| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| PJK |
Posted - 08/17/2006 : 09:38:01 AM
Today, in Richmond VA, the trial of Ricky Gray will be handed to the jury for sentencing.
Ricky brutally murdered the Harvey Family on New Years Day 2006.
I am not sure why I could never get them out of my mind. I didn't know the Harvey's personally, never even heard Bryan play, yet I can't stop thinking about them.
Bryan and Johnny Hott made up the band House of Freaks, later both were part of other bands. Bryan was most recently part of the band NrG Krysys (enery crisis) and in fact played with them on New Years Eve.
You can read about the trial here:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190019220
I felt from day one like I knew the Harvey's, you know how that happens with people sometimes, and maybe I did in another place and time.
Seriously not a week has gone by since their murders that I didn't think about them at least for a brief moment.
Then about 2 weeks ago I saw a copy of Cake Walk, by HoF on Ebay and I bought it, for a measly $7......I would have paid much more for it.
I listened to it many times but this past weekend I was cleaning my son's bedroom preparing for his return home(my son came back home to live after graduating from PSU and finishing up a great internship up there this summer) and I had the CD playing and was taking a break to just look and see if I missed anything when the last song came on.........Remember Me Well.
Now I had listened to that song dozens of times but the words didn't stand out. Suddenly the chills ran up my spine!
Here are some of the lyrics:
When I lay down my head
Bound for heaven or hell,
After all's said and done,
Please remember me well,
You can dance on my grave,
You can ring out the bells,
You can drink to my health,
But remember me well
Sing a soldier's lament
Hear the stories he tells
If you all shed a tear
Please remember me well
When my ship's going down
And the band plays its nell
When the mask disappears
Remember me well
When a hundred years pass
Other worlds I will dwell
When I'm gone from this earth
Please remember me well
You can dance on my grave
You can ring out the bells
After all's said and done
Please remember me well....just remember me well
It has the most beautiful tune that accompanies it. His voice is so soft, it's so beautiful and incredibly powerful given the circumstances of his death.
I was totally shaken up my this. Then I read in the newspaper that Ricky Gray's trial was going to begin on Monday! Coincidence?????? I don't think so.
The engineer and producer of SOKO's In November Sunlight was a good friend of Bryan's. Maybe it's my connection to SOKO that made this murder hit home for me.......or not. I honestly don't know why this has affected me this way, but it has. Maybe it's the fact that children were killed, and I am a mom or that the Harvey family seemed like the family next door, I just don't know. All I know is that I can't get them out of my mind and don't think I ever will.
So Bryan....I definitely will Remember You Well!
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| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| PJK |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 9:07:43 PM
Kevin, I am so sorry. I don't understand people like that. Senseless, totally senseless.
I'm going to send you an email.
The thing that is the same is the clear lack of caring for other people, the blatant apathy towards other humans. Sadly the victims are usually people who had so much to offer society and the murderers are the scum of society, worthless, contributing only pain and sorrow to the world. Very sad indeed. |
| KevinLesko |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 5:35:26 PM
Pam, this is an article out of Clevland last week, the only thing is that the woman murdered is my girlfriend's brother-in-law's aunt. A removed relation from us for sure, but she had met her several times, and I had met her once for thanksgiving about 2 years ago. It's a very weird feeling. Tiffany mentioned to me that there probably aren't many people that actually know someone who was murdered, and I guess that's true. I really can't get over the senslessness of this murder, much like the Harvey Family, so I definately know how you feel.
quote:
One of the victims of last night's double homicide at an apartment building on Cleveland's West Side was a world-renowned photographer who had taught art at Cleveland State University for 24 years.
Masumi Hayashi, 60, has won a Cleveland Arts Prize, three Ohio Arts Council awards and a Fulbright fellowship. Her work has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo.
The other victim, John Jackson, 51, was also an artist. He was a sculptor who lived in the building.
The shooting deaths followed a complaint about loud music.
Police believe Hayashi called her neighbor in the apartment building in the 1400 block of West 75th Street, 29-year-old Jacob Cifelli, to complain about his loud music, said Nancy Dominik, police spokeswoman.
A short time later, another resident came home to find a gun in the hallway and that Jackson had been shot.
