Man sentenced to 421 years for abducting girl whose text message saved her

[Dion]

Finally! The justice system gets it right!

A man who admitted to kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and holding her for more than a week in an underground bunker, raping her daily, was sentenced Wednesday to 421 years in prison for a crime the judge called “repulsive.”

Vinson Filyaw pleaded guilty Tuesday, moments before his trial, to charges of kidnapping and 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct, one for each day prosecutors said he held the girl captive a year ago in Kershaw County.

The teen was rescued after she got hold of Filyaw's cell phone and sent a text message to her mother.

“I have a strong belief you have forfeited your right to be a member of this society,” Judge G. Thomas Cooper said before handing down the sentence. “I can think of no crimes short of murder more repulsive than these.”

But the girl's father had hoped for a more severe sentence.

“To me it still ain't enough,” he said. “It should be a death penalty. He got what he got, but it's not enough to me. They told me not to but I wanted to fly across (the courtroom) and choke him.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...=mostpop_story

[Slava]

I am pretty sure if I was the father in that case I would also want to fly across the courtroom and choke him. Although I might want to beat him to death as it would be more satisfying.

[Resolute 14]

Here's hoping his new cell mates make it a point to rape him daily.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

I hope this guy ends up sharing a cell with the most violent men in Canada. They'll take real good care of him.

[urban1]

This wasnt in Canada. It was in the USA.

In Canada, the liberal judge would have given him 10 years, credit him double time for time spent in pretrial custody, and he would have been elligible for parole in a couple of years. The criminal would fight any attempt to have him labeled a dangerous offender and would be back in the community in no time.

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

I hope this guy ends up sharing a cell with the most violent men in Canada. They'll take real good care of him.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by urban1

This wasnt in Canada. It was in the USA.

In Canada, the liberal judge would have given him 10 years, credit him double time for time spent in pretrial custody, and he would have been elligible for parole in a couple of years. The criminal would fight any attempt to have him labeled a dangerous offender and would be back in the community in no time.

speed reading owns me

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by urban1

This wasnt in Canada. It was in the USA.

In Canada, the liberal judge would have given him 10 years, credit him double time for time spent in pretrial custody, and he would have been elligible for parole in a couple of years. The criminal would fight any attempt to have him labeled a dangerous offender and would be back in the community in no time.

Sad but unfortunately true.

[Drunk Skunk]

The one thing that's reassuring in all this is that he will, most likely, be put into general population. Prisoners have a very low tollerance for people that do these crimes. I would be very surprised if he lived a year in prison.

No matter what happens in prison, it won't be what he deserves.

[Dion]

Chances are this piece of garbage will be sent to a super max prison where inmates are locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day with 1 hour of supervised exercise. Holed up in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day would drive most people insane, and frankly, I hope that's what happems to this scum. The death penalty would be too easy in this case. Let him rot a slow death and have the memories of what he did haunt him every night in his dreams.

[sadora]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Here's hoping his new cell mates make it a point to rape him daily.

The guards usually let it be known to the other inmates when they get a child molester. I'm sure this guy will get what he deserves, though letting the father of the girl run across the room to choke him sounds good to me.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by urban1

This wasnt in Canada. It was in the USA.

In Canada, the liberal judge would have given him 10 years, credit him double time for time spent in pretrial custody, and he would have been elligible for parole in a couple of years. The criminal would fight any attempt to have him labeled a dangerous offender and would be back in the community in no time.

###! And here is a prime example of why our justice system is wacked!

A Calgary woman is outraged that the man who tried to kill her is already out of jail.

Shayleen Richtik was choked, until she lost consciousness, by her former boyfriend in June 2006.

Sukhjit Singh Sooch was charged with 12 offences for the attack, including attempted murder.

Sooch was sentenced to 45 months in jail. But just over a year later, Sooch is out of jail and only serving time on weekends.

What angers Richtick is that Sooch was given three days credit for every one day he spent behind bars waiting for trial.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/RTGAMA...calgary.ctv.ca

[JohnnyB]

It always astounds me how many people see jail as a means of punishment only. I know I'm putting myself in a dangerous position because of the crime that is the topic of this thread, but I'm intending to be a little OT and respond primarily to the trend on CP of having news articles posted about horrible acts, which then spur long threads about how the person deserves a fate worse than death. Many jump on a rage filled band wagon complete with flaming torches and assert that the worst physical punishment possible is deserved by the guilty party.

Now let me say again, I am in no way taking a position on the current case where I am aiming to defend this guy. It just seems to me that considering the prison system only/primarily as a system of punishment(which is what I get the impression many posters seem to be looking for) is terribly short sighted and somewhat despicable. Prison as a punishment seems to me to serve no valuable end beyond satisfaction of a drive for revenge. The only long term solution is rehabilitation, which is typically not served by punishment, although punishment may accompany the process of rehabilitation. If a person can't be rehabilitated, then by all means keep them entirely separated from society, either by incarceration or death (the problem with death being the wrongfully convicted), but to hope expressly for the infliction of horrible punishments is a tad sadistic.

