“Only in Massachusetts”
A Romney-appointed judge freed a deranged thug in Massachusetts who went on to murder a young couple in Washington state. It’s a nightmare of a story with shades of Willie Horton. If not for its hard-wired, soft-on-crime DNA, the Left would have a field day with this tragedy. Will Romney’s opponents run with it or stay away lest their own complicity in revolving-door horror stories come back to bite them?
The father of one of the victims speaks out and he isn’t mincing words:
The father of a Washington woman slaughtered along with her new husband - allegedly at the hands of a convicted Bay State killer - said his daughter’s accused murderer never should have been released from prison here.
“It’s because of stupidity in Massachusetts that my daughter is dead,” said Darrel Slater, 55, who is preparing to bury his daughter, Beverly Mauck, 28, and her husband Brian Mauck, 30.
The couple was executed in their home in rural Graham, Wash., Saturday after an alleged argument with Daniel Tavares Jr., 41, who in 1991 pleaded guilty to hacking his mother to death with a carving knife in their Somerset home in served 16 years for that crime.
Tavares finished his sentence on June 14, but was immediately re-arrested on a warrant charging him with two counts of assaulting Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center prison guards during his troubled stint behind bars, Department of Correction officials said.
Worcester prosecutors requested $50,000 cash bail for each of those charges, an amount approved by Clinton District Court Judge Martha Brennan, according to court documents.
But Tavares appealed the bail and on July 16, Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman released him on personal recognizance. Tavares was freed and fled the state to marry and live in a Washington trailer with Jennifer Lynn Tavares, who met the convict at Walpole after answering an inmate personal ad. He defaulted on a July 23 court date, prosecutors said.
“How does a guy who killed his mother, get charged with more crimes, get out of jail? How can he leave the state?” an angry Slater said last night.
“That judge needs to get her head out of her (expletive). My little girl was only 28. She was a newlywed. They just started their lives. This never should have happened,” Slater said.
Jules Crittenden takes a closer look at Mass Stupidity.
The Herald piece ends on this chilling note:
In one letter, Tavares wrote about receiving a college education behind bars and learning seven languages.
He described his achievement this way:
“Only in Massachusetts.”
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Trackbacks
- Don Surber » Blog Archive » Willie Horton II
- Mass. Judge Frees Man Who Goes on To Kill Young Couple : The American Pundit
- Flopping Aces
- Pro Cynic
- GraniteGrok
- Michelle Malkin » Romney calls on judge he appointed to resign
- Michelle Malkin » Huckabee’s Horton moment
- Michelle Malkin » “Probe: Mitt missed chance to keep Tavares jailed”
- November, 2007 Archive « Right Minded Online
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What more need be said?
Ye reap what ye sew, and in the land of liberalism that a perilous place to be.
Another example of a justice system polluted by lawyers and bleeding hearts creeps.
Michelle,
One little technical correction. Massachusetts only has one “s” after the “ch”.
Why is this being aimed at Romney? I glance over in once and will read it again but I don’t think Romney should be dragged down on this. And BTW, I’m not a Supporter of Romney yet. I was a Gingrich Guy and haven’t made up my mind who can fill his shoes.
glanced over it once. (sorry for typos)
Will Add that Governor Eliot Spitzer is also on a criminal releasing spree.
Including possibly the Son of Sam Killer
stories on my blog
Son of Sam
and
spitzer pardons
O.K., got it. No need with help. Just slow today. Feeling like I think liberals feel. One step behind.
So much is so wrong with our justice system, not just in Mass, but everywhere. Unless we start a workable strategy for impeaching these judges we will continue down this path. Conservatives and people who have had enough of criminals like this getting lose need to develop an impeachment strategy for these judges. I am sure there are those out there that know enough of the law to review these judges records and determine what is an impeachable offense and start the move towards cleaning up these benches.
Once these liberal leaning judges start seeing their ‘pals’ dropping from the bench, maybe just maybe, they will start to follow the written laws and stop legislating from the bench, too.
Right John, after all, Reagan appointed a pretty liberal judge himself, cause she was a woman. She flopped all over the place. Thomas was the only good judge to come out of the 80’s from Republican Presidents!
Well sure, he only carved up his own mother, fights with prison guards - personal recognizance, yeah that fits. Stupid judge.
Liberalism is liberalism is liberalism. It doesn’t matter which supports it,it will fail every time.
Massachusetts state motto;
“Hey, we thought we were Vermont”.
This guy should’ve been on death row. Oh yeah, isn’t MA one of those anti-death penalty states?
