Angry father of murder victim storms out of courtroom

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | Wednesday, August 21, 2002 | M.L. LYKE

[ValerieUSA]

EVERETT -- An irate father stormed out of a crowded Snohomish County Superior Court room yesterday, declaring the sentencing of one of his son's killers a mockery.

"Good God! You've got to be joking!" exclaimed Pat Lorbiecki, erupting from his seat after Judge Richard Thorpe handed Emmanuel Wilson a sentence of 12 1/2 years for second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 20 years for 17-year-old Wilson, who admitted wielding the souvenir baseball bat used in the clubbing of 15-year-old Joshua Lorbiecki.

Many of Pat Lorbiecki's angry friends and relatives followed him out of the courtroom, which was filled to standing-room-only, with security officers screening people at the door and keeping guard inside.

Wilson was one of four youths sentenced yesterday for their part in the botched robbery plot that left the popular Everett High School sophomore to die on a middle-school playfield Nov. 17 of last year.

Authorities say that on the night of his death, Joshua Lorbiecki called one of the boys, Matthew Teague, to make a marijuana buy. Teague and three companions -- Emmanuel Wilson, his older brother Fernando and their cousin Steve Limar -- admitted to hatching a plot to "jack Joshua," luring him to the playfield to rob him of some $400.

They never got the money.

Although the boys rifled Lorbiecki's pockets, they found only $12.

Police later discovered $400 stashed away in a separate pocket.

Court records indicate that two of the boys attempted to help Lorbiecki off the field after the beating, but took off when they heard sirens, leaving him to die. They all fled town soon after.

The four defendants, ages 16 to 20, all pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case. None had prior convictions. The state had recommended different sentences for each defendant, based on the degree of culpability. But all four were sentenced to 10 1/2 years -- the low end of the sentencing range -- with Wilson receiving an additional two years for the deadly weapon charge.

"Imposing a sentence in a case like this is an awesome task," Thorpe said yesterday.

"Nobody can bring Joshua back. And nobody but God can help the family."

Defense lawyers yesterday portrayed the four youths as teenagers who had made a mistake, with no intent to injure anyone. Though they abandoned Lorbiecki at the field, they had no idea how badly he was hurt, the lawyers said.

Friends and relatives of the defendants painted a picture of good kids, trying to make it in a world of drugs and violence. "No family is untouched with the madness that runs wild in our society," said Emmanuel and Fernando's father, Robert Wilson.

All four youths apologized to the Lorbiecki family yesterday for the loss of Joshua, who, though he had some run-ins with the law, was a well-liked youth who loved sports, hip-hop music, computer games and the outdoors.

The 15-year-old, who had been a bat boy for the Mariners, was planning on trying out for the football team.

"What we did that day was wrong," said Matthew Teague. "We never thought it would be this serious."

Emmanuel Wilson apologized to the Lorbiecki family -- and to his own girlfriend, who brought their new baby daughter to court.

"I'm sorry I won't be there to raise my daughter," he said.

Joshua Lorbiecki's aunt, Tina Smith, surprised the defendants and most everyone in the courtroom with a speech praising her "awesome nephew" and drawing on biblical citations.

Her God, she said is a God of forgiveness.

Then she turned to face the defendants, her face screwed up in pain, tears running down it, and told them:

"I, for one, forgive you."

[justshutupandtakeit]

You are aware there is a difference in 1st and 2d degree murder?

BTW isn't a souveneir bat a little one?

[Raymond Hendrix]

Tina Smith is an idiot who skipped all the work and deep thought of understanding justice and went straight for the emotional public forgiveness performance. It has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with feeling good about herself.

So now a Christian who forgives others is "an Idiot?". How do you know what is in her heart and whether she had any thoughts about how she herself felt? Perhaps she simply did what Jesus did when confronted by a guilty sinner (even the ones who crucified him). He asked his father that they be forgiven. The justice was left to God -- not you.

