No Parole for Son of Sam

H

HardScrabble

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Little victories in today's world.


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer who terrorized New York City during the sweltering summer of 1977, was denied parole Tuesday in his first chance for release after 25 years behind bars.

The two-member parole board said Berkowitz showed "limited understanding of the motivation" for his crimes. The board called his crimes "atrocious" and noted Berkowitz recently wrote to Gov. George Pataki saying he deserved to be in prison for the rest of his life.

Berkowitz, 49, is serving time at the Sullivan state prison in Fallsburg, about 80 miles northwest of New York City.

He was sentenced to six consecutive 25-years-to-life terms for shooting six people to death and wounding seven in a series of attacks he said were ordered by a neighbor's dog.


Berkowitz targeted young couples parked in cars in lovers' lanes and young women with long, dark hair. His nickname came from a note he left at one shooting scene, which read: "I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam."

In his letter to Pataki dated March 25, Berkowitz said he had "disgraced myself for the rest of my life" and could offer no reason why he should be considered for parole.

"In all honesty I believe that I deserve to be in prison for the rest of my life," he wrote.

After it was reported that publishers were offering Berkowitz huge sums for the rights to his story, the Legislature passed a law in 1977 barring criminals from profiting from their crimes. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Son of Sam Law in 1991 on free speech grounds, but legislators soon enacted a revised version that stands today.

Berkowitz will be eligible for another parole hearing in two years.
 
A quick Son of Sam story for you:

I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn in the late 70s when his reign of terror was under way. One day, my mother thought it would a fine idea to take me and my babysitter (her former student) on a driving tour of Brooklyn, searching for the Son of Sam. It seems she taught with a strange guy named David Berkowitz at Lafayette High School in Bensonhurst, and thought this may have been the same guy. She had an idea of where he lived, and drove us in our old Volare through the streets of Brooklyn, past several of the sites where victims were found and, at one point, through a police barrier. Needless to say, we were not the ones to apprehend this particular serial killer.

Maybe next time, Mom!

:abduct:
 
Speaking as a probation/parole officer, he does not need to be released. He would be murdered within a month if he were, or even worse, he would re-offend in some way to get back in prison. Institutionalization is real, folks, I see it every day.
 
Thanks TWF, I had kinda had the same thought in a disorganized manner. Glad to hear from a pro!:)
 
good keep him behind bars along with manson and all the manson girls too.........
those people all give me the creeps..........remember Ted Bundy, and the night stalker..Richard remirez.......zodiak killer.......no thanks.............
 
No problem HS, glad I could contribute. Berkowitz is the exact type of unrepentant psychopath that as yet there is no treatment for. I mean, the man killed, supposedly, on orders from his damn dog! There are reasons we as a society have big buildings in the middle of nowhere with bars on the windows and people carrying guns everywhere, and Berkowitz is one of those reasons.
 
I agree, Berkowitz is were he needs to be, and I am a little surprised he is still alive.
 
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