Posted on 11/13/2003 9:58:57 AM PST by GrandMoM
Not a hate crime??????????
By Joseph Farah
His parents thought he was working as a hair stylist on weekends.
But when Prairie Grove, Ark., police responded to a 911 emergency call at 5 a.m. Sept. 26, they found 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising on the floor, unconscious, near death, one of his wrists bound with duct tape.
A half-hour later, he was pronounced dead at St. Mary's Hospital in Roger.
A police investigation determined young Jesse was repeatedly raped over a period of hours, including with foreign objects. While enduring this ordeal, his ankles, knees and wrists were bound in duct tape and he was gagged and blindfolded. He was tied to a mattress. He may have been drugged, police say. A sedative called amitryptiline was found in the home of two men -- Joshua Brown, 22, and David Don Carpenter, 38 -- along with Jesse's body.
There were other drugs, too -- and items commonly used in sexual bondage. Apparently the boy was left bound and gagged after the last rape, while his attackers went to get a sandwich to eat.
The cops say two men raped Jesse at least six times. Brown and Carpenter have each been charged with six counts of rape and capital murder. Hearings in their case are set for Dec. 8 and Jan. 13-14. The trial is scheduled for April 10.
Just another brutal local crime, you say? Why is Farah recounting a police blotter story from Arkansas? I don't know. Something bothers me about this story. It ought to bother us.
It was big news in Northwest Arkansas, but the story of Jesse Dirkhising hasn't made a ripple in the national news. I wonder why? I wonder if it's because the victim is not a part of some politically protected sub-group, a special class deserving of extra government privileges? I wonder if it is because the suspects are, indeed, members of such a group.
Remember how the nation stood riveted to the details of a hideous murder that took place in Wyoming when a homosexual was tortured to death? Never mind that the crime had little or nothing to do with the victim's sexual proclivities. Uh-uh. That didn't matter. This was a hate crime. New laws were needed. New brainwashing programs must be introduced into the schools. New sensitivity outreach projects were required by all media outlets. Bill Clinton sounded off. Janet Reno chimed in.
And then there was Jesse Dirkhising. There was no hand wringing, no candlelight marches, no national news coverage for the 13-year-old victim of homosexual rape and murder. No presidential proclamations -- even though the heinous crime took place in his home state.
Brown and Carpenter have pleaded not guilty to all charges, by the way. When police got to their home that morning, they were met by a very upset Carpenter, who repeatedly told the cops, "He's not breathing." When police asked about the duct tape, Brown told the officers they were "just playing a game." When questioned further, Brown allegedly assaulted one of the officers. It was only then that he was arrested.
Apparently the affidavit recounting the crime was so gruesome that parts of it were sealed to protect the defendants' right to a fair trial. During a hearing in Bentonville, Carpenter read details of the complaint against him. As he read, Carpenter repeatedly shook his head and muttered, "No." Meanwhile, members of Jesse Dirkhising's family sat weeping, while his mother clutched a teddy bear and a photograph of her son.
"No one deserves to lose a child in this manner," said prosecuting attorney Brad Butler.
That is true. But somebody did. Jesse Dirkhising was brutally raped, tortured and murdered -- for fun, for thrills, for the hell of it, because it felt good, maybe even because a certain politically protected lifestyle has been elevated to virtual sainthood.
I don't expect to hear Bill Clinton or Janet Reno weigh in on this one. It just wouldn't be appropriate. It might offend their core constituency. After all, 13-year-old boys don't vote anyway. They don't contribute to political campaigns. They don't march and demand special rights.
But, in case anyone else is concerned, a fund has been established to assist the family of Jesse Dirkhising with funeral and related expenses. Donations may be made to Memorial Trust for Jesse, account number 600054043, at any Community Bank in the Elkins or Prairie Grove, Ark., area. Cards may be sent to the family care of the Benton County Prosecutor's Office, 100 N.E. A Street, Bentonville, Ark., 72712
God bless this little one. May he rest in peace. And may his tormentors rot in Hell.
Apparently the affidavit recounting the crime was so gruesome that parts of it were sealed to protect the defendants' right to a fair trial!....What about Jesse's rights??????
....I found this in the Beauty Salon waiting to get my hair done. When I got home, I was so outraged, I called and cancled my subscription.
Good one!
Beats me.
Or is Time now a completely worthless magazine?
Yep. Now, previously, and probably in the foreseeable future.
Cheers, Buy you a drink?
I will allow that he certainly did not deserve to die, but how many here know that Sheppard grabbed one of those guys on the a$$, and that he had tried to kiss the other?
Yep.
This was an out-of-the-blue homo pick-up attempt in a Wyoming honky-tonk bar, mind you --not exactly the kind of place to be bringing your Belgian habits (Sheppard was American, but had lived in Belgium for a long time and apparently took a liking to the local chocolate).
Not the best judgement, no sir.
Those rough-necks were so insulted that they led him on a bit, got him out of the place and into a venue that made him a bit more vulnerable, and proceeded to give perky Matty boy a little lesson in Wyoming manners...
Was it bad? Yes, it really was. But they didn't want to kill him, and it wasn't like they chose him --HE had chosen THEM. The Sheppard story is a masterpiece of leftist propaganda.
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