VA - Couple & two teens found murdered, Farmville, 15 Sept 2009 #5

[hank]

"And, we're told McCroskey has received letters from a variety of other people, but the sources would not say from whom."

ok ,you guys I know it has to be at least one of you...lol

I called Sarah a while back,she was easy enough to talk to... may call again soon.I have been hesitant to mention this here before because I don't wanna go too deep into what she said.

 

[PAXIMUS]

"And, we're told McCroskey has received letters from a variety of other people, but the sources would not say from whom."

ok ,you guys I know it has to be at least one of you...lol

I called Sarah a while back,she was easy enough to talk to... may call again soon.I have been hesitant to mention this here before because I don't wanna go too deep into what she said.

Ive written dont know if he got them, I posted a few weeks ago that I had planned to.



I NEED to contact Sarah can you PLEASE get me an e mail address, I dont expect you to give me a phone number she can do that if she chooses but I REALLY need her e mail address if you can PM that to me with HER PERSMISSION I would appreciate it, I am not only going to write about this case after the trial but I also belong to an advocacy group that works to get the death penalty off the table in trials and I have the full backing of the group on the case and I really need to speak with Sarah to get a feel for her brother so that we can write some motions to present to the court.

Please please let me know hank but get her permission first.

I can PM you my e mail addy and you can give it to her if she would rather do it that way JUST LET ME KNOW ok.

Thanks bud!

P

 

[PAXIMUS]

Some new stuff ...
"Sources tell CBS 6 Richard "Sam" McCroskey says he is "concerned for the victim's families"."

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-mccroskey-jail-no-visitors,0,6000933.story

Ok THIS STATEMENT tells us a lot of important things. It tells us that an insanity plea is off the table, this is a statement of remorse and borders on confession, although it is possible they could be going for temporary insanity with remorse being stated now that he realizes what he has done but in my experience IF THERE WERE GOING to be any trial by jury and a defense put forward Sam would be FORBIDDEN to make ANY STATEMENTS whatsoever, no talking AT ALL.

What this tells me is that the prosecution has offered the defense a deal that if Sam pleads guilty and issues statements of remorse they will take the DP off the table and give him life with no parole.

At this point IF Sam did in fact make the above statement I will say with some authority that there will be no trial, there will be a guilty plea and he will confess and state his remorse. The defense has seen the evidence and knows Sam has no chance and is now shifting gears to save Sam's life.

The above statement is very important and would NEVER be allowed to be said by Sam if his attorney had any plans to try this in front of a jury and put on a defense.

 

[PAXIMUS]

It makes perfect sense to me that at this point the prosecution wants to AVOID a trial and has likely offered Sam life without parole if he pleads guilty.

Yes VA is a hard core DP state, however the prosecution knows this was a VERY UGLY CRIME AND CRIME SCENE that even the most seasoned homicide detectives were traumatized by. The prosecution knows if they go to trial and push for the DP that they will have to EXPOSE everyone in the courtroom to this crime scene and the pictures of all the gore and everyone involved including the jurors and both Sam's family and Mel and Emma's family will be exposed and further traumatized by seeing that crime scene and how ugly this all was. In order to avoid that the prosecution is likely now willing to forget the DP in order to spare everyone from having to experience this very traumatic and ugly crime scene and avoid a trial by offering life without parole and forgetting about the DP. Sam's lawyer is now telling Sam to start showing remorse to prepare and condition to the community to accept NO DP in return for no trial, a guilty plea and life without parole.

I am now convinced this is whats happening and it makes perfect sense.

 

[ericclimbs]

I guess someone beat you to it Pax. Other people have been writing him according to that link. haha!
And also WOW!!! No psychiatric evaluation? That's just odd. Maybe he figured what's the point?
Edited: I was just thinking, why hasn't any of his family members been to see him? Don't get me wrong, I would be really *advertiser censored**ing pi**ed off if my brother or son had done this, not to mention broken-hearted, but I don't think I wouldn't at least go visit them even once. Even if it was only to tell them how disappointed I was and just to see them one last time. I love my family too much to just dump them like that even if I don't agree with what they did. I would look at it as he is being punished for what he's done, but I couldn't turn my love off just like that. I may would even only be able to go see him once because of how stressful it would be for me, but I'd at least go once.
Wouldn't you guys?

I agree. Clearly his family is merely paying lip service in regards to their concern for him. I know, for many, time off work and a cross country plane ticket, along with all the other inherent travel expenses can be a burden but, if you can't make it happen for a family member in need than when can you ever? As Andres alluded to before Sam's only friend right now is probably his defense attorney.

