Another cautionary tale of the perils of liberal policy from New Jersey...first, the crime:
When Natasha Aeriel faced Melvin Jovel three years ago, he had a .357-caliber Magnum pointed at the teenager.
She begged for mercy, but Jovel showed none, coolly shooting her in the head in a schoolyard in Newark, after having just shot her brother and two friends. Of the four, only Aeriel survived.
Before Jovel was sentenced Thursday to three consecutive life terms in prison, Aeriel faced him one final time, in Superior Court in Newark.
At first, the 22-year-old woman was angry, and admonished Jovel, 21, for not looking at her as she spoke. But the anger subsided, and a calm took hold. "I would like to thank him for allowing me to be closer to Christ," she said, referring to Jovel.
On the night of Aug. 4, 2007, Jovel and five other young men set upon Aeriel and her brother Terrance, 18, and their two friends Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, behind Mount Vernon Elementary School.
All four were shot in the head.
Jovel sat stoically as he listened through earphones from a Spanish translator. He did not offer an apology.
Some 12 paragraphs into a 21 paragraph story, the Star-Ledger does let us in on this little bit of somewhat relevant information:
Born in Honduras, he grew up in Newark and attended city schools through 11th grade, Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin said in court while briefly reviewing the case. He said Jovel has no history of employment, is in the United States illegally and has no prior criminal history.
In September, Jovel admitted to shooting all four victims. Prosecutors said he and the five others charged have ties to a violent Central American street gang known as MS-13...
How gracious of them to tell us the truth about his illegal alien status, even though they follow it up immediately with "he had no criminal history". If this was spoken, rather than printed, it would sound like "JovenisintheUnitedStatesillegally BUT had no prior criminal history..."
And while the Star-Ledger may not permit itself to speculate, I will: How likely is it that a man who has never worked, and is a member of a "violent street gang", has never committed a criminal act before? Do you go from alter boy to slaughter boy without a few stops in the middle, say for assault, or armed robbery? While he may have no criminal history, well, to paraphrase Mr. Spock, "If I were to drop a hammer on a planet with a positive gravity I do not have to watch it to be sure it has dropped ..."
I've written about this assault in the past, here and here. But the most salient part, for those who don't remember, was New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine's - Mr. Open Borders, Mr. Sanctuary City - twisted, classically liberal, response to this schoolyard slaughter by an illegal immigrant:
"It is about a failure of us to be inclusive and holistically look to bring everyone into our society".
That's our future, if we allow any type of amnesty bill to be passed. Not only will we need to pay for the survival of millions of additional "citizens" of questionable origin, but when they kill innocents, we will be blamed for it as well - for not "holistically" bringing them into our homes, I suppose.
Well, it sure beats having to re-think your policies. Right, Barack?
But beware amnesty. IF the Democrats have learned one lesson from Tuesday's election, it's that they need a lot more registered voters - and fast...
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