Because of liberalism, criminals no longer fear the law and its consequences. A few hundred years ago, Tavares would have been arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced and hanged in as little as a few months. There were jails but not prisons - so if you committed a murder, you were sentenced to be hanged within ten days of the sentencing. The only exception to hanging was a one-time grant of mercy, which was branded into your right hand so that the next time you came before the judges they could see your priors.
Today, colonial justice would be considered barbaric. But the real barbarism is that the victims are punished more than the criminals.
From the Boston Herald:
1. He served 16 years, but claims to have served 20.
2. After 20 (16?) years of prison shower…um, encounters, diversity training with the Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerilla Family and La Nuestra Familia, it’s an insulting name that puts him over the edge. What was he called? A Kerry supporter?
#16 Texas
Probably didn’t like the way he pronounced his “Arrhah’s”…
Several studies have shown that the death penalty saves lives. This is another stark example of that. But liberals would rather try to reform a man who butchered his own mother than save the lives of two innocent young people. It makes them feel good. Never mind that it costs more lives in the long run. All that matters are their good intentions.
Maybe the Maucks told Tavares that he drove like a Kennedy.
Punk!
So the offense was definition of character
There is one good thing about MASS, the airport.
Three words:
What the ____!!!
Whatever one thinks of the abortion issue, Mitt Romney’s hypocricy is breathtaking. Back in 2002, Mr. Romney was debating his left wing Democratic opponent. The woman was as arrogant and snotty as they come. During the debate, the woman said that Mr. Romney was against allowing abortion on demand, or something similar to that. Mr. Romney took umbrage, and spoke emotionally about how his mother Lenore was an early abortion rights activist in Michigan and how his mother may have lost or race for Senate due to her progressive views on abortion. Mr. Romney sounded more “pro-choice” than even Barack Obama. Now that he is running for the presidency, Mr. Romney says he has had an evolution in his thinking. Yeah, right. In his late 50s, Mr. Romney suddenly discovered that he was wrong all along. Whatever position one takes on the abortion issue, this type of flip flopping is worthy of John Kerry. And Mr. Romney did appoint alot of liberal judges.
#21
Punk, a street term for a petty criminal or a male prostitute…
No wonder he felt insulted.
Maybe “punk” had a different meaning in one of the seven languages Tavares picked up while in prison.
LOL #25, wait, that’s our tax money being wasted.
About 12 years ago, there was a binding vote taken here in Massachusetts regarding the death penalty. It passed overwelmingly. And as it has happened before, the state legislature refused to implement it. That also happened with a rollback of the state income tax.
Inmate personal ad?
“My dream man is tall, dark, and convicted.”
- The Cat
If Tavares had been forced to take out student loans to attend college, the authorities would never have lost his trail when he jumped bail.
My lender tracks me better than “Dog” Chapman could.
I can only hope that this idiotic judge is haunted by this for the rest of her pathetic life. I’d say something much more rude and harsh but I don’t want to get banned.
Well at least when he goes back to prison now, he stands a better chance of being “on top”…
This is indeed Mitt Romney’s Willie Horton. There is a great interest in what type of judges the candidates will appoint. Pat Robertson was swayed by Guilliani’s promise to appoint strict constitutional constructionists to the bench.
All that needs to surface now is a clip of Romney riding in the turret of a tank. Stick a fork in him.
Daniel Tavares Jr.: Jen, will you marry me?
Jennifer Lynn: You hacked your mother to death with a carving knife?
Daniel Tavares Jr.: No, she fell on it repeatedly.
Jennifer Lynn: Oh, in that case, yes.
Two words:
Holy crap
Just another malignant congenital dependent who should have been put to death but instead he is set loose to reek havoc on society and innocents pay for the stupidity.
Wait, Murder, and charges from a guard… And only 16 years in Prison. You know its about time to restart Capital Punishment. Oh well I’ll be waiting for him to kill again, maybe this time it’ll be a family member of one of the Elightened “leaders” of Massachusetts.
Sadly, it’s not called the “Criminal Justice” system for nothing.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/209294.html
The local coverage.
1. You have to admit that if Romney were to appoint a Supreme Court justice, he would have a deeper pool to select from than the one in Massachusetts.
2. Mittster didn’t waive bail. The low-watt judge did. If Dukakis didn’t personally sign Horton’s furlough, he was responsible for creating the furlough program.
Where is Wyatt Earp when you need him??
For all those who think the death penalty is cruel and unusual-if this lack of humanity had been executed these two newlyweds would be preparing for their first Thanksgivng as husband and wife instead of being prepared for a funeral. How awful but things like this happen frequently and it is really ridiculous.