 

[ericclimbs]

@piXy

piXy you've lost a lot of friends over this and, of course, you know now they weren't really ever your friends to begin with. As difficult and trying this has been for you I can say, from the benefit of experience (as many other older posters here would concur), that true friendship is borne from the test of time. I recently turned 40 -- yes not exactly an old fart yet but definately not a spring chicken either. As you grow older you gain the benefit of looking back with hindsight. I've had countless "friends" with whom I've lost touch with either because we weren't really that close in the first place or because we grew apart. By growing apart I mean interests changed or, more importantly, maturity levels changed. In that case you evolve beyond those people, you attain a higher level and, once this is done, there is no longer a common denominator, a reason, to remain close. There are other reasons friendships grow and change but I feel these are the most immediate. The friends you can turn to, time after time, in most cases, are the ones you've known for a very long time.

 

[smartie74]

yes, Barbara and Jenna

I remember that. Their mother worked for a close relative of mine. Terrible indeed.

 

[Vabrownid1]

I really don't understand why the parents have not been to see him. If this were my child, no matter how guilty I think he is, I would be there for him. I would spend my last penny to be with him.

My son gets out of Piedmont Reigonal Jail tonight at midnight. :woohoo: If I get any information from him, I will pass it on...

 

[Wes]

It makes perfect sense to me that at this point the prosecution wants to AVOID a trial and has likely offered Sam life without parole if he pleads guilty.

Yes VA is a hard core DP state, however the prosecution knows this was a VERY UGLY CRIME AND CRIME SCENE that even the most seasoned homicide detectives were traumatized by. The prosecution knows if they go to trial and push for the DP that they will have to EXPOSE everyone in the courtroom to this crime scene and the pictures of all the gore and everyone involved including the jurors and both Sam's family and Mel and Emma's family will be exposed and further traumatized by seeing that crime scene and how ugly this all was. In order to avoid that the prosecution is likely now willing to forget the DP in order to spare everyone from having to experience this very traumatic and ugly crime scene and avoid a trial by offering life without parole and forgetting about the DP. Sam's lawyer is now telling Sam to start showing remorse to prepare and condition to the community to accept NO DP in return for no trial, a guilty plea and life without parole.

I am now convinced this is whats happening and it makes perfect sense.

I'm not so sure. I can't see the prosecution willingly taking the DP off the table just to spare the court and families the horrific crime scene during a trial.

 

[Wes]

I really don't understand why the parents have not been to see him. If this were my child, no matter how guilty I think he is, I would be there for him. I would spend my last penny to be with him.

My son gets out of Piedmont Reigonal Jail tonight at midnight. :woohoo: If I get any information from him, I will pass it on...

It was reported that Sam's dad told him if he made the trip to VA not to come back home. That said, most families would still have gone and seen their son/brother by now. But then again, this apparently wasn't your normal, functional family.

 

[dangrsmind]

"And, we're told McCroskey has received letters from a variety of other people, but the sources would not say from whom."

ok ,you guys I know it has to be at least one of you...lol

I called Sarah a while back,she was easy enough to talk to... may call again soon.I have been hesitant to mention this here before because I don't wanna go too deep into what she said.

Why?

That is why would she tell you anything that you'd be unwilling to repeat?

I don't understand this.

Also, her email address and phone number are easily obtained. Trivially actually.

 

[dangrsmind]

Ok THIS STATEMENT tells us a lot of important things. It tells us that an insanity plea is off the table, this is a statement of remorse and borders on confession, although it is possible they could be going for temporary insanity with remorse being stated now that he realizes what he has done but in my experience IF THERE WERE GOING to be any trial by jury and a defense put forward Sam would be FORBIDDEN to make ANY STATEMENTS whatsoever, no talking AT ALL.

What this tells me is that the prosecution has offered the defense a deal that if Sam pleads guilty and issues statements of remorse they will take the DP off the table and give him life with no parole.

At this point IF Sam did in fact make the above statement I will say with some authority that there will be no trial, there will be a guilty plea and he will confess and state his remorse. The defense has seen the evidence and knows Sam has no chance and is now shifting gears to save Sam's life.

The above statement is very important and would NEVER be allowed to be said by Sam if his attorney had any plans to try this in front of a jury and put on a defense.

The problem with the insanity defense all along has been that he isn't legally insane. He knew what he was doing when he tried to leave town and he very likely was planning to hide the bodies out on Poorhouse Road somewhere before he left town. Attempting to hide his crimes indicates an understanding of their consequences.

 

[boygenius]

Ive written dont know if he got them, I posted a few weeks ago that I had planned to.



I NEED to contact Sarah can you PLEASE get me an e mail address, I dont expect you to give me a phone number she can do that if she chooses but I REALLY need her e mail address if you can PM that to me with HER PERSMISSION I would appreciate it, I am not only going to write about this case after the trial but I also belong to an advocacy group that works to get the death penalty off the table in trials and I have the full backing of the group on the case and I really need to speak with Sarah to get a feel for her brother so that we can write some motions to present to the court.

