No one knows who first opined about second chances, but African author Lailah Gifty Akita said it best when she wrote, “We all make mistakes, everybody should be given a second chance.” It’s hard to argue with that sentiment, at least in theory. For example, if someone who is struggling to support his family robs a bank and gets caught, then he deserves a second chance when it comes time for parole. But if that same man kills the bank clerk during the commission of his crime, then he deserves to serve his full sentence, whatever that might be. The difference between the two scenarios seems obvious, except for North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper who has been rather lenient with his commutations over the years.
Thirty-two years ago, then-15-year-old April Barber was tried as an adult and was convicted of killing her grandparents. The judge gave her two life sentences. But in 2022 the North Carolina Juvenile Sentencing Review Board determined that Barber was now ready to take her place in civilized society again. After all, she had been an exemplary prisoner, having earned her GED and a paralegal certificate. The problem is that there was nothing civilized about the crimes Ms. Barber committed.
April Barber had not been misidentified or wrongly convicted. There were no extenuating circumstances. She hadn’t been abused by police or held hostage by terrorists who forced her to commit a crime. There was no DNA mix-up, she didn’t act out of self-defense, and she freely confessed to both murders. In fact, April and her 30-year-old boyfriend carefully planned, and then deliberately set fire to her grandparents’ house, killing both of them. Why? Because April was pregnant, and according to her testimony, April’s grandparents had threatened to have the boyfriend charged with statutory rape if she didn’t abort the pregnancy.
Cooper agreed with the board’s recommendation to release April, perhaps because he felt that a 15-year-old didn’t know it was wrong to pour gasoline on a house, set fire to it, and trap two elderly people inside. Pardon my language, but that’s bullshit reasoning. Anyone old enough to get a driving permit, get pregnant, and plot a double murder, is old enough to know right from wrong and deserves to have served her full prison term. But I guess Roy didn’t hear what Jack Shepherd heard on that fateful night in 1991. Shepherd who lived next door to the Barbers, told the Greensboro News & Record that, “She [April] could hear her grandmother crying and screaming in pain, and hollering for her, just as well as I could.” The fire had blocked all exits to the house, so there was no escape for the loving couple who had been caring for April since she was a child. In March of 2022, Cooper commuted Barber’s sentence to time served. Nine months later, our governor decided to open the cell door for another mass murderer.
In 2002, 23-year-old Janet Danahey (a former Olympic torch bearer) was upset because her boyfriend, Thad Johnson, had just broken up with her. She could have slashed his tires or egged his lawn to exact revenge, but instead, she set fire to a sofa on the porch of his apartment building in the middle of the night. Some residents escaped the fire, but four did not. Twenty-one-year-old Rachel Llewellyn and her sister 24-year-old Donna died in the blaze. So did 20-year-old Beth Harris and Ryan Bek, age 25. The four victims had tried to escape via a wooden staircase, but it had already burned down. Rhonda Colwell was one of the lucky ones who escaped the fire on that tragic February night. She told the Greensboro News & Record, “You heard screaming. All of us were in such a state of shock.”
Danahey had been given a life sentence for the six people she burned to death, but thanks to Cooper she was released from prison at age 44. That brings me to last month when “Law and Order Roy” was at it again as he commuted the sentences of four more violent criminals. One of them is Terence Smith.
In 2000, Smith, now 42 years old, was involved in a robbery in which three people were shot and injured. The following year he was convicted of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. He was also convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon. Even though Smith (then 17 years old) didn’t do the actual shooting, the judge sentenced him to a prison term of from 40 to 52 years. Last month Cooper released Smith who has only served half of his sentence, saying, “While in prison, Smith participated in community college classes, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, and self-improvement classes.” Cooper also made Smith promise not to commit any more felonies, own a gun, or assault anyone. Good luck on that.
In March of 2009, Kriston Angell was charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a 74-year-old Davie County man and attempted murder of two other men, but he later struck a plea deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The judge sentenced Angell to a prison term of from 25 to 33 years, but last month good old Roy commuted that sentence to the 15 years already served. And why not? After all, while in prison, Angell graduated with honors from the College of Southeastern in its field ministry program and ministered to younger inmates at the Foothills Correctional Institute. I guess he advised the youth not to murder people.
None of this makes any sense to me, but Roy Cooper is proud to double down on his commutations of convicted murderers. In a public statement last month, Cooper said, “We carefully consider recommendations made by the Juvenile Sentence Review Board to commute sentences for crimes committed by minors. All of these individuals are deserving of clemency.”
Too bad the victims of Terence Smith, Kriston Angell, April Barber, and Janet Danahey aren’t alive to tell Governor Cooper what they think of his policy on second chances. It’s something they never got from their murderers.
