Posted on 01/23/2008 2:30:39 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
Honoring a convicted sex predator who killed himself behind bars sends a chilling message to victims.
By Anne K. Ream January 23, 2008
Consider this, if you can bear to. Jenny Bush, a young Arizona woman just graduated from college, walks into her home at the end of a workday and encounters an armed serial rapist, James Allen Selby. Selby, who had entered through a first-floor window, uses duct tape to gag and bind her, and then rapes her at knifepoint before fleeing.
After freeing herself, Bush has the courage to report the crime to police -- and the conviction to pursue legal justice. Following a nationwide manhunt, Selby is apprehended and accused of attacking Bush (who, with three other victims, took the stand at his trial) and at least 10 others, including a 9-year-old girl. In October 2004, Selby is convicted on 27 counts, including armed robbery, rape, kidnapping and attempted murder (for slitting the throat of one of his victims). But hours before facing sentencing, he hangs himself in a Tucson jail.
For Selby's victims and their families, it may have been tempting to believe a certain accountability remained operative: His suicide put a fine point on how little he had left to live for in the wake of his conviction. But his death also granted this serial rapist a moral reprieve that the civilian legal system couldn't. Selby was a Persian Gulf War veteran and so, in accordance with Pentagon policy, was buried with full military honors at Ft. Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma.
The military policy of allowing honors burials for veterans convicted of rape sends a chilling message to victims: Even the most heinous sexual violence does not trump prior military service.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
There will be a certain comparison within 5 replies.....
Does Bill KKKlinton deserve a Presidential funeral?
Does a rapist deserve a presidential library??
Heck no!
Convicted? No.
IMO, any conviction that does or would have lead to a dishonorable discharge should make a military burial a big "Negative. Over".
Why single out rapists? How about murderers or bank robbers?
Personally, I think the military funeral is to honor their service. Plenty of very bad people have served in the US armed forces. We can honor their service without it implying that we approve of them as human beings.
There will be a certain comparison within 5 replies.....
Should have posted....
There will be a certain comparison WITH THE VERY NEXT REPLY!!!!
lolol
Timothy McVeigh earned a soldier’s funeral. I’ve no idea whether he received one or not.
Just where do you draw the line with criminal behavior after he served?
LA Times just stirring the anti military moonbat pot
JMHO
No
The military policy of allowing honors burials for veterans convicted of rape sends a chilling message to victims: Even the most heinous sexual violence does not trump prior military service. It is a position that is as ethically indefensible as it is inconsistent. In 1997, after Army veteran Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombings, Congress barred veterans convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death or life in prison from being buried with full military honors. Veterans convicted of rape or any other violent crime, however, encounter no such restrictions.
Of course even traitors can be remembered for prior service. Benedict Arnold comes to mind. Ever see have the occasion to see his honor?
The article does not establish what international standards are for military burials of convicted rapists. (I doubt there are any.) Yet she goes ahead and uses it to bash the USA anyway.
Just reading that a substantial percentage of fellows and ladies returning from Iraq have brain concusions they didn't even know they'd had.
No doubt this war is not unique.
Old friend of mine spent a couple of tours too many in the Nam. He's half nuts all the time. Has several convictions for white collar crime under his belt.
Not that I wouldn't lock him up if he hurt someone, but his service was faithful and he didn't come back whole.
If he was honorably discharged the answer is yes.
Sorry, conduct as a civilian does not reflect on past military service.
I think that’s a good yardstick to judge this by. Good call.
You can make an excellent case that Benedict Arnold was the single most important factor in winning the most important battle of the Revolution, Saratoga, which led directly to French intervention and therefore to independence.
He was probably the best general on either side in the war. (Actually, on both sides.) He missed, by about 15 minutes, capturing T. Jefferson, the governor of VA, during a raid. Tom’s war record was, shall we say, less than inspiring.
Time for Congress to enact another law that takes away more earned Veteran’s benefits. Next thing you know, any veteran convicted of jaywalking will be denied all benefits. Might just help balance the budget.
Timothy McVeigh was a mass murderer but his honorable service earned him a soldier’s funeral, nevertheless.
I think he got far more notoriety and fame from the people who are yammering about this then if they just did a quiet service and planted him.
He served, plant him with as little ceremony as you can get by with and close it down.
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