Word: herrin
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Plenty of people would rejoice at the news that Herrin will pay for his deeds in money as well as time, and the reaction is thoroughly understandable. Herrin unquestionably caused the Garlands more pain than they can hope to avenge by any means; their only recourse seems to be to hurt him as much as possible...
...were talented, attractive and popular, the embodiment of family hopes. Bonnic's parents were spared the Websters' long agony of uncertainly, but they suffered the doubts and delays of a comparable ordeal--fighting with a court system that repeatedly seemed about to let their daughter's murderer, Richard J. Herrin, slip through its fingers...
...months without cracking their mask of endurance and restraint--recently posting a new reward for information on Joan, holding repeated press conferences to keep her case visible. But a footnote to Bonnic's case this week cast her bereaved parents in a slightly different light. After numerous legal battles, Herrin finally began serving an eight to 25-year jail term. Meanwhile, the Garlands initiated civil proceedings, suing their daughter's murderer for $2 million in damages for "emotional anguish" and funeral and medical bills. On Monday, a judge awarded them $40,000 in damages, plus another $15,000 in costs...
...gesture rather than the cash don't ring altogether true. What's harder to understand is the value that gesture can have when directed at a man already convicted, sentenced and serving time. In fact, the subtle distinction that saves the civil suit from constituting double jeopardy--that Herrin was convicted and jailed for murdering Bonnie, but sued and fined for causing her parents grief--is all too likely to escape...
Once victims consider it necessary to file suits and bring subsidiary charges to punish perpetrators adequately, the idea of "punishment to fit the crime" has blurred beyond recognition. If Herrin begins to think he's being punished not because he killed Bonnie Garland but because funeral and medical costs were high, the already much-debated effect of a jail term on future actions will be further confused...