RI - Michael Woodmansee, killer of Jason Foreman, 5, released 12 years early

[Soulmagent]

BBM

That's the thing. We humans don't have the power to bring about justice. Ever. Even if this child murderer had been put to death - that doesn't bring about justice in this case - it doesn't even the scales or give the dead child back to his parents.

Sometimes I think our concept of justice is so "eye for an eye" because we are crazy frustrated that we don't have the power to truly right the wrongs that others do.

Vigilante "justice" makes even less sense than the justice we try to find in our court system.

I understand this father's feeling of powerlessness and helplessness. I do not believe he will feel more powerful or in control if he chooses to kill.

That man decided he had the power to create an injustice to a small child.
Our court system failed to serve justice to society.
The justice system is suppossed to ensure people who are a danger to society are locked up until that threat is gone. If the crime is of such a nature that it is understood the criminal is to dangerous to risk ever being released into society then that criminal, for the good of society, should be put to death. IMO.

The injustice is to us all. We are the ones who have to live in fear that they let these criminals out of prisons and fail to serve justice to society. We may not have the power to bring about Justice but we have the power to prevent farther injustice. JMO.

 

[believe09]

As SCM said, there is no justice here. Mr Foreman's son is not coming back. There is punishment that is clearly inadequate for Mr. W.

What happens when you take someone like Mr W who is likely unfit to live unsupervised in some capacity and who will be branded if he attempts to live among the rest of us??

He is cornered and desperate and God forbid, driven underground. And then no one is safe.

If he is released, Mr. Foreman should not sacrifice the rest of what he has and let Mr W take something very important to him again. Easy for me to say-absolutely.

There is no good place to put someone like this given the punishment he received. He should have been permanently locked away for his insanity-also absolutely. No one ever expected him to make it out...I am glad we as the public are having this dialog now...who else is going to be let out under the same provision?

 

[redkatrampant]

We bother for the "safety" of society. At least that's my opinion. But it's not "justice" to lock people away or kill them in cold blood - it's what we do because we are afraid of their behavior and don't know how else to handle them. Our limitations are very clear.

I believe that real justice is best left to a higher authority - one that, I hope, has more wisdom and a larger view of the landscape of time than we can possibly have in 60-90 years on planet Earth.

You make excellent points my dear. I too am fully aware of that Higher Authority. I am not one to push my faith down other's throats but I have to believe that God will make it all even one day.

 

[not_my_kids]

Me and my brother feel the exact same way about this one. Take him to the Florida swamps and turn him into Gatorade.
Do I believe that Mr. Foreman will ever find peace? No. Most certainly not through murder. But I do think that the planning and the expression of this anger may be helping him in ways that most of us cannot understand.

 

[Melanie]

If I was the father I would do it in a minute. At least 1 out of his 12 peers will agree with him.

I agree -- but you just don't tell the media about it!

I think this "thing" is still relatively young if he was 16 years old at the time of the murder (1975). That kind of person, imho, cannot be rehabilitated.

Then in 1982 he tried to lure another boy into his home.

How many other boys did he commit crimes against between 75 and 82? I don't believe anyone would say Jason was his first and only victim.

To think that this "thing" only had to serve 28 years of his 40 year sentence is sickening. What, if any, treatment did he receive in prison. Why would he be granted parole?

Where is he going to be paroled?

Dude looks evil as all get out to me. Keep an eye out!



Mel

ETA Linky (sorry): http://abcnews.go.com/meta/search/i...com/images/Travel/ht_woodmansee_mug_jp_110308

 

[kgeaux]

Ok, I'm a little confused here. He murdered this little boy, ate his flesh, kept shellacked body parts on his dresser, and his parents never noticed? How do you not know there are human body parts on your kid's dresser????

We give time off for good behavior to everyone??? Even those who murder the most innocent of our society?

I am not a huge fan of minors being sentenced as adults. I usually come out firmly against that. But in this case, I think this guy should NEVER be released......

 

[Kat]

Mel, I wonder too if he got any sort of treatment where he served his sentence.

I wonder what he was diagnosed with? (IMHO he was more than likely, I'd wager 99.9% suffering from some profound mental illness(es)). I wonder if he was treated with meds as well? If so, how will those be supplied for him if he needs to continue?

Mental illness in no way mitigates his sentence or exonerates him of his crime but I'd still like to know out of curiosity. He was by legal definition sane enough to stand trial and be prosecuted so I don't see how they can hold him for treatment. I think though given he was 16 yrs old when he did such a horrifying crime he should have been assigned to a secure mental institution (hospital) whereby he should have been treated until he was sane enough to stand trial or kept until he because stable enough to transfer to prison. The problem here though IMHO really is the law on the books right now.
JMHO.

 

[DairyGirl]

Do i think it would be "right" for the father of this child to murder this monster? No - because I am a civilized adult human being. Do I understand the comments and threats of the father? Yes - because I am a parent and would probably feel the exact same way if I were in his shoes. In fact.... I honestly don't guarantee that I would not have paid his bail to get him out of prison a long time ago. This was a horrible, horrible crime. So horrible that LE has never released the journal this creep kept and cherished about his brutal murder and mutilation of this innocent and trusting child. I think maybe that secrecy did more harm than good. I think it is sometimes cathartic to fully grasp and deal with any circumstance. Media reports about the journal and the fact that LE kept it's contents secret really did not prevent people's minds from imagining the worst. I understand why they kept it secret, and I understand their compassion in trying to protect the family from the full reality of what happened to this precious child. I can guarantee you that the father and mother of this child imagined everything possible.... and perhaps more..... of what happened to their baby. The human mind is a vast landscape that is filled with the potential of new discoveries and of the most depraved atrocities. My thoughts are with the father and the rest of the family at this point in history. I pray that the parole board grows a brain and keeps this obviously sick and twisted individual away from other vulnerable members of society.

