BRUTAL MURDERER SERVES LESS THAN ONE YEAR

There is something seriously wrong with a society that allows a brutal murderer to serve less time than someone who abuses an animal. In this case, it's the state of South Carolina that allowed this travesty.

On the night of May 16, 2007 at about 3:45 am, 20 year old Sean William Kennedy was murdered in a brutal, homophobic attack outside a Greenville County, S.C. bar.

During his trial, it was argued that because Sean hit his head on the pavement after being hit hard enough in his face to break facial bones, his murderer was only charged with involuntary manslaughter. The prosecutor's logic was that even though Sean's brain stem was separated from his brain by the impact of his fall and even though his murderer left a message on the answering machine of Sean's friend telling him that the "f***ing faggot owes me $500.00 for breaking my goddamn hand on his teeth that f***ing bitch!” - Sean's murder was still unintentional and that a long prison sentence could hurt the murderer. Totally ignoring the fact the he already had a history of violent behavior.

Sean's murderer, Stephen Andrew Moller, was convicted of Sean's murder on the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to only three years, minus seven months for time served.

That, by itself, was a travesty but to make matters worse, Moller was just released one week early on July 1st for good behavior because he got his GED while he was incarcerated.

According to Elke Kennedy's blog (Sean's mother):

He was supposed to stay in prison till September 7th 2009, however he received 2 month credit for good behaviour by getting his GED while in prison.

He was eligable for early parole on December 28th 2008 already. In a early parole hearing on February 11 2009 he was denied parole and his release date was set to July 7th 2009.

In a final act of callous insensitivity by the state of South Carolina, Mrs. Kennedy wasn't even given the courtesy of a personal phone call. Instead, she received an automated phone message telling her that Sean's murderer was given a one week early release.

South Carolina is one of the many states that don't have a hate crimes law in place and this tragic case dramatically demonstrates why federal hate crimes legislation is so important. Not only would it give state and local governments greatly enhanced tools, including FBI involvement, for investigating these crimes and apprehending the guilty parties, but it would also insure that perpetrators of these heinous crimes would receive the type of sentencing their actions deserve.


Thanks to Womanist Musings for supplying additional information for this story.