Child rapist/killer fights for parole

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-02 02:05pm

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2008/ ... 6-sun.html

Will sex killer be paroled?
By MICHAEL PLATT
The Calgary Sun

He apparently sobs in his cell, filled with remorse for gunning down four adults and sexually torturing two young girls, before he ended their misery days later with the same rifle.

"I know my husband, and I've watched him cry like you'd never believe -- nobody wishes the past could be changed more than him."

Heather Ennis doesn't expect you to feel sorry for David William Shearing, or to believe his anguish over the grisly murders of six people at a B.C. campsite more than 25 years ago.

Ennis is pragmatic about how the outside world views the man she married 15 years ago, and the feelings of revulsion and dismay when people discover she is the wife of a convicted killer, one seeking parole after a quarter century in jail.

"They think, 'how the hell did you marry him,'" said Ennis.

"I can say, he's not the same human being as he was then, and it's 'talk about naive' -- they can be really vicious about it, but I can understand their point of view."

Shearing -- who also goes by Ennis, his mother's maiden name -- was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in 1984, for the slaughter of three generations of B.C. family members in Wells Gray park two years before.

In what was originally thought to be a robbery gone awry, Shearing confessed to shooting Bob and Jackie Johnson, their two daughters, Janet, 13, and Karen, 11, and Jackie's parents, George and Edith Bentley in a campground near Clearwater, B.C.

It was only later, his 25-year sentence started, when Shearing told police his real motive -- killing the parents and grandparents so he could rape the girls.

"What he did was 110 percent wrong and it was horrendous -- you can't just say he had one bad day, because that's not right," said Ennis.

"I don't blame people if they haven't forgiven him, but I have forgiven him, as my husband and as a human being -- I think every human being, under the law and under God, deserves a second chance."

Shearing, 50, is currently locked away in Bowden Institution, a medium-security penitentiary 100 km north of Calgary, with his Oct. 1 parole date fast approaching.

Under Canadian law, a life sentence can go on indefinitely, if a prisoner is deemed a risk to re-offend.

Across Canada, signatures are being added to a petition aimed at keeping Shearing behind bars, with family members speaking out about the loss of their loved ones, and a lifetime of fear and grief.

If his parole is granted, Shearing will be a free man on Nov. 19.

His wife isn't holding her breath -- Ennis says she doubts Shearing will be let go anytime soon, because no one, other than her, really believes his debt is paid.

"I pray it will happen every night, but no, I don't think so," she said.

"I think it'll be a long time before he is free."

The day Shearing is released, if that day ever comes, will mark the first time Ennis and her husband have ever lived as a normal couple, free of locks, supervision and sneers.

Ennis lost her job as a manager of a seniors centre in Prince Albert, Sask., after word of her marriage leaked out, and she's reluctant to publicly share details of her private life, including where she currently lives and works.

But she does consent to talking about how a woman living on the outside ended up marrying a jailed killer, the ceremony in a prison chapel at Prince Albert penitentiary, where he was held at the time.

"I started writing letters to him, that was it," said Ennis.

"Someone told me he'd gone 10 years with no contact from anyone, and I believe everyone deserves some contact with the outside world, no matter what they've done -- that's just my forgiving nature."

Describing herself as the kind of person who would bring home stray animals as a child, she said the letters to Shearing started because she felt sorry for him, but their friendship blossomed into love.

"I love this man from the bottom of my heart; it didn't start like that, but I do," she said.

"He's very, very, very nice and a good man, and nobody's sorry like him."

She says the hardest part for Shearing is not knowing when freedom will come -- if ever.

"It's something that preys on his mind every single day," she said.

Cue up the world's smallest violin.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-07-02 02:13pm

This is exactly the sort of person the death penalty is tailor-made for: A mass-murdering child rapist.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2008-07-02 02:21pm

Why would he want parole in the first place? Let's say he gets out. Then what? His face will be plastered all over the various media. He won't be able to blend in with rest of the population He won't be able to get a job. He probably won't be able to even run errands. At best, he could hope to live in an extremely isolated rural community, relying on his wife for everything, and only appearing in public when absolutely necessary.

I guess that kind of life is better than prison, but it does entail the real risk of someone attempting vigilante justice on him and/or his wife. That's a detail of real consequence.

Maxentius · Post by **Maxentius** » 2008-07-02 02:21pm

Fuck him. I'd put good money on the fact that his wife will soon enough go missing if he's paroled, too.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-02 02:24pm

I'm not sold on his remorse either. I think he's just feeling sorry for himself because he's been in prison for 25 years, and he ruined his own life.

And what's with these crazy women who marry such horrible criminals while they're in prison?

Kane Starkiller · Post by **Kane Starkiller** » 2008-07-02 02:26pm

Article wrote:sexually torturing two young girls, before he ended their misery days later with the same rifle

What more needs to be said really?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-07-02 02:29pm

Darth Wong wrote: And what's with these crazy women who marry such horrible criminals while they're in prison?

Some weird variant of Stockholm syndrome?

