• 1984...Democrat kills 10 on Palm Sunday

    From Gun Control@21:1/5 to All on Mon Apr 16 05:42:08 2018
    XPost: aus.politics.guns, alt.war.civil.usa, alt.journalism.newspapers
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Palm Sunday, 1984, police responded to a report of shots
    fired at 1080 Liberty Avenue. They found 2 women and 8 children
    dead of point-blank gunshot wounds to the head. Two elements
    made the scene especially macabre: one, the victims were seated
    or reclined in a gruesome still-life, a few lounged in front of
    a television, another in the bedroom had been napping, and one
    woman held a tin of pudding and a spoon; two, a 13-month-old
    baby girl crawled among the corpses’ feet, crying. She was the
    only survivor.

    After 9 days, the police investigation turned to Christopher
    Thomas. A cocaine addict with 3 priors for assault, Thomas often
    bought drugs from the home’s owner, Enrique Bermudez. Thomas had
    also accused Bermudez of sleeping with his wife.

    Thomas’s defense attorney, Martin Schmukler, argued that what
    came to be known as The Palm Sunday Massacre was a case of
    manslaughter and not of murder, as Thomas’s history of
    depression and addiction to cocaine constituted sufficient
    emotional duress to account for his actions.

    The jury agreed. Christopher Thomas was convicted of 10 counts
    of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 25 to 50
    years. He has been eligible for parole since 2009, but as of
    this writing, he remains incarcerated.

    The surviving toddler, Christina Rivera – having lost her
    mother, 2 half-brothers, and several cousins – was taken from
    the murder scene by Joanne Jeffe, one of the first responding
    police officers. Jeffe eventually adopted her.

    https://archives.law.virginia.edu/dengrove/writeup/palm-sunday-
    massacre
     

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