Through the Glass/ Loving a Murderer

This is on my www.badcb.blogspot.ca: 

Sept. 21 Through the Glass: I cut out this Edmonton Journal article “Punished for a lover’s crimes” by Debby Waldman on Nov. 20, 2011.  It’s about the book called Through the Glass by Shannon Moroney.  Here are some excerpts:

On their first date, Jason Staples told Shannon Moroney that he was on life parole for murder. That kind of news would send most women fleeing. But Moroney, a smart, attractive, college-educated high school guidance counsellor, saw something special in Staples.

She wasn't the only one. Staples, who was 18 when he committed his crime - murdering his 38-year-old housemate because she refused his sexual advances - was widely considered a model ex-con by the time he met Moroney. He was 33 and had been out of prison for five years. He had to spend four nights a week at a halfway house, but he was encouraged to live independently the rest of the time and hold down a job, which he did.

A month after the wedding, when Moroney was out of town at a conference, Staples kidnapped and raped two women at knifepoint. Then, after the women appealed to him, he left them tied up in his basement, called the police, and turned himself in.

The principal at her school refused to let her return, telling her, "It's too upsetting for people to see you. You represent something terrible."

Through the Glass could easily have been the story of how Moroney's life fell apart - and indeed, it did. But this is no "poor-me" tale. It's equal parts how-to manual for anyone touched by crime, indictment of the criminal justice system, endorsement for the practice of restorative justice, thank-you note to the friends and family who supported Moroney and, ultimately, answer to those who wanted her to explain what she was thinking marrying a man who had committed murder and standing by him after he violently attacked two women he didn't know.

"I hated what he had done and I would never condone his actions, but I knew I didn't hate the person he was," Moroney writes as she recalls her feelings before she visited her husband in jail for the first time after the rapes.

She knew he was too dangerous to live in public.

For the justice system to recognize that if it wants criminals to be rehabilitated, perpetrators' families need support, not censure, blame, and ostracism.

It's hard to read Moroney's book without thinking about Elizabeth Williams, the unfortunate spouse of convicted rapist and murderer Col. Russell Williams.

In truth, though, there are many readers who will benefit immensely from Moroney's level-headed but passionate look at the journey on which she was thrust after her husband's crime.

There are those who will undoubtedly accuse her of having written it to make herself look good. But her argument that she, too, was a victim, is a solid one. If trained professionals in the Ontario criminal justice community couldn't figure out that Jason Staples was a ticking time bomb, how could Moroney have been expected to come to that conclusion?

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=b6d97117-1eae-4c56-9fe4-12243f8692db&p=1

My opinion: That was a very intense article.  If you like to read true-crime, you may like this.

Loving a Murderer: I cut out this National Post article called “Loving a MURDERER” by Joe O’Connor on Oct. 8, 2011.  Here are some excerpts:

Ms. Moroney has moved on, recovered, remarried. But for Jason Staples there is no moving on. He is a convicted murderer, a double rapist — a man capable of incredible violence and a dangerous offender destined to die in prison.

“The hard thing, in my experience, is getting people to understand that you can love a human being and yet detest what they did — and that one does not negate the other,” Ms. Moroney says.

“We all love people that hurt us. This is just a very extreme case.”

It is a remarkable story, really, of love and betrayal, of a horribly broken man’s hidden brutality and his ex-wife’s boundless capacity to forgive.

She listened, intently, to everything he had to say. Soon after, she began asking questions — at Mr. Staples’ urging, meeting with his parole officer, his psychologist, his friends.

Their verdict was unanimous: Jason Staples was a reformed man, a prison success story. He had done something terrible, once upon a time, paid for it and was at no risk to re-offend.

Her parents loved him. Her friends loved him. He never hid from the past.

“For those of us that knew Jason and were a part of his life in 2005 which, by then, was almost 18 years since the first crime, it was like lightning striking twice,” Ms. Moroney says. “This was cancer coming back and it was Stage IV and it was terminal.”

He also told police that he had been spying on his wife and other houseguests using a hidden camera in their bathroom for several months. For Ms. Moroney, the earth cracked open. She was angry, furious, but more than anything she was sad, mourning for a life she might have had, for a Jason she thought she knew and for the pain he had caused his victims.

She could never forgive his actions. But his early admission of guilt and his palpable sense of remorse and a willingness — almost an eagerness — to be punished for the crimes so he could never hurt anyone again would help Ms. Moroney forgive.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/08/saturday-interview-we-all-love-people-that-hurt-us-this-is-just-a-very-extreme-case/

Sept. 22 Forensic Files: A few weeks ago, I was on the computer and my dad was watching TV show.  This TV show covers real cases.

Zane and Maria Isa- they killed their daughter for having a fast food job without approval and having a boyfriend.

FBI had put bugs in the house because they suspected they were terrorists.  They mostly spoke in Arabic.

I went on the internet and looked it up and here’s the full story.  It starts off with the transcript of the argument that led to the murder.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20111801,00.html

My opinion: I’m putting this TV show here, because it is based on a true story like the above book.

Creepy dolly mystery: I found this Yahoo article on Jul. 25, 2014 called “ ‘Creepy’ doll mystery solved.”  Here are some excerpts: 

If you want to give your neighbour's daughter a doll to play with, there are better ways to do it than this.

In recent weeks, as many as 11 "creepy" porcelain dolls have been discovered on the doorsteps of eight homes in an upscale community in San Clemente, Orange County, prompting a police investigation.

Young girls, all about the age of 10, lived at each of the homes.
No notes were attached to the dolls.

"It's peculiar, strange and weird and all that stuff," Orange County Sheriff's Lieutenant Jeff Hallock told City News Service. "People are saying the dolls slightly resemble their daughters, which is creepy."
Officers tracked down the person who left the dolls on the front porches by Thursday night: a female adult who lives in the community and attends church with many of the families.

She had been clearing out an old doll collection and thought that some of the young girls in her neighbourhood might enjoy them, Hallock said.

"Investigators have concluded that her motivation was out of goodwill and that she intended it as a kind gesture," stated a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

My opinion: When I was reading the article, I immediately thought: “This sounds like an episode of Criminal Minds.”  In fact, there was one episode where a serial killer was kidnapping women and dressing them up like dolls because she thought they were dolls.  There was another episode where a serial killer kidnaps a man and a woman so he could make them into puppets.

In this case, that woman really should have left a note with the doll.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/creepy-doll-mystery-orange-county-community-solved-204650921.html