The resident went to the third floor to call police but before getting to the phone found Hayashi. She and Jackson were both dead when police arrived, Dominik said.
Cifelli, who was on probation for an unrelated weapons offense, was arrested shortly after police arrived. He is suspected in the killings, police said.
According to police reports, he was also arrested on Nov. 29 after police found him carrying a sword with a 30-inch blade.
Asked why he was carrying the weapon, Cifelli said he thought it was cool, according to the report.
Cifelli pleaded no contest on Feb. 22 in Cleveland Municipal Court to failure to secure a dangerous ordnance. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $750 plus court costs for the first-degree misdemeanor. But the jail time was suspended and he was put on six months probation, said Ronald Tabor, director of the court's criminal division.
Although $600 of his fine had been suspended, too, he failed to pay the remainder by the deadline of Aug. 15, Tabor said.
A warrant was issued for his arrest Thursday, hours before the shooting, Tabor said.
The year before the weapons charge, Cifelli, 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, was a victim of a robbery.
He told police on April 18, 2004, that he called a number he found in Scene magazine for a private "show" with a woman named Amy, according to police reports.
She invited him to the 7400 block of Clement. As he was leaving this place, he was approached by two men impersonating Cleveland police officers. They told him they were seizing his 1991 light blue Chevy S10 truck, according to police reports.
It was not immediately clear Friday if the truck was recovered or if the suspects were caught.
The two deaths bring the total number of murders since July 1 to eight in the First District on Cleveland's West Side. They are the third and fourth murders since Monday.
Police said that last night's deaths are not related to the previous murders. But the area has a history of street level crime and drug dealing, said Lt. Douglas Dvorak, acting commander of the First District.
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| dan p. |
Posted - 08/24/2006 : 11:21:44 PM
from what i've read, and you must understand that i don't feel the empathy to the family that you do, it seems like the right course. let's say, ok, no one has the right to decide if another lives or dies. well, this guy made that decision for a few people, so where exactly does that leave that idea? apparently the right isn't needed to decide who lives and days. or maybe that right is one we give to ourselves. or maybe there is a god, and only he has the right to decide who lives and dies. did he decide that those little girls had to die? or did he grant gray that right to decide? it doesn't seem to matter, because it amounts to the same thing in the end. people dead.
i feel no sense of vengence, or even justice (i don't believe there is a difference) in his sentence. it's an action that must be performed for the greater good. nothing more. |
| PJK |
Posted - 08/22/2006 : 4:53:59 PM
I just read on line that the jury finally came back with a death sentence! Took them over 11 hours. He got the death sentence for killing the little girls. I am very relieved. Now hopefully he won't have a ton of appeals.
On a brighter note, there is more and more being said about the family and how they lived. Kathryn saw a street person outside her shop and everyday she saw her there she would bring her coffee and food. What she didn't know was that it was an undercover policewoman, but nonetheless, it tells you what kind of person she was! They were well loved by their family, friends and community and they will be remembered by how they lived not how they died! |
| tericee |
Posted - 08/22/2006 : 4:31:38 PM
That is terrible! It makes me wonder what discussions the jury is having behind closed doors... Could there be just one stubborn juror who won't budge no matter what?
I've never been on a jury, since I've never lived in the city where I vote. It's got to be hard in general, but this has to be one of those cases that's easier to decide than most.
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| PJK |
Posted - 08/22/2006 : 11:45:54 AM
OK, I am just venting here so please forgive me. The jury is still deliberating on the fate of Ricky Gray. I can't for the life of me understand why it is taking them so long to come up with a death sentence in this case.
These are their instructions:
The vote for death must be unanimous.
Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals instructed the jury on the charges prior to closing arguments. Jurors can vote for the death penalty if they find the Commonwealth has proved one of two factors:
That “considering the history and background and the circumstances of the crime, that there is a probability that Gray would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing, serious threat to society.”
Or,
Gray’s conduct in committing the offense was “outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, and/or depravity of mind, and/or aggravated battery to the victim beyond the minimum necessary to accomplish the act of murder.”
