Dear Source,
When will the justice system do justice?
I am referring to the homicide case of the 69-year-old tourist from California who was murdered in 1994 by two male teenagers on St. Thomas. The police did their job by identifying and arresting the perpetrators and turning them over to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department submitted the case to the judicial branch of government. The younger of the two teenagers, the one that allegedly pulled the trigger, served a short sentence in a local juvenile center and was released. The older of two is still awaiting the disposition by the court and so is the family of the murdered victim, particularly his son.
This appears to be another case where justice delayed is not only justice denied, but it is extending the suffering of the victim's family and leaving the young suspect's life dangling while the legal system continues to play some kind of legal game. Is this the way the system is supposed to function? Is there no sensitivity for the victim's family, to provide some sort of closure, and for the life of the young man accused of the crime, that he may organize his life? When are the persons responsible for our justice system going to become sensitive to the need for closure in this case by all persons affected by the case delay?
It is little wonder that many in our society are losing faith in our criminal justice system.
Maybe we — the citizens — should take a closer look of the persons responsible for the bottlenecks and other unwarranted delays in the system. Maybe we ought to pressure our elected representatives to investigate the reasons for the dissatisfaction with our judicial system and seek ways to correct the deficiencies and improve it overall. It is dangerous when citizens lose confidence or faith in their own criminal system.
It is my hope that the persons responsible for the delay in bringing a just closure to the Murray Callan case, and all others similarly delayed, would make some efforts to expedite the cases and provide justice for all concerned persons.
J.J. Estemac
St. Thomas
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