Posted on 10/28/2005 10:09:54 AM PDT by SmithL
MARYVILLE — Kimberly Cunningham, the 33-year-old South Knoxville woman who shot to death a man she believes raped her daughter twice when the child was 10, was convicted today of voluntary manslaughter in the man's death.
The verdict was returned about 10 a.m. by the seven-woman, five-man jury after five hours of deliberation Thursday and one hour today.
Cunningham had been on trial on a charge of second-degree murder, but the jury acquitted her of that and found her guilty of the lesser charge. She had already been tried once in the death of Coy Hundley.
In that trial last April, she was acquitted of first-degree murder, and the jury deadlocked on all lesser charges.
Cunningham will be sentenced on Dec. 19 by Judge D. Kelly Thomas in Blount County Circuit Court.
Sounds like double jeopardy to me. The prosecution should be able to take their best, most likely shot.
One time. One time only.
IMHO, somebody here has conspired to violate her constitutional rights, but it's hard to say, because this was not a federal trial. Not sure what the State constitution of Tennessee says.
I dunno about the 'behind bars' part, but if the 5-hours of community service involve teaching women how to handle a gun, I agree...
It ain't right. Give the same crime 25 different definitions, then keep trying till ya get one thats sticks!
It AIN'T right!
The woman was tried a second time because the jury hung on the second-degree charge.
The system didn't have a chance to work in this case (not that there's any guarantee it would have). Her daughter told her the guy had raped her, mom confronted him that day, and then shot him eight times, pausing to reload.
She should be put on probation. The condition of her probation will require her to give speeches calling for a mandatory death penalty for all child rapists -- it'll get rid of child rapists, and it'll prevent mothers like her from going to prison. A real twofer.
This was a retrial only on the charges that the jury couldn't decide on.
give her a medal and new better home to live in, in a nicer neighborhood
sponser her on speaking tour on how to protect your family
There was another thread about this.
The daughter who is now 14 told her mom that this guy had raped her.
The mom confronted the guy at work, he admitted it and said there was nothing she could do about it. In a smarmy fashion.
She unloaded her gun into him, reloaded and continued.
Personally, I would have just shot his testicles off and smiled at him every time I saw him.
I think she would have not even gotten a trial.
He's innocent until proven guilty.
Having said that, I too would have killed him if I thought he had raped my daughter.
What happens if another man committed the crime?
I like the "reloaded and continued" part. It demonstrates dedication!
Set her free and bought her a new box of ammo!
Well, let's face it. If she was tried for anything, it should have been manslaughter. Heat of the moment kind of thing, diminished capacity.
I don't understand how it can come out of a grand jury to indict her on multiple counts for the same offense... and without Grand Jury approval, the prosecution should be stuck twiddling his thumbs.
The whole deadlocked jury/mistrial thingy is a MISUNDERSTANDING of the intent. And I've read alot of it.
They wanted to insure that UNLESS THERE WAS A UNANIMOUS verdict, then no crime had been committed. A cultural sort of thing, if the folks themselves could not even agree that what the person did was a crime, the government was powerless to prosecute.
It's not supposed to be a "give the government unlimited shots at getting a conviction" thing.
Exactly. When the DA's office isn't sure of winning a crime they're prosecuting this is what happens. A person may have comitted one crime, but they will be charged on multiple counts. Sometimes it's a "good" thing because they really are going after bad guys. But in many cases, these are just "political" crimes (eg, hate crimes, vigilantism) and the DA wants to make a point.
Then the deceased, who reportedly admitted to the crime, deserved to die for stupidity.
A dead rapist or child molester will never become a repeat offender.
"Vigilanteism is the direct result of an ineffective criminal justice system. People take the law into their own hands because the authorities refuse to do their jobs, and because of the public perception that justice will not be done unless they do. "
I always thought that public police departments were the direct result of people not properly policing after themselves. City police departments are a fairly new invention.
>> I like the "reloaded and continued" part. It demonstrates dedication!<<
When my hubby read the original story, he stated that he would be that dedicated if someone touched one of his girls.
He would be proud to go to jail for it too.
I am not saying she should have gotten off. I'm saying that the guy should not have been on the street. Of course, we don't really know if he had any priors, but most crimes are committed by repeat offenders. It would not happen if our politicians and our judicial system would do their jobs instead of blaming "society" for crime, and letting the perps go free.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.