This isn't aimed at anyone in particular. I'm just bringing this up because of the violent trend that seems to develop in these threads, but to those people who do see it only as punishment and embrace the violence, I would say "Grow up, and quit thinking like a lesser primate".

*braces for responses*

[MolsonInBothHands]

Call me infantile for being interested in punishment for these folks. Say I am from the dark ages when I say these people don't deserve to breath the same air as their victims. Our justice system does not provide enough of a deterrent for these crimes. A person should know that if they're convicted of such acts they will never, ever make a life choice of their own again. The 'faint hope' clause may have its place, but we are also missing the 'absolutely no ****ing way' clause.

I also would like to hear some real accounts of how such offenders actually did get what they deserved in 'general population'. Does that really happen, or are they segregated for THEIR safety?

[burn_this_city]

I propose the $1.50 bullet solution for bags of crap like that guy... If the father of the girl wants to kill him, so be it.. I'm tired of liberal types trying to rehabilitate people like him. If you could do that to another human being then I'm sorry you don't deserve to be here. Instead of wasting money letting this guy rot in jail, finish him off as soon as the sentence is given. Heck if the family wants to carry it out, let them. People who act like animals, should be dealt with like animals.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands

Call me infantile for being interested in punishment for these folks. Say I am from the dark ages when I say these people don't deserve to breath the same air as their victims. Our justice system does not provide enough of a deterrent for these crimes. A person should know that if they're convicted of such acts they will never, ever make a life choice of their own again. The 'faint hope' clause may have its place, but we are also missing the 'absolutely no ****ing way' clause.

I also would like to hear some real accounts of how such offenders actually did get what they deserved in 'general population'. Does that really happen, or are they segregated for THEIR safety?

Do you really believe that all these criminals will never get rehabilitated? That unless they are locked up forever or executed they are destined to re-offend? Of course the media loves to cover the horror stories of violent criminals re-offending. But there is not many stories about a criminal who never went on to re-offend and lived a normal life. Is that because they aren't very "news worthy" or because the majority of these criminals are re-offending? I kinda doubt the latter.

[Dion]

Another fine example of our wacked justice system....

In 2000, Suzack was housed at the Mission Institution in B.C., which Corrections Canada describes on its Web site as focusing "on release preparation" and being "a major feeder institution for minimum security and day parole centres.

"Mission is a program-oriented facility and provides inmates with an opportunity to demonstrate their willingness to become involved in programming to address the factors which led to their incarceration," it says. How very touchy-feely for a guy who shot a cop in the back of the head. How much comfort do you think that gives MacDonald's widow and two children?

The PAO report points out inmates can play on a small pitch-and-putt golf course and baseball diamond, go fishing and cook their own fish -- even watch whales nearby.

Shoot a cop in Canada and you go whale watching for a few years. Don't you feel so much safer knowing Corrections Canada is sending cop killers to such lovely resorts?

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Column...17/672377.html

[FlamesPuck12]

They should lock him up in a hand dug bunker.

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

It just seems to me that considering the prison system only/primarily as a system of punishment(which is what I get the impression many posters seem to be looking for) is terribly short sighted and somewhat despicable. Prison as a punishment seems to me to serve no valuable end beyond satisfaction of a drive for revenge.

I am somewhat in agreement with your observations, but I can tell you that it is very much the feeling amongst judges that jail is punitive, and is not rehabilitative. Judges will impose conditional sentences (sentences served in the community) or probation to address rehabilitation. The purpose of sending a person to jail is (1) to punish the offender and deter him from offending again; (2) to deter other members of the community from offending in a like manner; and (3) to express the attitude of the community towards the offence. Unfortunately, with respect to this third element at least, the attitudes of sentencing judges are very much divorced from the attitudes of those in the community generally. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your own take on how vengeful a society should be.

[IntenseFan]

Originally Posted by Dion

The PAO report points out inmates can play on a small pitch-and-putt golf course and baseball diamond, go fishing and cook their own fish -- even watch whales nearby.

Shoot a cop in Canada and you go whale watching for a few years. Don't you feel so much safer knowing Corrections Canada is sending cop killers to such lovely resorts?

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Column...17/672377.html

I think perhaps what's even more offensive than the existence of such a "prison" is the fact that we all as Canadians pay for it.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your own take on how vengeful a society should be.

It also depends on weather the punishment fits the crime. Far to often the sentence is too leniant leaving the victims and their families shaking their heads in disbelief.