Fw: I. REHABILITATING COP-KILLERS ?

[Guest guest]

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis-

I. REHABILITATING COP-KILLERS ?

>

>

> Can a cop-killer be rehabilitated? The chancellor of Boston University

> seems to think so and is doing everything in his power to help get Edgar

> J. Bowser III paroled. Chancellor R. Silber first became aware of

> Bowser's case when some Boston University professors brought the matter to

> his attention (apparently these professors taught the inmate while he was

> earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in a program the university

> operates for prisoners).

>

> Now, the chancellor says he's read the killer's entire prison file and has

> corresponded with him for many years now, and he believes the killer is

> rehabilitated. Now that Bowser is older, and more mature and better

> educated, the chancellor says, the murderer " is aware of issues of ethics

> and morality of which he was totally unaware. . . He has an understanding

> of life he certainly did not have then, " the Worcester Telegram & Gazette

> reported.

>

> Well, in going through Bowser's file, this is what the chancellor would

> have found: Twenty-five years ago, Bowser shot and killed 28-year-old

> Officer Lonchiadis, when a car theft turned sour. That night, after

> fleeing the scene, Bowser (who was 16 at the time) committed an armed

> robbery but wasn't caught and arrested until the following year. Then the

> trial followed two years later, with Bowser being convicted of

> second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

>

> In Massachusetts, those convicted of second-degree murder are eligible for

> parole after 15 years, and Bowser will have his fourth parole hearing in a

> matter of weeks, at which the Boston University chancellor (a former

> gubernatorial candidate, incidentally) says he'll advocate for his

> release. This won't be the first time, however, that Silber has gone to

> bat for this cop-killer. He apparently wrote a letter to the parole board

> in January 1999, just before Bowser was denied parole in a 4-2 vote. In

> making this decision, the parole board delayed the next eligibility date

> for five years, the maximum allowed by law. But the inmate subsequently

> won a lawsuit alleging that a state statute was violated since all 7

> parole board members weren't present; therefore, the board is rehearing

> the case in a few weeks.

>

> Certainly, the argument will be made (as in previous hearings) that the

> 16-year-old high-school dropout was being pressured into committing the

> car theft -- and the subsequent murder -- by his sister's husband back in

> 1975 (by the way, the sister and her husband were both convicted of

> similar charges in connection with Officer Lonchiadis's slaying). The

> chancellor summarizes it like this: " It was a 16-year-old boy under the

> influence of a criminal who was an older man with whom he lived who got

> him in the situation where this happened and where, in a panic, he killed

> a police officer. That doesn't excuse it, but it does recognize the nature

> of the person who committed the crime. "

>

> At the time of the murder, Lonchiadis left behind a wife and two young

> children. His 7-year-old boy is now a 32-year-old detective serving in the

> same agency his father did, and thinks his father's killer should

> stay behind bars for the rest of his life.

>

> The local police chief agrees. Chief A. Wayne Sampson and the Worcester's

> DA's office are also planning to protest Bowser's parole. The chief

> questions how Bowser can be " rehabilitated " when he hasn't even told the

> complete truth about the circumstances of the crime, nor has he come clean

> in the officer's murder by not helping police find the Lonchiadis's

> service weapon, which was stolen during the shooting.

>

> " We do not believe he is sincere in his approach to the parole process, "

> the chief said. " He wants everyone to forgive him and he wants to get on

> with his life. But unfortunately the family of the victim is unable to do

> that. " Incidentally, part of the inmate's plan for life " after prison " is

> to get married to the social worker to which he's been engaged 12 years.

>

> " For him to be paroled now and to leave prison and to get married and have

> a family absolutely flies in the face of the life he took, " Chief Sampson

> said.

>

> Detective Lonchiadis, who's been on the job 5 1/2 years now after

> serving as a lieutenant and helicopter pilot in the USMC, tells Newsline,

> " My whole life I wanted to be a cop, ever since my dad first become one. "

>

> " It's not an issue whether Bowser is rehabilitated or not, " the son says.

> " He took a life and should serve his full sentence. " (who happens to

> be a Street Survival Seminar graduate) says he doesn't " hate " Bowser, and

> won't let hate consume him, but that he has a duty -- to his father and to

> keep this murderer off the streets.

>

> " It's the most miserable thing, sitting there having to listen to him

> [bowser] and his voice " recounting the events that took his father's life,

> says. " I dread seeing him. "

>

> Those wishing to drop a line to the Massachusetts Parole Board, should

> write to 27 Wormwood St., Suite 300, Boston, MA 02210 or fax (617)

> 727-5047.

>