[Vision2020] FW: Breaking news from DNews.com
Art Deco
deco at moscow.com
Tue Aug 3 16:50:38 PDT 2010
Breaking News from the Moscow-Pullman Daily NewsI agree with Saundra in part.
However, I thought that PA William Thompson did a very good job in arguing for the maximum penalty for the arson count. It was one of the strongest parts of his work today. He did not hesitate to point out that Parks was a liar, not willing to take responsibility for his actions, and was coldly motivated by self interest in placing the lifeless, pregnant Sarah on the bed before setting fire to it. It was a deliberate, cold-blooded, and egregiously inconsiderate act design to let him get completely away with this unspeakably horrible murder.
Parks defense attorney Ray Barker sought to portray Parks as a good Christian. Ignoring the irony here, Thompson pointed out that burning the body of the pregnant wife you just strangled was not a Christian act given, among other things, the consequences to Sarah Parks family and friends. Thompson presented the judge with a photo of what was left of Sarah after the flames did their work. Unfortunately, this did not move the judge enough.
Judge Brudie justified not giving the maximum determinate sentence because "as a judge, I have to believe that rehabilitation is possible." I disagree. I think this is a very reckless and ill-thought out belief to be held by a district court judge. Any statement about the possible rehabilitation of any specific individual is at best a guess. It is clear that judges make mistakes about this all the time given the recidivism rate. It is equally clear that some people are not rehabilitatable at all even given the tools that exist and are legally available today.
In this case given the ghastly, inhuman horror of the crime and the need to send the strongest possible message of general deterrence all considerations of rehabilitation are irrelevant especially since there is no way to guarantee that Parks might not kill again when minimally provoked by as trivial a thing as being awakened and prodded into arising in the morning.
I am not sure that even now, in fact, I doubt the truth has been told how Sarah Parks died. Parks claims that he strangled her while she was trying to get him up and out of bed in the morning. I very much doubt this is true, but even if it is, how's that for a totally reckless disregard for human life?
I think that the very intelligent Silas Parks is a conniving, manipulating, scheming liar whose tale is motivated by the desire to bring out about the lightest sentence possible. During the murder investigation it came out that Parks told big time lies to his wife and deceived her in several ways. He demonstrated that he has no hesitancy about lying if he thinks it will be in his advantage. It is very probable that he lied not only to the presentence investigator but to the two clinical psychologists who evaluated him. I'm hoping that something will happen in prison to tip the scales of justice in this case to a more balanced position.
I disagreed with the initial plea bargain. Today, the judge in rare candor about such subjects opined that the agreement was likely the best outcome Parks could have managed at trial given the facts in the case. I thought at the very least Parks should have been tried for second degree murder which carries a longer maximum prison term that voluntary manslaughter. I also thought it was very inappropriate that the sentences for voluntary manslaughter are to be served concurrently per the plea agreement.
Domestic violence is something we as a society ought strongly condemn and take measures, whatever the cost, to reduce significantly its occurrence.
My heart goes out to the family and friends of Sarah Parks. May her horrific, haunting death and destruction bring about some direly need changes.
Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID 83843
waf at moscow.com
208 882-7975
----- Original Message -----
From: Saundra Lund
To: 'Vision 2020'
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 1:44 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] FW: Breaking news from DNews.com
Not quite the way I’d describe the sentence. As per the plea agreement, Parks got 15 years for the “involuntary manslaughter” of his wife & unborn child, and the sentence for the arson was not less than five years nor more than 25 years, with that to run consecutive to the involuntary manslaughter time.
And that, folks, is what passes for justice in Latah County for the “involuntary manslaughter” of a woman and her unborn daughter by a spoiled, petulant brat of a man-child who still hasn’t been knocked down to size by his own family or by the justice system. While I generally have great sympathy for the parents of criminals, I certainly don’t in this instance. It was all I could do to keep from vomiting listening to Parks’ parents – it was, perhaps, the most shameful display I’ve ever seen. Perhaps had they not coddled their spectacularly underachieving, unmotivated first son, he would have figured out long ago that Silas Parks wasn’t the center of the universe and that squeezing the life out of his wife and unborn child, and then torching the bed he put them on wasn’t acceptable.
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
~ Edmund Burke
***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2010 through life plus 70 years, Saundra Lund. Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the author.*****
From: Moscow-Pullman Daily News [mailto:alerts at lmtribune.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 1:24 PM
To: Saundra
Subject: Breaking news from DNews.com
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Silas Parks receives 40-year sentence for murder of pregnant wife
Second Judicial District Administrative Judge Jeff Brudie sentenced Silas Parks, who admitted to killing his pregnant wife and setting fire to their Moscow apartment, for the maximum allowable sentence of 40 years in prison today in Latah County Court.
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