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2008-07-02 02:30pm

I'm willing to bet the crazy wife was either socially isolated when she wrote to him (and therefore very loanly), or is the type of woman that thinks/thought she can change a man.

As for the, convict, himself....

He killed 4 people so he can rape 2 young children. That's premeditated, and the definition of dangerous offender. Toss the key away.

Or move him someplace way colder, say the North West Territories, and then toss the key away.

I'd like to know why he was even allowed to wed in prison, but....

Kane Starkiller · Post by **Kane Starkiller** » 2008-07-02 02:33pm

Jesus Christ I didn't read the article carefully the first time and thought his wife was already married to the psycho. To think I was just about to write how it's not really fair that she lost her job because her husband turned out to be a monster.

Korvan · Post by **Korvan** » 2008-07-02 02:36pm

I think if he was truly sorry, he'd want to stay in jail in order to spare the anguish and anxiety his release would cause the families of his victims.

Its kinda funny that I don't remember this being from BC. It would've been all over the news and I would've been around 10.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-02 02:44pm

Korvan wrote:I think if he was truly sorry, he'd want to stay in jail in order to spare the anguish and anxiety his release would cause the families of his victims.

Its kinda funny that I don't remember this being from BC. It would've been all over the news and I would've been around 10.

Back then, lurid stories like this made the news, but didn't achieve the kind of saturation that they do now.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2008-07-02 03:00pm

This happened in Canada??

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-02 03:32pm

Galvatron wrote:This happened in Canada??

Nobody ever said Canada was a magical land where no murders ever take place. They take place, only at roughly 1/3 the rate that they do in the US.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » 2008-07-02 03:33pm

If this guy gets parole I will lose the remainder of my faith in humanity.

Jaevric · Post by **Jaevric** » 2008-07-02 03:36pm

Reading stuff like this always boggles my mind.

If he's really sorry about what he did, how can he possibly live with himself? I've been known to indulge in bouts of self-flagellation over stuff FAR more minor than "I killed 6 people, two of whom were children I sexually abused first." I cannot imagine waking up in the morning knowing I'd done something like this.

And his wife is just as scary. What if he did get out and did something equally horrific or worse? Is she going to be the person who tells the grieving family "Well, he said he was sorry for what he did the first time and he really deserved a second chance!"

I'm guessing the answer is "No."

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-02 03:37pm

This "everyone deserves a second chance" argument is worthless anyway. One's "right" to a second chance depends on just how badly you performed with the first one.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2008-07-02 03:39pm

Odin wrote:If this guy gets parole I will lose the remainder of my faith in humanity.

Add to you list Manson. If they ever let him out I will say the same.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-07-02 03:55pm

Isolder74 wrote:
Odin wrote:If this guy gets parole I will lose the remainder of my faith in humanity.
Add to you list Manson. If they ever let him out I will say the same.

I thought Manson got life without parole, didn't he? If he ever gets out, he's gonna start doing the talk-show-circuit, and then my sense of reason will explode.

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2008-07-02 04:02pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Isolder74 wrote:
Odin wrote:If this guy gets parole I will lose the remainder of my faith in humanity.
Add to you list Manson. If they ever let him out I will say the same.
I thought Manson got life without parole, didn't he? If he ever gets out, he's gonna start doing the talk-show-circuit, and then my sense of reason will explode.

No, he gets a parole hearing at regular intervals. It's little more than a formality.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2008-07-02 04:03pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Isolder74 wrote:
Odin wrote:If this guy gets parole I will lose the remainder of my faith in humanity.
Add to you list Manson. If they ever let him out I will say the same.
I thought Manson got life without parole, didn't he? If he ever gets out, he's gonna start doing the talk-show-circuit, and then my sense of reason will explode.

He has a parole hearing about every 5 or 10??? years making the news every time with the chance that he might get paroled.

Jaevric · Post by **Jaevric** » 2008-07-02 04:06pm

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think the guy's wife really does have one valid complaint. It probably isn't fair to describe her as "naive."

I'm thinking more "irredeemably stupid," "willfully delusional," or "batshit insane" myself. Naive is completely inadequate.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-02 04:16pm

I'm leaning toward the idea that she simply doesn't understand what makes an evil person do such terrible things. She probably thinks that a monster is someone who cannot have any positive traits whatsoever; this is not true. Even Hitler was a sensitive artistic boy once. The problem is their willingness to inflict suffering on others for their own benefit or amusement; the fact that he sounds sensitive or interesting on the telephone doesn't address this rather serious personality flaw.

Plekhanov · Post by **Plekhanov** » 2008-07-02 06:47pm

I suspect these women marry these scumbags in part because it's the only way they can come up with for society to take notice of their utterly insignificant existences.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2008-07-02 06:54pm

Plekhanov wrote:I suspect these women marry these scumbags in part because it's the only way they can come up with for society to take notice of their utterly insignificant existences.

I don't know what motivates them, but I certainly don't agree with firing her from her job simply because she married the guy.
That said, unless he can demonstrate remorse to a degree that leaves no doubt as to his sincerity, he should remain in prison.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2008-07-02 08:13pm

You realize Bundy got marriage proposals right?