Robert Powers, one of Boulder's decided losers, after a life of incidents with the law, had a homosexual relationship with a local man, and the two moved in to share an apartment together.  When the man went back to his wife, Powers went bonkers and killed the man's daughter last year at the local Old Navy store.  Pretty damned awful and no redeeming conditions.  Found guilty, he chose not to attend his sentencing, where there was no choice but to be given Life without Parole.  Which he got.

So the horrid Mr. Powers is gone from our lives, but that wasn't good enough.  The Judge and friends and relatives of the young woman had apparently hoped for some face time with the camera and had prepared the long, melodramatic speeches and sound bytes that they know the media loves.  The Judge said Powers could dish it out but couldn't take it, which - while probably true - sounds fairly ridiculous.  Friends of the victim gave eulogies to a small crowd.  But the parents of the victim, including the man who was Powers' lover, chose not to attend either.  Small slams against them, though.

Court procedure to allow venting by the victim of a crime is one thing.  We can all reasonably expect that parents of the victim are going to praise the dead and condemn the living.  Allowing venting by friends and work acquaintances of the victim is another.  And for a judge to resent being denied his public acclaim for jumping on the bandwagon is rather nauseating.  Verbal abuse to no purpose (the man is in prison for the rest of his life and ain't gonna change for the good....) is cruel and unusual.  But I have problems with the whole procedure.

There are two bars next door to each other.  Two drunken men with anger displacement issues walk into each bar at the same time and each shoots the bartender, killing him.  Both are caught and tried.  One bartender was a family man with kids.  The other bartender was recent a immigrant from, say, Croatia and had no family or friends in his new home yet.  During sentencing of both, the family man has friends and relatives and bar regulars extol his virtues and excoriate the murderer, a drunken would-be thief.  The other trial has no such parade except for the manager who said his new hire seemed nice and had done well to that point.

Will the sentences be different?

What if both murderers announce that they have found Christ and beg forgiveness, wouldn't that have more benefits for the murderer of the friendless Croat than the one facing scoffing relatives of the victim?

Isn't sentencing in America dependent upon the popularity of the victims and their friends MORE than upon the law?

If at the same time the Columbine killers were at work a star Columbine athlete, having just been dumped by his girlfriend, kills her, her new beau, and their clique in another school hallway.  Would the sentences be different?  Hands.....

.....and why would that be so?  

When the law and punishment are different for different people for different reasons, that is NOT a unifying thread in the social fabric, and awaits only flashpoint to burn it open.  God knows what lies beneath.