I don’t hold it against Romney. It would be like saying a manager is unqualified to hold his job because one of the people he hired didn’t work out and had to be terminated.
Here’s what needs to be done now.
REMOVAL OF JUDGES
Massachusetts judges may be removed in one of three ways:
The commission on judicial conduct investigates complaints of judicial misconduct. Following a formal hearing, the commission may recommend to the supreme judicial court removal, retirement, or reprimand of a judge.
The governor, with consent of the governor’s council, may remove judges upon the joint address of both houses of the general court. The governor, with consent of the governor’s council, may also retire judges because of advanced age or mental or physical disability.
Judges may be impeached by the house of representatives and convicted by the senate.
Any information about this judge’s record both before and after Romney appointed him? That might help - if the judge was this was before Romney appointed him then that’s a total screw up. If the judge turned this was after Romney appointed him, I’m not that willing to blame him
Thanks for sending us one of your Massholes, Massachusetts. Sounds like this sicko executed this nice couple over a measely $50 debt, too.
In theory I agree. There are plenty of people who do not deserve to be drawing breath right now.
BUT…
Our Justice system appointed the judge that let this person go in the first place. It also produced DA Nifong and god only knows how many others like him. The war on drugs has led to widespread abuses of dynamic entry to serve warrants on innocent people. Our Federal law enforcement is unable to keep illegal aliens from getting jobs with high security clearance. Our jury system produces outcomes like the OJ Simpson verdict.
Is this really a system you want to trust with the power of life & death over its citizens? I know I don’t.
Well, my nickname is “Doc”, if that will help!
Actually, the best condemnation of the MA furlough program is by Ann Coulter in her book Godless. She explains that a Republican governor started the program but the VERY LIBERAL state supreme court extended it to murderers. The original intention was to allow prisoners that would one day be granted parole, a chance to ease back into society. The supreme court of MA extended it to murderers; even those that had no possibility of parole.
That’s where the problem lies. When liberals can’t get what they want from the people (who are smart enough to NOT want convicted murderers back on the streets), they plead to the courts to be “compassionate.” Of course, they’re not compassionate about the people the murderers kill, just about the murderers themselves.
This country is quickly becoming the worlds largest outdoor insane asylum.
#29,
Thats private enterprise for ya…
The Mass. Judge that released this monster needs to be sent a high quality multi-media “thank you” for releasing him.
I suggest the media include things like high-resolution images of the murder scenes. Detailed reports on how the victims died. Video of the crime scene. Maybe a piece of blood soaked evidence or two.
You know. Stuff that would *maybe* get the point across to her tiny little brain that she needs to remove herself from society and live out her life in isolation from the world before more innocent people get killed by her stupidity.
I really wish the freaks would stop moving to my home state. They have ruined it.
If you want to deliberately ignorant, maybe. For the rest of us, we tend to look at facts.
Romney’s role in this tragedy is appointing the judge. That’s it.
On the other hand, his predecessor Michael Dukakis voluntarily continued the furlough program through which convicted killer Horton was allowed to walk away from prison in June 1986 for a 48 hour period. Horton, of course, disappeared without a trace. Then in April 1987, in a home invasion burglary in Maryland, Horton pistol whipped and tortured the home’s owner with a knife. When the owner’s girlfriend showed up, Horton raped her twice.
Was that Dukakis’ fault? Not necessarily. The problem is that Dukakis continued to defend the furlough program despite its record of utter failure (76 furloughed prisoners never came back). On top of that, Dukakis commuted the sentences of 28 first-degree murderers. Only when he began his serious running for President in 1988 did he end the furlough program under pressure. (Source: The Forerunner)
“Mitt Romney’s Willie Horton.” Get a grip, people.
Demonstrators lined the street outside of the prison where Tavares is being held. The were yelling,”Death to the Killer” and holding signs demanding his execution for the murder of two innocent Washington citizens.
Several of the group poured concrete onto the RR tracks to ensure that this killer could not hop a freight train back to MA to avoid his fate. One of the female demonstrators accidentally dropped her infant on the sidewalk after becoming incensed that such a travesty could have occurred in their pristine state.
BZZZZZZ!!!! BZZZZZZ!!!! Stupid alarm clock. “Honey, time to get up. Nap’s over”
In 28 years, we will be reading a story about Daniel Tavares Jr., age 69, being a senior citizen in prison and how he is harmless and should be released so he can spend his remaining years in peace….
Why wasn’t Daniel Tavares tried for the assault on the prison guards while he was still in prison?