I simply cannot understand how they can NOT say his crimes met these criteria! For God's sake, Ruby was only about 36" tall and 38lbs, yet her ankles and hands were bound and she was killed in such a horrible way. Poor Stella was only nine, bound and cut and still she tried to crawl under a futon to save herself from the fate of her parents and little sister. This man is a monster and as one who is not a huge fan of the death penalty I can see no other fitting fate for him. There is NO question he committed these crimes, there is no chance they will kill an innocent man. I just don't get it. I thought after an hour or so, they would have found him deserving of the death penalty. If he doesn't get it, VA should just wipe that law off their books because I can't imagine anyone else deserving it more.
Sorry again for ranting on here. It was that or punching in my walls. |
| PJK |
Posted - 08/19/2006 : 08:15:01 AM
dan, thanks for your comments. One of the reasons I am pulling for the death penalty is that there is always a possibility of escape from jail. Ricky Gray is a monster that should never be released in public again.
I read the following from another news source on the trial.
Sgt. Russell Hicks of the Richmond city jail testified that in a search of Gray's possessions Wednesday, he found seven disposable razors and a 36-foot knotted rope made out of strips of a bed sheet. The rope had been hidden in a box of saltine crackers, Hicks said.
The discoveries occurred while Gray was being moved to a new cell. He had been told to relinquish his jail-issued disposable razor, and he produced two. Hicks later searched his possessions and found seven additional razors - one with the blade missing.
Now granted, he would be going to a maximum security prison, but this man is not dumb, if there is a way, he will break out or at least attempt to. He might possibly kill a guard even if he doesn't escape. He is dangerous and there is only one way to be certain he never hurts another soul again and that is by carrying out the death sentence. BTW, it is expensive to fight appeals with death sentences, but in the end, the world will be a better place without Ricky in it.
I woke up several times early this morning each time hearing Bryan's song and thinking of the family being murdered. Drugs or not, what kind of monster slashes the throat of a tiny 36 pound, 4 year old child? I keep thinking this couldn't have happened, but it did.
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| dan p. |
Posted - 08/18/2006 : 11:51:08 PM
that you empathize so with the families speaks to your character greatly. and that you're pulling for the death penalty is surprising.
i agree, though. i have a standard response to the phrase "killing him won't bring them back." it's: "ain't that a shame." i don't believe his being sexually abused as a child should have any bearing on the sentence. lots of people were sexually abused as kids. so far, the ones i know haven't killed anyone. regardless, he's still too dangerous, even if it isn't his fault (which it is.) if you don't kill him as punishment, kill him because it's too dangerous for him to be left alive. just as you'd remove any part of anything that was hazardous or impossible to fix. |
| Arthen |
Posted - 08/18/2006 : 11:02:18 AM
quote:
Originally posted by PJK
I just hope they give Ricky the death penalty. Normally I am not pro-death, but there is NO doubt he committed these crimes. He also murdered 4 others and attempted to murder another man. Nothing can bring back the people he killed, nothing can console the ones left behind, but he should never be back in society and as long as he lives, that is a possibility albeit that it would be life without parole.
From what I've read of the trial/case, I agree. It seems like he snapped and lost it, as there was no real motive to kill that family. Someone that dangerous and out of control, sounds beyond rehabilitation. |
| PJK |
Posted - 08/18/2006 : 09:21:20 AM
Yes Ben, it is so incredibly tragic. I just hope they give Ricky the death penalty. Normally I am not pro-death, but there is NO doubt he committed these crimes. He also murdered 4 others and attempted to murder another man. Nothing can bring back the people he killed, nothing can console the ones left behind, but he should never be back in society and as long as he lives, that is a possibility albeit that it would be life without parole.
Writing this thread made me feel better. I had this huge need to shout to the world that this family lived! They smiled, they laughed, they loved. They did not deserve to leave the world that way. There is a place that says Trial Blog just to the right of the article in the link I provided that updates all the events at the courthouse. It gives the VERY graphic details which some may not want to read....it's beyond most of our comprehension, but somehow reading it, digesting the words, just gave me more conviction to Remember Them Well. |
| Arthen |
Posted - 08/17/2006 : 2:09:40 PM
That is such a chilling and horrific abomination. It reflects on your kind nature how much you are empathizing with the family Pam. |
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