December 3, 2024 @ 5:43 am
Cooper’s Love Affair With Murderers
No one knows who first opined about second chances, but African author Lailah Gifty Akita said it best when she wrote, “We all make mistakes, everybody should be given a second chance.” It’s hard to argue with that sentiment, at least in theory. For example, if someone who is struggling to support his family robs a bank and gets caught, then he deserves a second chance when it comes time for parole. But if that same man kills the bank clerk during the commission of his crime, then he deserves to serve his full sentence, whatever that might be. The difference between the two scenarios seems obvious, except for North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper who has been rather lenient with his commutations over the years.
Thirty-two years ago, then-15-year-old April Barber was tried as an adult and was convicted of killing her grandparents. The judge gave her two life sentences. But in 2022 the North Carolina Juvenile Sentencing Review Board determined that Barber was now ready to take her place in civilized society again. After all, she had been an exemplary prisoner, having earned her GED and a paralegal certificate. The problem is that there was nothing civilized about the crimes Ms. Barber committed.
April Barber had not been misidentified or wrongly convicted. There were no extenuating circumstances. She hadn’t been abused by police or held hostage by terrorists who forced her to commit a crime. There was no DNA mix-up, she didn’t act out of self-defense, and she freely confessed to both murders. In fact, April and her 30-year-old boyfriend carefully planned, and then deliberately set fire to her grandparents’ house, killing both of them. Why? Because April was pregnant, and according to her testimony, April’s grandparents had threatened to have the boyfriend charged with statutory rape if she didn’t abort the pregnancy.
Cooper agreed with the board’s recommendation to release April, perhaps because he felt that a 15-year-old didn’t know it was wrong to pour gasoline on a house, set fire to it, and trap two elderly people inside. Pardon my language, but that’s bullshit reasoning. Anyone old enough to get a driving permit, get pregnant, and plot a double murder, is old enough to know right from wrong and deserves to have served her full prison term. But I guess Roy didn’t hear what Jack Shepherd heard on that fateful night in 1991. Shepherd who lived next door to the Barbers, told the Greensboro News & Record that, “She [April] could hear her grandmother crying and screaming in pain, and hollering for her, just as well as I could.” The fire had blocked all exits to the house, so there was no escape for the loving couple who had been caring for April since she was a child. In March of 2022, Cooper commuted Barber’s sentence to time served. Nine months later, our governor decided to open the cell door for another mass murderer.
In 2002, 23-year-old Janet Danahey (a former Olympic torch bearer) was upset because her boyfriend, Thad Johnson, had just broken up with her. She could have slashed his tires or egged his lawn to exact revenge, but instead, she set fire to a sofa on the porch of his apartment building in the middle of the night. Some residents escaped the fire, but four did not. Twenty-one-year-old Rachel Llewellyn and her sister 24-year-old Donna died in the blaze. So did 20-year-old Beth Harris and Ryan Bek, age 25. The four victims had tried to escape via a wooden staircase, but it had already burned down. Rhonda Colwell was one of the lucky ones who escaped the fire on that tragic February night. She told the Greensboro News & Record, “You heard screaming. All of us were in such a state of shock.”
Danahey had been given a life sentence for the six people she burned to death, but thanks to Cooper she was released from prison at age 44. That brings me to last month when “Law and Order Roy” was at it again as he commuted the sentences of four more violent criminals. One of them is Terence Smith.
In 2000, Smith, now 42 years old, was involved in a robbery in which three people were shot and injured. The following year he was convicted of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. He was also convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon. Even though Smith (then 17 years old) didn’t do the actual shooting, the judge sentenced him to a prison term of from 40 to 52 years. Last month Cooper released Smith who has only served half of his sentence, saying, “While in prison, Smith participated in community college classes, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, and self-improvement classes.” Cooper also made Smith promise not to commit any more felonies, own a gun, or assault anyone. Good luck on that.
In March of 2009, Kriston Angell was charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a 74-year-old Davie County man and attempted murder of two other men, but he later struck a plea deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The judge sentenced Angell to a prison term of from 25 to 33 years, but last month good old Roy commuted that sentence to the 15 years already served. And why not? After all, while in prison, Angell graduated with honors from the College of Southeastern in its field ministry program and ministered to younger inmates at the Foothills Correctional Institute. I guess he advised the youth not to murder people.
None of this makes any sense to me, but Roy Cooper is proud to double down on his commutations of convicted murderers. In a public statement last month, Cooper said, “We carefully consider recommendations made by the Juvenile Sentence Review Board to commute sentences for crimes committed by minors. All of these individuals are deserving of clemency.”
Too bad the victims of Terence Smith, Kriston Angell, April Barber, and Janet Danahey aren’t alive to tell Governor Cooper what they think of his policy on second chances. It’s something they never got from their murderers.