury, a member of the advisory board of the state Department of Mental
Health, said of Pepper. “Because of the kind of person he is he would be preyed
upon and probably end up committing suicide.”
But, said conservative commentator Jon Keller, people really don't
care about what happens to Pepper, a onetime chemical engineer diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia. Pepper, 35, pleaded guilty to the killings last week as
part of a plea bargain.
“Dating back to the Salvi suicide (in 1996), and to this day, there's
an overwhelming compassion fatigue toward mentally ill people who commit
horrible crimes,” Keller, a political analyst for WLVI-TV, Channel 56, in
Boston. “If someone is running around killing people with a hatchet, we want
him locked up and heavily guarded.”
Tuesday, after being sentenced to 24 to 26 years without parole,
Pepper was led from Worcester Superior Court in handcuffs and leg shackles and
taken back to Bridgewater State Hospital.
The judge in the case, basing his decision on a lengthy psychiatric
report, has recommended that Pepper be incarcerated at Bridgewater, the state's
only high-security mental hospital. He has been held there since he killed John
and Eleanor Pepper in their home May 30.
But there is no guarantee that the long-troubled Pepper will stay at
Bridgewater; the state Department of Correction has the final say on where he
is imprisoned, and beds at the hospital are at a premium.
Pepper could be moved to Walpole State Prison if it is determined that
his medical treatment could continue in a regular prison, according to
correction officials. Pepper is on heavy medication that apparently keeps his
illness in check.
That possibility brings to mind parallels with the case of Salvi, who
murdered two young women at Brookline abortion clinics, then killed himself
while serving a life sentence at Walpole.
Those close to Salvi bitterly criticized correction officials for
allegedly ignoring signs of suicidal behavior and mental illness. Officials
maintained Salvi was treated correctly.
Today, Salvi's lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr. of Boston, questions whether
conditions have improved for mentally ill convicts in the wake of the Salvi
suicide and a commission's recommendations of how to upgrade the care.
“Certainly Gov. Weld treated it quite seriously and the commission did
its job,” Carney said. “What remains unanswered is whether the commission's 25
recommendations were carried out.”
While Pepper's case is different from Salvi's because he is receiving
treatment, the prison environment would be particularly forbidding to Pepper
because of his drugged state, said his chief lawyer, public defender Michael S.
Hussey of Worcester.
“Other inmates would be a danger to him because his medications make
him sedated and vulnerable,” Hussey said. “I'd be very concerned for his safety
both because of the notoriety of his crime and the severity of his condition.”
On the other hand, Pepper, a large, powerfully built man, could also
pose a danger to other inmates as well as to himself, according to a noted
psychologist.
Paranoid schizophrenics are at high risk for suicide, but they can
also have psychotic tendencies, although these are muted or eliminated by
proper medication, said William Knaus, a professor at American International
College in Springfield.
“He could probably intimidate people quite quickly,” Knaus said. “For
two ax murders, I'd kind of be inclined to feel a lot better if he were
permanently committed to a mental hospital.”
According to Anthony C. Carnevale, spokesman for the correction
department, a judge could decide to send any prisoner at Bridgewater to a
regular prison. Carnevale would not answer questions about the Pepper case, and
he did not return several messages seeking comment about procedures for
treating mentally ill convicts.
Hussey said Pepper's last committal hearing was in January. Since
committal hearings are generally held once a year, that means he will stay at
Bridgewater at least until next January.
And while some are worried about Pepper's welfare behind bars, it is
likely he will be kept at Bridgewater for a very long time after that,
according to Carney. That is because when the prosecution in such a case
supports a mental illness diagnosis -- as the Worcester district attorney's
office apparently did in agreeing to the plea bargain -- a judge's
recommendation carries much force.
Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte did not respond to requests
for comment for this story.
Meanwhile, mental health advocates are fervently hoping that Pepper
will remain in the hospital setting for his entire sentence.
Advocates also want Pepper, who will be about 60 when he is expected
to be released from prison, to be closely monitored afterward, said Carol C.
Thorsen, president of the Central Massachusetts Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
“We want to commend the judge for recognizing Michael's illness and
sending him to Bridgewater instead of a regular prison,” she said. “We feel
that's the place he should be.”
John and Eleanor Pepper became members of the Worcester-based Alliance
when they began to seek treatment for their son about three years ago, Thorsen
added. The tragic killings of the well-known Westboro couple could have been
prevented if society had a better system for involuntarily committing mentally
ill family members, she said.