The sad thing is the desire to spare these parents the details of the crime are what lead to the monster being allowed to take a plea bargain to 2nd degree murder where he is able to walk free after less then 30 years. I am sure that if a jury had gotten ahold of those details that monster might not even be alive right now.

 

[Misfitdolly]

This is in my backyard. I have written a letter to the attorney general. I don't know if it will help. There is going to be a peaceful protest on the lawn of the statehouse next week. Supposedly there is a way they can keep him locked up, he is going to have a psych eval to make sure he is not a danger to society. Hopefully something can be done in this regard.

 

[Melanie]

This is in my backyard. I have written a letter to the attorney general. I don't know if it will help. There is going to be a peaceful protest on the lawn of the statehouse next week. Supposedly there is a way they can keep him locked up, he is going to have a psych eval to make sure he is not a danger to society. Hopefully something can be done in this regard.

THANK YOU! We had a similar situation in San Diego where we protested (Matthew Hedge). In the end, they had to let him go because there were no legal grounds to keep him. However, no community in America would have him, and he lived on a trailer at the prison for all of 6 weeks. He violated parole and headed back to jail. He only spent 12 years in prison, many of those included a violent predator treatment program.

He now lives in a trailer on Donovan State Prison grounds and is heavily monitored.

I don't think this perp is gonna last long in the real world. I know Matthew Hedge didn't.

MOO

Mel

 

[Charlie09]

I couldn't be on his jury, but I would certainly contribute to his legal fund.

 

[southcitymom]

This is in my backyard. I have written a letter to the attorney general. I don't know if it will help. There is going to be a peaceful protest on the lawn of the statehouse next week. Supposedly there is a way they can keep him locked up, he is going to have a psych eval to make sure he is not a danger to society. Hopefully something can be done in this regard.

Thanks for checking in. I was thinking last night that surely there must be a way to keep him locked up. Although his crimes took place a very long time ago and none of us have any idea what type of efforts have been made to help him change, it is difficult to imagine that a person who could do those things could ever get "well" enough to safely and wholly re-enter society.

I should think that keeping him secure and away from the general public would be as much for his benefit as for the rest of us. As others have pointed out, he may not make it for long as a free man.

 

[outlandishone]

This is in my backyard also (RI is such a small state anything that goes on in the state is in your backyard).
I remember this case very well because it was so horrific.

My mouth literally dropped open when I read he was being released.

The poor mother never believed he was killed and thought maybe he was kidnapped by someone that had lost their child.

She died at 50 years old, in 2000 I believe.

Someone on projo commented and said she lived in the same nieghborhood back then and he tried to kill one of her kittens.

There is now a facebook page setup and there will be a protest next Wednesday at the state house. I pray to God that this animal is never let out.

 

[Soulmagent]

I thought about this all night. I just cant believe it is an option to let this guy to get out of prison. Free to roam and stalk children whatever he wants to and while some people are informed What about the ones who are not? Or the parent who isnt high functioning and lacks some skills to be ale to protect their children from the type of unpredicable predator? They could be great parents but truely unable to graps the hazzards of this guy being their neighbor or co worker. What about the kids who could not even grasp this kinda concept? How do we warn them a guy might be hiding at the bus stop for the reason of killing them to eat their flesh and save their bones? My kids would think I was over reacting. They think people who have done things like this go to jail and dont ever get out.



Here is the link for the facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-Michael-Woodmansee-in-prison/196623680358548?sk=wall

 

[concentric]

I could see my husband having this sort of idea, were our circumstances similar. The only difference is, DH would probably not announce it to the press, he would simply take the action he wanted and deal with the consequences after the facts.

My heart breaks for this child's parents and I so understand the father not being able to reconcile this monster roaming free again but it concerns me - this announcement.

------------

The more I think about it, I understand some of the reasons why the father had to announce it: to make sure people knew about what this monster did to his son, and to warn people.

How many people even here knew about the initial case? I'm raising my hand because I never heard about it--it was in the 70's.

So, I believe the father is making a declaration partially to bring awareness to the public of what happened.

 

[trigger]

ITA concentric.....I never heard about this case either.

If that was his plan, it worked. Let the monster wonder every second, if released, if he is being stalked.

This monster kept a diary. Does anyone know was it before or after the murder? TIA

 

[concentric]

trigger -

I'm going to get an article here that details how he kept the journal and someone in the court system felt the parents needed to be spared the details that were written. The journal was sealed as evidence. Apparently he wrote in detail how he tortured and murdered this little boy.

 

[passionflower]

I can't say that I wouldn't feel the same way, as bad as it sounds.
I always said if anyone hurt 1 hair on my child's head, I'd be there!
Yes I probably would say I would kill also, but when the time came, would I?
I hope not.
I hope dad got couseling over this horrendous monsterous crime.
I hope the monster dies in prison and saves everyone grief.
This monster should never be free, IMO.

 

[concentric]

Here is an article that tells what happened, re: the journal, etc.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/MICHAEL_WOODMANSEE_03-06-11_PIMQFMO_v39.1941899.html
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IMO, I can thoroughly understand the father's outrage and grief.

 

[concentric]

BTW, he attempted to murder another boy, a paperboy.