Jim Thorpe family chooses fate for daughter's killer
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
By AMY MILLER amiller@tnonline.com
A Qatar judge has given a Jim Thorpe family the power to choose whether their daughter's killer will live or die.
On Sunday, the judge overseeing Jennifer Brown's murder trial ruled that he would like to hear from her family about the fate of the Kenyan security guard who is on trial for the 2012 slaying of Brown.
The guard, who has never been identified to the media, faces first-degree murder charges but has not yet been convicted of the crime.
According to Doha News, a newspaper based out of Qatar, the judge "asked that the family officially name the woman's 'inheritors' and submit in writing whether they would like financial compensation, retribution or the killer to be pardoned, which would likely mean a jail sentence, rather than the death penalty."
Robert Brown, Jennifer's father, spoke to the Times News via telephone Monday about the whole situation.
"We signed the papers and voted to have him spend the rest of his life in jail," Brown said, adding that the decision was reached by himself; his wife, Mary; and daughters Tricia and Heather.
He said through a saddened voice that the whole ordeal has taken so much out of the family.
The trial, which started in 2013, has been delayed seven times and has provided the Browns with little to no closure.
"It's been up and down," Brown said.
He said that he didn't wish to speak on how he felt about the guard.
The Browns' decision will now be taken into consideration as the trial comes to a close later this year. It is scheduled to resume on March 8, Doha News reported.
Jennifer, who was 40 at the time, moved to Qatar in September 2012 after taking a teaching position at the Al Wakra Campus of English Modern School.
On Nov. 14, 2012, just two months after arriving in Qatar, school officials found her body in the company apartment where she lived. A few days later police arrested the Kenyan security guard, who reportedly confessed to killing Jennifer and took police to the murder weapon.
Over the past two years, there have been numerous delays in the guard's trial, including lawyers quitting, scheduling confusion and a number of key witnesses failing to report to testify.
Thank You
Leo Castagnera – Vice President
BSA Officer, Security Officer
First Northern Bank & Trust Co.
No comments:
Post a Comment