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Cleveland Kidnapper Gets Life while Victim Starts New Life

Cleveland Kidnapper Gets Life while Victim Starts New Life

In addition to the George Zimmerman trial, one case that Americans have been following closely is that of Cleveland’s notorious sex deviant and kidnapper, Ariel Castro.

To avoid the death penalty for his crimes, Castro just made a deal that includes life in prison….with a special enhancement.

The Cleveland man accused of holding three women captive in his home for about a decade agreed to plead guilty Friday in a deal to avoid the death penalty.

In exchange, Ariel Castro would be sentenced to life without parole plus 1,000 years, prosecutors said.

Castro was in court Friday morning to enter the guilty plea. When asked if he understood he would never be released from prison, Castro said: “I do understand that, your honor.”

He added, “I knew I was pretty much going to get the book thrown at me.”

I think many of us have a few ideas about where Castro can spend the 1000 years.

Professor Jacboson detailed the rescue of the three victims (Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight) when the story of their unbelievable rescue surfaced. Now, one of these women is stepping back onto life’s stage in a big way:

Amanda Berry made a surprise appearance at the daylong concert RoverFest in Cleveland on Saturday night, walking on stage with her family and waving at the cheering crowd. Wearing sunglasses and dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, Berry smiled broadly while acknowledging the applause, but she didn’t address the crowd. The rapper Nelly called Berry back to the stage after his music set.

It seems that the site of the women’s home-based prison has become a shrine to sadism. That situation is going to be resolved, too.

The Castro home will be torn down:

“Once they tear the house down, they won’t have nothing to look at,” said De’Andrea Harris, who lives across the street from Castro’s home.

“It’s going to be destroyed,” said Aurora Marti in Spanish. She also lives on Seymour. “It’s better for us. We will have better memories. It will be more peaceful.”…

“I’m ashamed to live here,” Harris said. “My friends don’t want to come over.”

Residents said they’re tired of the commotion surrounding the house: the police, the gawkers and the traffic.

“You got constantly people coming by taking pictures, looking, pointing, any time of the day,” Harris said.

One quality Americans possess that I admire greatly is resilience. Berry and the Cleveland neighborhood are testaments to this trait.

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Comments

So what’s the over/under on Castro’s remaining life expectancy? Eighteen months?

Who pleas to LWOP+1000 years?

    NC Mountain Girl in reply to marklyon. | July 28, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    Family pressure could be a factor. The extended family is well known in Cleveland and couldn’t have been looking forward to a long trial. If jail time seems inevitable threats to cut off all contact can have significant leverage.

If I lived in the area, I’d want a tour of that house. I’d like to know how he managed to keep those women imprisoned. So, after the investigation, tearing it down is very likely a good idea.

And if I were the new owner, I’d dig a big, deep hole underneath that house and in the yard, just to make sure there aren’t more surprises.

stevewhitemd | July 28, 2013 at 4:33 pm

Tearing the house down is the thing to do, of course, but I can’t imagine anyone will want the land.

Might be better to turn the lot into a ‘pocket park’ — put some playground equipment in and a bench or two. Not sure if I’d put a memorial plaque or not.

    boomer in reply to stevewhitemd. | July 28, 2013 at 5:05 pm

    My first thoughts were also of a park/playground with lots and lots of flowers, some flowering shrubs, benches. No plaque, though. No physical reminders of the horrors that were in that house. It would be awesome if an organization, church, etc. would adopt the lot thru the city and turn it into a place of beauty and laughter.

General P. Malaise | July 28, 2013 at 10:26 pm

silly rabbit. he should have just changed his religion and he could have legally done what he did in several countries. (soon in even more countries …sh!t this is even happening in Great Britain)