SundayBreaker: Senseless

Most of you probably remember the name Willie Horton (pictured, left).

He was the convicted felon serving a life term in a Massachusetts prison for a vicious murder (the stabbing of a gas station clerk). He was allowed to leave prison for a weekend as part of a state enacted furlough program, instituted before Michael Dukakis took over as Governor.

Horton was released and never returned. While on the lam, he broke into a suburban home and waited for the family to return. He then beat and tied up the husband and repeatedly raped his wife. Dukakis, despite having little to do with his release (aside from being the Governor at the time and committing career suicide by favoring the furlough program), lost the 1988 Presidential Election in a landslide. Horton went on to become a symbol of the dark side of the Liberal, rehabilitative vision of the American prison system.

During the past two weeks in Southeast Texas, we've seen three murders, all allegedly committed by ex-cons. Former prisoners that -- while each spending significant time in jail -- had little in common with a murderous monster like Horton.

Brothers Gerald and Kelly Evans were gunned down in their North End Beaumont neighborhood by accused killer Batiste Breaux Jr. According to what has been reported, Breaux's criminal past is fairly straightforward. Breaux was paroled from state prison in March on a 2002 burglary charge. He had received 12 years for burglary after his probation was revoked, according to court documents. Violent crime did not -- until now -- appear to be part of his dossier.

In the sad case of Summer Bourque, she was seen leaving a Port Arthur watering hole with Jimmy Joseph Desormeaux. Desormeaux, like Breaux, had no almost violent crime -- except for an aggravated assault charge -- in his past. He was convicted -- and served a prison sentence -- in Georgia for a drunk driving parole violation and was arrested multiple times for other driving crimes and theft. An apparent drifter, he had a number of run-ins with the law during his travels. But his background does not suggest the kind of violence that would lead to the senseless murder of a young woman.

In all three instances, there does not yet appear to be any real motive.

But the end result is still remarkably frustrating and sad: three young people are dead. They were allegedly killed by men who were once incarcerated, but no longer under the watchful eye of the prison system. Men who had almost no violent crime in their past until after they were released from jail.

While Horton was already a highly violent and lethal criminal, Breaux and Desormeaux were not. Do we then make the assumption that the prison system bears some of the blame for what happened here? Did it, perhaps, harden these former law breakers? That argument has been used by many who seek to reform current methods of prisoner incarceration for low risk inmates, giving them more of a chance at some sort of rehabilitation.

Or, as is more likely the case, are these events simply random and unexplainable? There are hundreds of questions surrounding these sad crimes and very few answers. The most salient is the one the families must be asking.

Why?

And our hope for them is that they find the answers and the justice they deserve.