First of all, the justice part. Mark Jensen and Bobby Cutts were both sentenced this morning. During Mark Jensen's sentencing hearing this morning, Jensen was dressed in prison/jail garb. During Bobby Cutts' sentencing hearing, Cutts was dressed in the same suit he wore for the last 3 days. From what I understand, the difference was the fact that the jury was formally there for Cutts, and not for Jenson. Although there were a few jury members who were in the gallery for Jenson.
Mark Jensen
Anyway, Mark Jensen's hearing started off with a "bang". Apparently there was a fellow doing something that completely pissed off the judge. The judge pretty much yelled that if the man couldn't behave, he would be escorted from the courtroom. The man stood up and said "I guess I'll leave", and walked out. Even one of the posters on the InSession message boards who was present in the courtroom today had no clue what the man did. All I know is that when the judge yelled, it made me jump! Back to the sentencing hearing: A letter written supposedly by the two sons of Julie and Mark Jensen was read by the attorney for the Defense, Mr. Albee. Mark's chin actually quivered a little bit while the letter was being read. The letter was sad in many ways. The boys actually referred to Julie as their "birth mother". Apparently, if you believe that those boys wrote that letter without help, they think of Kelly as their "Mom". Not Julie. No other statements by Mark's family or friends. Not his parents, not his sister and not even his wife. His wife, by the way, was sporting a whole new look compared to how she looked when she testified during his trial. All four of Julie's brothers spoke out about the loss of their sister. One of them had his notes for his impact statement written on the back of a photo of Julie and held it so that the photo was plainly visible. Those four statements were more emotional and sad than that "letter" from the sons.
The judge sentenced him to Life Without Parole, saying "Your crime is so enormous, so monstrous, so unspeakably cruel that it overcomes all other considerations." just before pronouncing the sentence. I suppose we now wait to see what kind of appeals will happen next. Hopefully, it will be a long time before Mark Jensen sees any kind of freedom.
Bobby Cutts
The hearing for Bobby started off with the jury giving their verdict for their recommended sentence on Counts 2 and 3, which were the ones that had the possibility of the death penalty. For both counts they recommended Life in prison with a possibility of parole after 30 years. The judge then asked for statements from both Bobby's side and from Jessie's family. The only ones who spoke on Bobby's behalf today were his lawyers. They asked the judge to allow all the sentences for all 7 counts against him to run concurrently.
From Jessie's side, though, we heard from two of her sisters, Audrey and Whitney, her father, her mother and the prosecutor. Jessie's sisters statements were so full of emotion that they had difficulty even speaking. The heartbreak was very visible. Jessie's dad's statement was angry. The first thing he said was to Bobby; "Don't even look at me. Just put your head down," he said before he spoke. Next was Jessie's mom. She surprised me. The woman is incredible. She told Bobby that she has forgiven him for what he did to her daughter. She also told him that Blake, his son who is now 3 years old, knows what he did to Jessie. "You won't believe the stories that he's told us," she said.
Then the judge had his say. He imposed the maximum sentences he is allowed, for all 7 counts, although he did merge counts 2 and 3 because they were both about poor baby Chloe. Here is a rundown of the sentences:
- 15 years to life in prison for the murder of Jessie Davis.
- 30 years to life in prison on his combined convictions for aggravated murder in the termination of a pregnancy and aggravated murder for causing the death of a viable, unborn child. For Chloe.
- 10 years in prison for aggravated burglary.
- 1 year in prison on each of two counts of abuse of a corpse for a total of 2 years.
- 180 days for child endangering.
Frustrations
While I was watching the sentencing hearings this morning I was waiting for a fellow from the utility company that serves this area, PG&E. He was supposed to be here between 8 and 12 to cap a gas line on an old furnace that is in the living room that I haven't used since I moved in here 2 years ago. Don't you just "love" the appointment times that utility companies give you? A nice 4 hour window of time that you have to hang around and wait for. With the sentences coming in today, it wasn't terribly hard to wait. But, the guy never showed! I called the number on the card that was left for me and told them how irate I was and that I couldn't hang around and wait for him to "maybe" show up sometime this afternoon. I needed to get to the grocery store in the next town over so that I'd have food for me to eat and some food for my cats, which I had completely run out of. So, now the appointment is rescheduled for Friday. Again, a 4 hour window for the guy to show up. I've got to sit here between 8 and 12 again. Hopefully this time, the guy will actually show up and cap that blasted gas line!
By the way, for the Jenson and Cutts sentencing, the Trials and Tribulations blog from Sprocket has some very good commentary on the hearings.
For more coverage of the Mark Jenson trial and sentencing:
Cnn/Crime
For more coverage of the Bobby Cutts trial and sentencing:
Cantonrep.com
Cnn/Crime
Frustration Update!
4:45pm
Ok, my rant about PG&E not showing up this morning... The guy just showed up about 20 minutes ago! I was told that the appointment for the PG&E guy to be here to cap that gas line was between 8am and 12 noon. I happened to go outside about 20 minutes ago and saw the PG&E truck parked out front. I'm thinking, what the heck? I walk out there, the fellow is on the phone and looking at his computer screen on the seat next to him. I step up to his truck and tap on the window. The poor man about jumped out of his skin! Anyway, on his screen it was saying that the appointment was for this afternoon! In other words, they told me 8 to 12 and they told the guy 1 to 5! For crying out loud! Anyway, gas line is capped, the old furnace is unusable now, which is what I wanted. I haven't used that old thing since I moved in, it didn't look trustworthy when I moved in, so I never lit it and put furniture in front of it! lol.. Next step is waiting to see what my landlord is going to have installed to replace the two wall-shaker air conditioners that he took out last fall... By the way, that furnace that got capped today wasn't the only heat in the house. There is another wall furnace in the hallway.
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