If he was found guilty, they could have just added the additional time he had to serve to the end of his sentence (completed in Jul 07) and two people would be alive today…
Hey::::: Ifyou don’t like Romney, say so….DOn’t blame every judges actions on him. THe judge did her a head up the butt. No way could he know that she was that liberal…..
Man I wish I could type better. Previous comment needs lot of work.
Thank you.
don’t sweat it bob, we understood what you were saying.
I don’t like Romney, but I don’t like any of the others either. What I would like to see is a full, detailed investigation of this matter. I live not that far from where the murders happened and I am very upset about this.
But just the facts, I understand. That should be sufficient. I am beginning to think that the appointment of judges is the most crucial function of a president, governor, etc. If Romney did a lame, whatever job on this, then he should pay the political consequences. Just as anyone else should.
When are we going to hold our masters accountable? We have to start somewhere, somewhen. Right? But I will await the results of the investigation.
I haven’t quite made up my mind about the death penalty yet, but one thing it has going for it is that the repeat offender rate is zero.
I have made up my mind about the death penalty. I’m against it for any single offense. However I am in favor of it for a person who demonstrates that they cannot live by societies rules.
When you commit a traffic offense you can be fined and/or jailed. You will also be assessed points on your license. accumulate enough points you lose your license. Lets treat felonies the same way.
Create a five tier felony classification system.
Class A Felony, 16 years to life in prison. 16 Points.
Class B Felony, 8 - 15 years in prison 8 Points.
Class C Felony, 4 - 7 years in prison 4 Points.
Class D Felony, 2 - 3 years in prison 2 Points.
Class E Felony, 1 - 2 years in prison 1 Point.
When an offender accumulates 20 points He/She shall be incarcerated for the rest of there natural life. An offender who accumulates 25 points shall be put to death.
Under this system there is no parole, no furloughs and no time off for good behavior. Points are automatic, they are not subject to a judges dissression.
What a tool.
Fact - Romney appointed the judge;
Fact - the judge released the killer;
Fact - the appointment of judges is a significant issue in Presidential Politics;
Fact - there is a history of excoriating candidates for the actions of their judicial appointments.
I have nothing against Romney. In fact, I am still undecided in terms of a Republican candidate. To me, he is just as viable as anyone else.
But this type of incident has sunk the ships of Presidential hopefuls before. And the public is not going to get into the hair splitting exercise of rebid Romney supporters who point out “differences” between the Romney and Dukakis situation. Those differences are going to be lost in the equation of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. All the Romney supporters will do by highlighting the differences is to keep publicizing the fact that a judge Romney appointed let a killer go.
I believe the public believes the buck stops with the chief executive. It was Romeny’s decision as chief executive to appoint this judge.
So, despite the name calling tactics, there is ample support that this is indeed Romeny’s “Willie Horton” moment. The only ignorance creeping into the dicsussion is the ignorance evidenced by name calling and a demonstrated lack of cogent thought.
This is the same state that kept the people from the Fells Acre Day Care case behind bars long after the State knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that the crimes they were accused of never happened. And….when they finally let them out it was on condition that they not talk or write about it. It’s a State that needs to take a long look at itself on many fronts.
et, your plan sound good to me… also sounds like you spent some time figuring this out.
Some states have a 3 time looser policy that every now & then put offenders away for a relatively minor 3rd offense… (too bad for them). Your plan is better than any other I have heard of.
Jim M:
L.N. Smithee:
Jim M:
This is precisely what I am talking about.
When provided with the facts proving the shorthand description “Romney’s Horton” is misleading at best, you suggested “the public” will swallow the concept whole and won’t be able to tell the difference, damaging Romney’s candidacy. So you’re talking about people who can’t be bothered to think about the vast difference between the Constitutional process of appointing judges (whom are not remotely-controlled by the executive branch once they are on the bench), and the voluntary continuing of bad policy that originated in the Governor’s office and had already caused pain, suffering, and death among innocent people.
Such non-inquisitive, gullible people are, in other words, deliberately ignorant. And unlike your referring to me “a tool,” that’s not “name-calling,” it’s a description.
One of the reasons why I visit Michelle Malkin daily is because I believe the facts DO matter, unlike many bloggers on the left, who practice outcome-based reporting in which “Facts Don’t Matter.”
Fine job on twisting my words and my message. You not only missed the point, your reading comprehension is apparently stalled somewhere around the second grade level.
Get a grip.
Jim M:
That’s tough talk from someone who can’t spell “rabid,” “discussion” or “Romney.”