My last post was made the day before my office went to get certified for their CCW licenses, I went with them & to talk about it I have written a letter to the instructor. A letter of gratitude.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear NRA Instructor,
I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity on March 8th, 2007 to learn how to shoot a gun & help face my fears. My office came in as a group to take the CCW course, an offer I very nearly declined..
...and then I thought about it.
"Why not? Will it kill me to shoot a gun?" I asked.
"No." came my answer.
I decided that it was important for me to do this, for me.
You see, my best friend was shot and murdered on December 18th, 2004 by two very sick people & it has been a struggle for me to deal with the concept that anyone could be capable of the things they did to him. There was a lot of talk about the gun used at the trial & I had no reference against which to judge for myself. While there was no question of who did it, I wanted to understand the logistics of it. I learned a lot of things during the trial, like how they test for chemicals, DNA, finger prints, etc. - there is a lot more to these things than on TV or in movies. What I didn't learn though was how the gun worked, how loud was it, what the type of bullets used were capable of or how they exploded on impact.
While I'm sure this sounds very morbid to some, that I would want to know such details about the murder of my best friend, I hope that you can understand..
My best friend was murdered in cold blood, shot in the back of the head as he tried to escape. During a part of the trial one of the defendant's attorney made a very big deal about how fast the shot killed my friend. He asked the specialists questions like, "Could he have taken another step forward after he had been shot in the back of the head?" This was an issue he stressed very much, and I don't know why because it didn't have a point other than to upset everyone listening. The specialist became visibly annoyed by the line of questioning because it had no baring on the case and was kind enough to keep reiterating to the attorney that if my friend took a step it was only because his muscles had already begun the process and that he would not have had any brain function once the bullet struck his brain. The attorney finally let it go and moved on to more productive questions. The horrible fears and awful images these questions put into my head will never leave me, especially the way they plagued me before I had the knowledge I do now about how guns & bullets work.
I'm glad that I decided to do this, to do this for me. Regardless of whether or not anyone else can understand it, I now have a little more peace about my friend's death. Though I have no intention of owning a gun, I know that I am capable of handling one. Thank you.
Below is pasted what a reporter wrote about the trial in the paper. While the media never gets it all right, leaving much out and mixing up details, most of it is there..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacksonville pair found guilty in roommate's death
Separate juries convict couple of murder, robbery and setting body and apartment on fire.
By SHANNAN BOWEN, The Times-Union
Separate juries found a Jacksonville couple guilty Friday of murdering their 22-year-old roommate, robbing him and then setting his body and apartment on fire -- crimes prosecutors say were mimicked after they watched the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers. Angus Wallen and Kara Winn, both 27, were tried separately and each convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and arson in the Dec. 18, 2004, crime. Separate juries for each defendant determined that Wallen and Winn shot Brandon Murphy, took his car, debit card, Nintendo games and other property and then doused the body and the apartment with lighter fluid.
Circuit Judge Henry Davis heard the two trials at the same time but each jury heard only the closing arguments for one defendant because each blamed the other for the crimes.
Neither showed any reaction as their verdicts were read separately in court Friday. Wallen's jury reached its verdict Thursday night, but it was sealed until Friday evening -- after Winn's jury reached its verdict.
A sentencing hearing is set for Aug. 11. The penalty for first-degree murder is either death or life in prison.
Prosecutors said the two had watched Natural Born Killers the night before the murder and that the crime resembled one in the movie where a couple kills a man and lights his remains on fire and then escapes together.
Jerry Williams, a witness who was at the apartment complex that day, said he saw the couple get into a beige car and pause as the man leaned over to kiss a red-headed woman just before the apartment burst into flames.
Wallen and Winn, who were dating at the time of the murder, were found two days later in Biloxi, Miss., driving Murphy's 1994 beige Nissan Maxima.
Murphy, who had lived for five years at Fieldcrest Apartments, allowed Wallen and Winn to temporarily move into his apartment after his roommate had to move away, Murphy's mother, Trena Nesler, said.
"He had no idea who they were," Nesler said.
Prosecutors John Guy and London Hairston said crucial evidence for Winn's conviction came from her own testimony in which she admitted to firing one of two shots at Murphy in an attempt to get his debit card.
Winn said it was Wallen's idea to kill Murphy and that he was going to do so with a knife. Winn said she had drank a bottle of wine by the time she decided to pick up the gun Wallen had stolen from his father and point it at Murphy.
Winn said she fired the gun into the distance after Murphy refused to give up his card and that the shot hit him in the shoulder. She said Wallen then grabbed the gun and shot Murphy in the head.
Winn's mother testified Wednesday that her daughter had called her the night Winn was in Biloxi and said she had shot Murphy and that "it was cool."
Winn said she did not recall going to a Jacksonville Winn-Dixie to buy two cans of lighter fluid, but the two were seen there by a security camera.
They also were caught on video surveillance buying items from a Wal-Mart in Crestview with Murphy's debit card.
"None of this was my idea," Winn said in a raised voice under cross-examination. "He had me completely brainwashed. I was infatuated with him."
But a day earlier, Wallen's attorney Michael Edwards argued it was Winn who shot and killed Murphy. He said she had an opportunity to steal the gun from Wallen's father and that the gun was by her side when police arrested her in Biloxi.
Guy and Harris argued that Wallen's hand showed burns consistent with ones left by gun powder when shooting a gun. Wallen elected not to testify and no witnesses were called in his defense.
More than a dozen of Murphy's family and friends were in the courtroom throughout the five-day trial. After the verdicts were read, Nesler wiped the tears and gripped the hands of those sitting beside her.
"It's over, but it doesn't take the pain away," she said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They were both sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole.