Please please let me know hank but get her permission first.

I can PM you my e mail addy and you can give it to her if she would rather do it that way JUST LET ME KNOW ok.

Thanks bud!

P

Why would you want to keep this monster alive? That's the great thing about TX and VA, we've got express lanes to death for idiots like Sam. He had no remorse for the horrific things he did to the families he killed (I don't care if he "says" he's concerned now.) The only thing I hate is that we don't really fry people anymore:furious: we are too concerned about these monsters and give them death by lethal injection. Maybe we should punish people to die by the same means they committed their murders.

 

[dangrsmind]

Why would you want to keep this monster alive? That's the great thing about TX and VA, we've got express lanes to death for idiots like Sam. He had no remorse for the horrific things he did to the families he killed (I don't care if he "says" he's concerned now.) The only thing I hate is that we don't really fry people anymore:furious: we are too concerned about these monsters and give them death by lethal injection. Maybe we should punish people to die by the same means they committed their murders.

Then we become monsters ourselves.

 

[boygenius]

Then we become monsters ourselves.

I disagree! I just don't think spending our tax money to keep him or people like him in prison for the rest of their lives is worth it. I do not value him as a human as he did not value the lives of his victims.

 

[PAXIMUS]

Why?

That is why would she tell you anything that you'd be unwilling to repeat?

I don't understand this.

Also, her email address and phone number are easily obtained. Trivially actually.

This is true but the e mail and phone number I have found for her dont seem to be the ones she uses as I have gotten no response from either.

 

[nakedmanjoe]

Then we become monsters ourselves.

I believe that the death penalty should only be used if it can be a deterrent in future crimes. That's very open to debate. Now the old adage "an eye for an eye" that boygenius refers to would not be a bad way to go if it applied to horrific crimes committed on wholly innocent people. I imagine that there would be a significant drop in vicious premeditated crimes of torture and murder. Perhaps as much as 10-20% (pulling #s out of my butt of course). The remainder of the people that would still commit these acts are likely to be psychopaths who don't have a conscience and don't experience fear like we do. Hence they wouldn't really care what happened to them anyway.

 

[Wes]

Why would you want to keep this monster alive? That's the great thing about TX and VA, we've got express lanes to death for idiots like Sam. He had no remorse for the horrific things he did to the families he killed (I don't care if he "says" he's concerned now.) The only thing I hate is that we don't really fry people anymore:furious: we are too concerned about these monsters and give them death by lethal injection. Maybe we should punish people to die by the same means they committed their murders.

In some cases I think they should do that...and forget to wet the sponge.

 

[AndresEscobar]

Ok THIS STATEMENT tells us a lot of important things. It tells us that an insanity plea is off the table, this is a statement of remorse and borders on confession, although it is possible they could be going for temporary insanity with remorse being stated now that he realizes what he has done but in my experience IF THERE WERE GOING to be any trial by jury and a defense put forward Sam would be FORBIDDEN to make ANY STATEMENTS whatsoever, no talking AT ALL.

What this tells me is that the prosecution has offered the defense a deal that if Sam pleads guilty and issues statements of remorse they will take the DP off the table and give him life with no parole.

At this point IF Sam did in fact make the above statement I will say with some authority that there will be no trial, there will be a guilty plea and he will confess and state his remorse. The defense has seen the evidence and knows Sam has no chance and is now shifting gears to save Sam's life.

The above statement is very important and would NEVER be allowed to be said by Sam if his attorney had any plans to try this in front of a jury and put on a defense.

This isn't a new statement, it came out maybe a month ago.

Yeah, i agree to a point, but it doesn't mean an insanity plea is off the table. Insanity relates back to the time of the crime. It's more of a posturing by the defense.

 

[AndresEscobar]

It makes perfect sense to me that at this point the prosecution wants to AVOID a trial and has likely offered Sam life without parole if he pleads guilty.

Yes VA is a hard core DP state, however the prosecution knows this was a VERY UGLY CRIME AND CRIME SCENE that even the most seasoned homicide detectives were traumatized by. The prosecution knows if they go to trial and push for the DP that they will have to EXPOSE everyone in the courtroom to this crime scene and the pictures of all the gore and everyone involved including the jurors and both Sam's family and Mel and Emma's family will be exposed and further traumatized by seeing that crime scene and how ugly this all was. In order to avoid that the prosecution is likely now willing to forget the DP in order to spare everyone from having to experience this very traumatic and ugly crime scene and avoid a trial by offering life without parole and forgetting about the DP. Sam's lawyer is now telling Sam to start showing remorse to prepare and condition to the community to accept NO DP in return for no trial, a guilty plea and life without parole.

I am now convinced this is whats happening and it makes perfect sense.

Yes, this should be Sam's lawyers goal from the outset.