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Health & Fitness

Crime Victims Week 2013 - This issue of the DEATH PENALTY. Personally, to US...

Only one week a year, are Victims acknowledged in any way. And yet, WE ARE VICTIMS - EVERY DAY - FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES.

This issue, for us personally, is so HUGE.  So, I am writing two blogs to address this issue.  One, that deals with those things of society that I encounter when discussing or debating the Death Penalty.  And this one.  A most personal account of this issue, and how the Death Penalty - DOES - DIRECTLY AFFECT US!

You see, we are awaiting the outcome of this trial, before we can determine IF we can survive...  IF in fact, there might BE A FUTURE for us… We only ask, that William Gary Simpson be held accountable for his actions to the highest extent of a LAW THAT WAS IN PLACE AT THE TIME he chose to annihilate us!  William Gary Simpson KNEW California had the Death Penalty as an option for sentencing at the time he CHOSE to commit MURDER - as he planned both his attack and his escape so carefully to avoid getting caught and paying any price.

The only “GOOD” that can possibly come from this trial, is that my 14 year old daughter can leave the courtroom FREE FROM WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON, FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE. That’s all. She will live with the horror of seeing her sister stabbed to death. Her daddy, and another child stabbed. She will live with the trauma as a result of this, every day of her life. Every happy moment she ever has, will be tinged with a deep pain and sorrow that her sister is not sharing it. Her home, will never feel safe again. And her ability to ever find comfort in sleep, may never be restored to her, ever, as Simpson chose to attack her family in the middle of the night…

Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

And in KNOWING THE DEATH PENALTY TO BE THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS ACTIONS,

Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Why does society find it TOO difficult to hold William Gary Simpson accountable?

I will concede, to share with you our personal and private truth - that it is our opinion, should Simpson receive anything less than the Death Penalty, this would be an outright travesty to the VICTIM - our beautiful, loving, intelligent and truly remarkable daughter Saskia Savana Burke!

Of all the people I have ever met in my entire life, I have never known ANYONE – WHO LOVED HER LIFE, AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN IT, THE WAY SASKIA DID!  I have never known a stronger soul, a kinder human being, a person who did the right thing EVERY TIME – even in the face of being outcast from peers at school, because she always followed her heart in the RIGHT direction.  Saskia was the happiest person I’ve ever known, and EVERY DAY - SHE WAS MOST THANKFUL FOR THE WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING LIFE SHE HAD!  Yes, it would be a travesty to this MOST CHERISHED AND BELOVED GIRL we have all LOST

But, should Simpson receive a lesser sentence, it is also a FACT – it CONDEMNS any possible future we may have!  To rebuild a brand new life after Murder is an unimaginable task!  But being forced to rebuild, and living with the UNCERTAINTY that in this new future, we may one day have to contend with Simpson in the courts again?  Possibly have no choice BUT to attend parole hearings?  AND THE ABSOLUTE HORROR, OF EVEN IMAGINING, THAT WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON - COULD EVER BE SET FREE?

PEOPLE AS VIOLATED AND BRUTALLY DAMAGED as WE VICTIMS ARE, cannot possibly hope to survive and build a new life facing a FUTURE with this much FEAR and UNCERTAINTY. 

My 14 year old daughter Kessa, really wants to have a LIFE.  But if she has to contend with Simpson, being part of her FUTURE?  How can she possibly get married, and have children – KNOWING, THAT SIMPSON COULD ONE DAY BE  FREE TO WALK INTO HER HOME, AND DO THIS ALL AGAINShe could possibly find herself to be my age, defending her children to him in this same way?

What brought Simpson to OUR home in the first place, was RAGE and ANGER…  If he sits in Prison for 25 years or longer, HOW MUCH MORE RAGE AND ANGER DO YOU THINK HE WILL HARBOR TOWARDS US?  This FEAR – of what he may one day DO, is what we WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH EVERY SINGLE DAY…  AND NIGHT!

For IF he is ever free, he will most assuredly COME TO KILL HER AGAIN.  These are OUR circumstances, as our murderer intentionally planned and practiced to murder ALL OF US.  We were his DIRECT TARGET of MURDER, and if he is ever free – he will seek us out to finish what he started.  This is what we, the VICTIMS, have no choice but to live with for our futures.  

The Death Penalty offers US - life.

And in cases, such as ours?  As a MOTHER, left to pick up the pieces of all my children's lives in the aftermath of Simpson’s brutal attack, I am left only - to look at their FUTURES.  Not ONE of my surviving children could BEAR, nor DESERVES to EVER AGAIN be forced to 'see' the MURDERER when our trial is over.  My 14 year-old daughter, who WITNESSED William Gary Simpson stab her sister to DEATH, stab her Daddy and another child in her home - NEEDS to be emotionally FREED from the grip this man currently has over her life.  Each and every day, she asks if Simpson is still behind bars...  She knows we will be notified if he escapes, and FEARS his escape in every moment.  She has nightmares, every single night, that are in TRUTH - THE REALITY OF WHAT ACTUALLY OCCURRED IN HER HOME!  Her entire life is completely disrupted by Simpson.  School, friends, sleep.  She so desperately wants to feel 'COMFORT', but as long as Simpson lives, she cannot find ANY comfort

You see, she grew up thinking Simpson was a FRIEND - thinking of him for the last 10 years as an 'older brother' to herself...  Having loved and cared about Simpson in this way, has destroyed something so much deeper to her.  How can she possibly trust anyone, ever again?  How can she ever feel safe, in her own home? How can she not constantly worry about her siblings - after seeing her only Sister so brutally stabbed to death - every moment that Simpson is alive, or could escape?

My young daughters entire sense of SAFETY, COMFORT and PEACE are all held HOSTAGE from her by Simpson.  She must live with the FACT, that Simpson came to KILL HER!  TO KILL HER ENTIRE FAMILY!   AND, TO KILL MANY OF HER LIFELONG FRIENDS...  After all Simpson has TAKEN from my daughter already, she does NOT DESERVE to live the REST OF HER LIFE HELD HOSTAGE TO SIMPSON.

That my young daughter may try to build a brand NEW LIFE NOW, and be FREE from the MURDERER?  That she may go into this NEW FUTURE she is forced to live with, and no longer LIVE IN FEAR?  In the REALITY that she is FORCED TO LIVE WITH NOW - she can ONLY be TRULY FREE, when she KNOWS FOR A FACT, WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON WILL NEVER AGAIN COME TO KILL HER, OR WHAT'S LEFT OF HER FAMILY...   Because until he is DEAD, Simpson will ALWAYS have THIS emotional grip on KESSA’S life.

It is the TRAUMA Simpson has left Kessa to LIVE WITH, in the AFTERMATH OF HIS ATTACK…

And for Kes, she has this thought in building a future:  How could she possible get married, and have children KNOWING – that one day, she will have to continue the fight to keep Simpson behind bars?  Knowing, how quickly our justice system is eroding in this country and becoming so soft that one day all too soon, SIMPSON COULD ACTUALLY BE FREE?

Kessa would choose to never have a family if Simpson is to REMAIN a part of her future, than to have a family that will one day be threatened by Simpson.

 

For VICTIM's like us - ONLY the Death Penalty sets US FREE.

Free, to pick up a few of the shattered pieces of our old life, and TRY to build something in this NEW LIFE and SURVIVE...  And anything less than the Death Penalty – to any one of us Victims now, is a TRAVESTY…

 

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