Double Tragedies - Families for Human Rights

JULIE NELSON was 22 when her father, George Nelson, a Lutheran minister, wasshot by the son of an elderly parishioner whom he was visiting. Julie remembers hermother telephoning her with the news: “I was standing up when I answered the phone. I’dnever understood why people say, ‘Sit down, I’ve got bad news,’ but I just collapsed on thefloor.”Julie and her family learned that her father had been sitting on the couch talking withhis parishioner, Chester Thorpe, when Chester’s son Peter suddenly came out of the bedroomwith a rifle and shot at them both, killing George Nelson and wounding ChesterThorpe. “My mom and I went and visited Chester in the hospital, where he was just inagony with remorse that his son could have done this to his friend,” Julie remembers.Peter Thorpe was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to a psychiatrichospital in California.ily receive such a notification. Had they not received it underthose circumstances, they would at least have had groundsto object that a right was not being enforced.For Barbara McNally, one reason a guilty verdict wouldhave been preferable to “not guilty by reason of insanity”was that she would have been entitled to deliver a victim impactstatement during the sentencing phase of the trial. “Iwanted my kids to be heard,” she explains. Barbara’s childrenwere 7, 10, and 12 when their father was murdered, andthe impact on them is foremost in Barbara’s mind. Barbarawanted it “recognized that yes, you are a victim, that is recognizedby the court.” She wanted to be able to deliver astatement that would say, “This is how we’ve been harmed,this is what this did to us,” as she would have been able to dohad the case been criminally adjudicated. 18“I want victims to be able to give a statement even if itgoes this way,” she says now, explaining that she is workingwith her state legislator to craft a bill that would allow victims’families to be able to deliver an impact statement regardlessof the defendant’s eventual legal status. 19 “I feel likewe’re blazing a trail here,” she says.18The defendant in this case was never deemed competent to stand trial.19At the time of this writing, Senate Bill 0042 was working its way throughthe Illinois legislature. The bill “Provides that if a criminal defendant hasbeen found not guilty by reason of insanity of a violent crime and a hearinghas been ordered by the court under the Mental Health and DevelopmentalDisabilities Code to determine if the defendant is: (1) in need of mentalhealth services on an inpatient basis; (2) in need of mental health services onan outpatient basis; or (3) not in need of mental health services, the victim orthe victim’s spouse, guardian, parent, grandparent, or other immediate familyor household member shall have the right to present a victim’s impact statementat the commitment hearing.”__ 21 __