I don’t know how everyone else is feeling tonight, but I’m sitting here tonight thinking about all of us but especially, Jennifer’s children.
Today was the culmination of a very long and painful journey for them and with the meager sentence that was given today, I can’t help but feel run over. I can’t begin to imagine the betrayal they must be feeling.
Jennifer was the victim, not MT. Jennifer’s children were the ones who suddenly lost their mother at such a delicate age. MT’s child is what, 20 now? Jennifer did nothing to deserve an early, brutal death and she’s never coming back. MT is only going to be away for 14-1/2 years, but will remain in contact with her child and her family until she is reunited with them one day. MT is the felon, the accessory, the convict, why does she get to have hope and a future, when Jennifer never will? I will never understand the judge’s decision today.
I am disappointed, but not in Judge Randolph. I think it likely his sentencing is about as severe as it could have been.
He gave MT the maximum on every count, so if there is a complaint, it is in the other ways in which he exercised discretion - in the decision how much of each sentence he’d require be executed vs suspended and in whether the sentences would be served concurrently or consecutively.
For every convicted charge, the sentence that MT must serve plus period of probation after serving is equivalent to the maximum, so MT will be imprisoned for about 75% of max, but she will be answerable to the state for 100% of the max. I have to believe that is on the stiffer end for a conspirator whose role was as limited as it was proven MT’s was (and by proven I mean the several specific acts Judge Randolph outlined as reasonable inferences a juror could make from the evidence and NOT other potential acts that many including myself have speculated upon).
I personally think it ridiculous that the state of CT does not hold a conspirator to the same standard as a primary actor. Conspiracy to Murder should not be a Class B felony; it should be a Class A felony, just as Murder is. And Conspiracy to other crimes should match the primary crime in level of severity for penalty.
Conspiracy is a “community” act. It contributes multiple minds, actors, and their resources to the success of the crime and to the concealment of it (making investigation more difficult) and it overrides multiple individual consciences. In such ways, some believe as I do that conspiracy crimes are worse than crimes committed alone. But in no way, are conspiracy crimes less than crimes committed alone - they are an organization toward achieving crime.
It is as though the state of Connecticut ranks the individuals who organized together and grants those who managed to keep their hands less bloody (or less detectably bloody) a reward, even though they participated in the planning, gave cover to the others, and helped conceal the crime. Like they are the dopey hirelings of more malevolent and wicked men who, because they are dopey or because they are hirelings, couldn’t possibly know better. But sometimes the wicked and malevolent goes all the way through the organization, as I believe it did here.
Finally, about the concurrent vs consecutive. AFAIK, MT has no priors. And, although I considered the character witnesses weak as nearly all were family or only became acquainted with MT after the murders when she was likely misrepresenting herself, several reported that she participated in a kind and meaningful way in charitable and church-community efforts. And others reported her work with horses and the disabled. So, Judge Randolph saw the possibility of hope that she could be a better person if properly motivated and if she made the choice to be one. Additionally, FD was a con man. He manipulated people including JFD, his own children, and PG. Judge Randolph may have considered the likelihood that he did so with MT too. Those factors weigh toward serving concurrently.
Weighing against, and in favor of serving sentences consecutively: her lack of remorse, her lack of cooperation with law enforcement, and her continual contempt about the report that should have remained under seal. About the report: I don’t know if Judge Randolph believed FD had snookered MT about that report, but he may have given her the benefit of the doubt about it given that she was so persistent about trying to make it an issue. It seems there are multiple players who abused that report.
I think 14.5 years is a long time for someone like MT who has now been introduced to the concept that she is not above the law. Like Judge Randolph, I hope she uses the time to start acting like a better person. IMO, it will help that she is not surrounded by family who so comprehensively excuse her behavior.
