Feds call off death penalty in Jacques case:
Friday: Jacques to Plead Guilty in Death of 12-Year-Old Niece:
It’s been five years since the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder of 12=year-old Brooke Bennett by her sex offender uncle Michael Jacques in Vermont. After all the legal wrangling, delays and outright sheer arrogance of Michael Jacques’ anti-death penalty defense team it seems that a conclusion is finally at hand. Not the conclusion I was hoping for but a conclusion nonetheless.
Vermont has no death penalty however prosecutors alleged that since Jacques used MySpace and the internet not only to contrive and try to cover up his crime that this constituted interstate communication making him eligible for the federal death penalty. Now, according to reports, a plea deal is in the works where Jacques will plead guilty and will be sentenced to life without parole and will waive any appeals. It seems that this deal was made after Jacques high-profile anti-death penalty lawyers requested the deal from US Attorney General Eric Holder.
While I’m glad that the end of this ordeal for Brooke’s family is more than likely coming to a close I am disappointed that Jacques is escaping the needle. That’s all his lawyers ever wanted and Eric Holder has given it to them. For them this is a victory.
No date has been set for when Jacques will enter his plea. If history is any indicator in this case nothing is definite.
This doesn’t feel like justice, it feels more like appeasement.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 