WWPD? (What Would Preacher Do?) ;)
Posted on 03/10/2006 12:32:08 PM PST by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to parole a convicted murderer who became an Episcopal priest while behind bars, according to a spokeswoman.
The state parole board voted last October to release James Tramel, 38, who was convicted in 1986 of killing a homeless man in Santa Barbara. Schwarzenegger, who rejected parole for Tramel a year ago, declined this time around to review his case, said Julie Soderlund, an aide to the governor. If the case is not reviewed by the governor, the parole board's decision stands.
Tramel is scheduled to be released Sunday, said the Rev. Richard Helmer, a San Francisco clergyman who coordinated a campaign for Tramel's parole.
“I feel humbled,” Tramel said from Solano State Prison in Vacaville. “I feel the weight of my responsibility to justify the faith that people have put in me.”
Schwarzenegger's office did not say why the governor changed his mind.
Tramel was convicted of killing Michael Stephenson, 29, in an unprovoked crime that the victim's family called a “thrill killing.” Tramel, who was a 17-year-old Santa Barbara prep school student at the time, was sentenced to 15 years to life for second-degree murder, as was another defendant, David Kurtzman, who stabbed Stephenson 17 times and remains incarcerated.
The victim's father criticized the decision to release Tramel.
“We certainly don't want him out but there's not a thing we can do,” said Edward Stephenson of Newport Beach.
Tramel began counseling dying inmates in prison and in 1998 became the first prisoner to be accepted as a student at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, where he earned a master's degree in theological studies through an off-campus program.
Message to all criminals: Pretend to become a priest and love Jesus. Your ticket to freedom.
Well it aint up to you. Its up to the parole board.
I'm sure that a lot of lawyers are going to be watching this one to see if it could be a ticket out of the slammer.
Well, I suppose we'll see how it goes.
If he's authenically become a man of God - well, good for him, I suppose. There is a possibility of redemption, after all. However rare it may be.
Too late. The handsome and talented late Mr. Redhead had an ex-wife who beat this guy to the punch. She pulled a gun and shot her boyfriend, "Because I loved him!!" and while she was waiting for her trial to come up, she joined an order of Anglican nuns. When she went to trial, she appeared in her nun's habit, so the charges were dropped. I tell ya: Ya gotta be crazy to be THAT sneaky...and she was.
A "thrill killing." If this article is correct, he didn't do the stabbing himself, making him an accomplice, and he was 17 at the time. I can understand that this MIGHT be a case where 17 years in jail was enough punishment to fit the crime.
I hope he will do a better job as an Episcopal priest than some of the current crop of Episcopal priests and bishops.
This is a big mistake, and Arnold will regret it, along with future victims of Trammel.
We had a case like this in PA. about ten years ago--a muslim prisoner who had murdered two people, "found religion" in prison, took theological studies, and was pardoned by Gov. Bob Casey.
As soon as he was released, he moved to Long Island, and raped and murdered three women there.
There should never be pardon or parole for murderers. It's in their blood, and they'll do it again.
I wish these converts would accept the secular punishment for their crimes and rejoice in a prison ministry.
Mrs VS
It has been shown that the only way to rehabilitate a criminal, particularly a repeat offender, is through religious conversion made personally by the inmate. Nothing else has been shown to work with any degree of effectiveness.
No, you can't expect every man claiming to be a preacher to be sincere, but it lends more credibility than any other excuse.
Possibly a different sort of case. Your perp was a Muslim for one thing. Not to be prejudicial, but Muslims and Episcopalians tend to be different.
Another difference is that Bob Casey was absolutely notorious for his bad judgment about letting off criminals. This was evidently a parole board ruling. I'm not saying it will prove to be right, but it might.
Well, it ain't exactly a cheap ticket. I doubt it's very easy to earn a degree and get ordained, so a scammer would probably be too lazy for that route.
St. Paul the apostle was a murderer. Christianity is ABOUT redemption; for all of us. I hope and pray that the man is sincere.
WWPD? (What Would Preacher Do?) ;)
"Message to all criminals: Pretend to become a priest and love Jesus. Your ticket to freedom."
Karla ( F Tucker) tried that, didn't work. Whether you are God or Satan, if you are found guilty of murder in Kerrville, TX, prepare to feel that pin prick in your arm.
An All-American Suspec in a Brutal Killing
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
October 28, 1985
(snip)
"The minor (Kurtzman) said, `I had him on his knees by this time, so I flipped him over on his back and cut his throat.' "
When Kurtzman was asked whether the victim said anything as he was being killed, he replied, "Yeah. He said, `No, my friend, no,' " according to the report.
Stephenson bled to death with a five-inch slash across his throat, two stab wounds at the base of the neck, cuts on the skull, behind the ears and on the shoulders, plus six to eight stab wounds at the back of his neck, according to a pathologist's report.
The students returned to school by 1:30 a.m. -after curfew - and Tramel allegedly began telling other students how he and his roommates had "bagged a Mexican."
When the students did not believe him, Tramel reportedly led them back to the park on a $50 bet and a dare.
"I got close enough to see the guy was dead," student Tyler Shepperd later told authorities. He said he told Tramel the man did not look Mexican, and Tramel responded: "Innocent people and children are killed in war."
Tramel allegedly swore everyone to secrecy and threatened to kill anyone who told. Yet later that Sunday morning some of the students took the knife and the bloody clothing to police at the murder scene.
Great. Rotten kid becomes priest, gets off. From the original crime, he should have gotten life without parole.
Another example of why every murderer should be executed.
Your comments are spot on.
Tramel, who was a 17-year-old Santa Barbara prep school student at the time, was sentenced to 15 years to life for second-degree murder, as was another defendant, David Kurtzman, who stabbed Stephenson 17 times and remains incarcerated.
If he is actually rehabilitated, then I think he earned it.
As for those what do not rehabilitate in prison (33% - 85%?} there is merit to reverting to the usual punishment in the 18th century: Hang 'em.
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