[Raymond Hendrix]

America's Other Jesus

[ValerieUSA]

Her surprise speech and performance was inappropriate for the time and place. It was nonsense, detached from reality.
The murderers are still making excuses (we didn't think it would get this serious) and have yet to reach a moment of guilt and repentance.
Of course they are "sorry" and apologetic in court. They have lawyers and a lenient judge. That's what they are supposed to do as defendants.
Tina Smith, as a supposedly injured party, was supposed to Demand Justice in the name of her "awesome" nephew - and justice was not served. She should have been Furious. Some righteous anger would have been appropriate and not contrary to Christianity.

[Raymond Hendrix]

Being a Christian myself I guess that I am reluctant to "demand justice". Now if I was the judge in this case then I would be expected to render justice regardless. There is a place for the judge and also a place for the Christian to show some love here. I am surprised that a fellow Christian (I assume that you are one) would immediately focus your attention on the aunt and call her an idiot. I for one was greatly impressed once when a certain woman just lost her daughter to an angry husband who had just murdered her a week before when she asked the congregation to pray for the man. Anyone could have excused the woman if she had felt differently and I certainly can excuse the other relatives for their reaction. However the aunt is not to be condemned for her Christian love. She is not the enemy here.

[Mark17]

Then she turned to face the defendants, her face screwed up in pain, tears running down it, and told them:

"I, for one, forgive you."

I don't think she has a right to forgive them. It was not her son who was murdered. I feel only the victim and his parents have the right to forgive them, and one of them is dead. That would be similar to me forgiving Jack "the dripper" Kevorkian for killing all those people.

[ValerieUSA]

She was emotionally overwrought and misrepresented Christianity in her rambling outburst. Denial of the magnitude of the brutal crime and the unsavory circumstances of her "awesome" nephew's own association with his murderers is not forgiveness, despite her claim. It was not her place to forgive them. Praying for them is another story, but pretending to forgive them is idiocy.

[Raymond Hendrix]

You seem to be sure that she was pretending. I wasn't there so I cannot say for sure.

[ValerieUSA]

All she can do is pretend - she doesn't have the authority to forgive them.

[Raymond Hendrix]

Well she has the authority as a Christian to forgive her neighbor as Jesus commanded. And I certainly do not assume that she was so distant from her nephew that it was no big deal for her to chose to forgive rather than condemn. Why do you choose to err on the side of vengence? Why do you refuse to give the woman no credit and assume the worst about her? Maybe she is a big hypocrite but how can you condemn her so lightly because of a few lines in a news report? Jesus never taught his followers to be full of vengence. He said to leave that to God.

[ValerieUSA]

Here is the Seattle Times' version of the story:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134518312_lorbiecki21m.html

Teen's killers sentenced to about 10 years each

By Janet Burkitt Snohomish County reporter

EVERETT — The family and friends of four young men who pleaded guilty to murdering 15-year-old Joshua Lorbiecki last year on a middle-school play field crowded into a Snohomish County courtroom yesterday and implored the judge to show mercy on the foursome.

But Lorbiecki's father, Patrick Lorbiecki, thought Superior Court Judge Richard Thorpe showed far, far too much mercy.

Thorpe sentenced each defendant to just more than a decade behind bars — near the low end of the standard range for second-degree murder. Two years were tacked onto the sentence of 17-year-old Emanuel "Manny" Wilson, who prosecutors say killed Lorbiecki by striking him with a souvenir baseball bat.

"You gotta be joking," Lorbiecki exclaimed before storming out of the courtroom upon hearing Emanuel Wilson's sentence. "Murderer!" he shouted at Wilson.

"It's a mockery of the system," he said outside the courtroom. "This is a joke. This judge shouldn't be sitting on the bench."

Deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro had recommended a sentence of more than 20 years for Wilson, the high end of the standard range; more than 16 years for his 19-year-old brother, Fernando "Troy" Wilson; more than 14 years for their cousin Steven Limar; and more than a decade for Matthew Teague. Cavagnaro said her recommendations were based on the relative culpability of the four.

