Posted on 05/08/2008 8:05:14 AM PDT by Corin Stormhands
A Giles County man paroled from prison after serving 14 years for killing two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1981 now is suspected of shooting two campers just off the trail in Giles on Tuesday.
Randall Lee Smith, 54, was in a Roanoke hospital yesterday after crashing a pickup truck in Giles, Sgt. Michael Conroy of the Virginia State Police said.
(Excerpt) Read more at inrich.com ...
Don’t have anything for you, but that it is well known in the Law Enforcement/Forensics community.
It’s just a shame we can’t get the killers in national parks together on the same trails at the same time with the politicians who ban guns in national parks ...
I vaguely remember hearing about this when I was in high school...I grew up over the mountains in Amherst but we got the TV stations out of Roanoke and they were all over the murders.
Texans say it best...”there’s some folks that just need killin’.” This guy is one of ‘em.
}:-)4
And the Parole Board members aren’t asked a word about why they felt it was safe to release him.
I think this was during a period when the prosecutors felt that getting a serious first degree murder conviction would be difficult, and there was the unfortunate tendency to let a lot of people plea out.
_______
Because convictions for first degree murder still require evidence. From the linked article:
With no clear motive for the killing and what then-Commonwealth's Attorney Hezekiah Osborne called scant physical evidence, Smith accepted a plea agreement that reduced his charges to second-degree murder
Agreed, he’s a psycho, I stated that MOST murders are of someone known, a crime of passion.
Well, the AT is kind of a special case because it spans so many states, and most of its length is actually not inside national parks. In Virginia it’s on National Forest land more than inside National Parks, and AFAIK guns are legal inside the national forests—my friends and family hunted in the George Washington National Forest all the time. The problem you run into with the AT isn’t just national park regulations, but state regulations on the lands outside the parks. In Virginia, you’re much more likely to be seen favorably if you have to defend yourself on the AT than in, say, Maryland.
}:-)4
Naw. Nuthin' like that.
Guns aren't allowed on the Trail (National Park land), so it's "safe". Just ask any Liberal who wants to prevent honest concealed carrying citizens from legally carrying a weapon.
The fact a convicted murderer had a gun and was wandering the Trail hunting for new victims doesn't mean private citizens should be allowed to carry them in self defense. Better to keep those rules in place to prevent Wild West shootouts or mass slaughter of Bambi and Smokey.
After all, we are constantly reminded by the Liberals and the National Park Service Phoobahs that the Parks are "safe". So, they must be!
Looks more like they had a weak case and took a sure 14 years. Damn.
My memories fuzzy, but I remember the plea bargain pissing off the locals.
He actually wrote a murder note in 1981 along the lines of “I like these people and I hate that I am going to have to do this to them”.
From the original article:
“Yesterday, authorities closed a 25-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Pearisburg to state Route 606 in Bland. Roger Holnback, head of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, which maintains 136 miles of the trail, said volunteers were shuttling hikers around the closed area.
“I just hope this doesn’t reflect bad on the trail,” Holnback said. “It was quite traumatic and sad news, and when something happens in proximity to the trail, people start to think it’s unsafe.”
Unsafe? Ya think?
The legal system is just that a system. Our septic system got clogged once and we had it pumped out. Seems the citizens should take the hint and clean the ‘legal’ system.
Regards, TL
Yep - It kept him from killing any innocents for 14 years. Just for the record the guy is a PSYCHO, serial killer. Rather atypical.
A year ago, my son’s Scout troop camped in the Dismal area at Walnut Flats.
Just two years prior to his release, then Governor George Allen lead the charge for the abolishment of parole. But it didn't apply retroactively.
The crime of passion murderers you are talking about are never charged with capital murder.
Your memory is much better than mine.
But IIRC Hez Osborne lost his next race.
Good point, shame this huy copped a plea. Bigger shame he didn’t die in prison.
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