According to prosecutors, Lorbiecki went to meet Limar, 20, and Teague, 18, at a bus stop on Nov. 17 to buy $400 worth of marijuana. Unbeknownst to Lorbiecki, a plan had been worked out among the four co-defendants to rob him instead, prosecutors say.

Limar, 20, and Teague, 18, did meet Lorbiecki at the bus stop. The three were recorded by a Safeway security camera purchasing cigarettes and then walking in the direction of the Evergreen Middle School play field.

The plan was that Emanuel Wilson would rob Lorbiecki at the field, while Fernando Wilson would pretend to rob Limar and Teague, according to prosecutors. Emanuel Wilson "hit Lorbiecki about the head multiple times until he was flat on the ground," Cavagnaro wrote in court papers. He then took Lorbiecki's wallet, and he and Fernando Wilson ran off, she said.

Inside the wallet was $12. Emergency medical personnel later found the $400 in one of Lorbiecki's pockets, Cavagnaro said.

Teague and Limar initially helped Lorbiecki as he got up and tried to stumble across the field, but when he collapsed and they couldn't rouse him, they ran away, according to prosecutors.

When they heard he had died, all four defendants fled the state, but they eventually surrendered to police. All were charged with first-degree murder, and ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

They all spoke in court yesterday, apologizing to Lorbiecki's family.

"What we did that day was wrong," Teague said before he was sentenced. "It was never supposed to happen like that."

"I forgive you," Tina Smith, Lorbiecki's aunt, told the four co-defendants, as she wept. "I'm going to be praying for you guys ... your protection and salvation."

Their own family and friends also apologized, and said the co-defendants were good people.

"They're not thugs," the Wilsons' father, Robert, said of his sons. "I didn't bring them up that way."

He said he and his five sons belonged to a Christian rap group called Pop Heavenly and the Heavenly Boyz.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ain't that "Heavenly"?
I suppose that's enough to convince some idiots like Tina that they are a fine Christian family.
They ARE thugs. It is not unChristian to say so.

[ValerieUSA]

Jesus taught to pray, "Father forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against US."
He prayed for His murderers from the Cross - I don't recall Him forgiving Herod for murdering His cousin, John the Baptist.

[07055]

He said he and his five sons belonged to a Christian rap group called Pop Heavenly and the Heavenly Boyz.

Any possible "hate crime" angle to this story?

[ValerieUSA]

The Seattle Times showed a photo of the victim, but not of his murderers
Joshua Lorbiecki

[07055]

Hmmmmmmm.

[Raymond Hendrix]

You win. Don't forgive them and tell God how righteous you are. No wonder people despise Christians. Twist the scriptures so that we don't have to forgive... Good night. I will leave you with your "righteous" condemnation. Work it out with God. Maybe you can convince him.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Seattle deserve this kind of justice. I hope they keep all those liberal ass judges up there, no body else wants them except Mass.

Whoa Nelly! I don't want them pus buckets up here! Let the granola crowd in Seattle keep 'em right where they are.

[neutrino]

Joshua Lorbiecki's aunt, Tina Smith

Joshua should haunt her...nightly.

[Mr. K]

Did anyone but me notice the comment that 17 YEAR OLD Wilson would not be there to RAISe HIS DAUGHTER...

Too bad for the little girl and the idiot girlfriend- too bad for you and me who are probably supporting this child..

[ValerieUSA]

Now that was idiotic, too.
You twist the Scriptures to find authority to forgive transgressions that aren't even against you. You go right ahead and forgive Joshua's murderers, too - but don't forgive me for pointing out the meaning of these important words, concepts and Biblical passages that get tossed about carelessly in circles of shallow sanctimonious Christians who feel darn good and superior when they say them, and judgementally defiant when it is explained to them that they misunderstand.