belcherpi
03-20-2008, 12:49 PM
I just can't believe people are asking for leniency! These boys were old enough to know what they were doing. The Whitaker mentioned in the story, well her husband is owner or co-owner of the Whitaker banks around Kentucky. This happened around the area I grew up in and this is the story in todays paper.
Support shown for horse killers
As the two Pike teenagers who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing several horses last year prepare for their sentencing today, the file of one of the men has swelled with letters asking for leniency.
In January, Jacob Leslie Ratliff and Michael Ross Damron pleaded guilty to three first-degree criminal mischief charges, five second-degree criminal mischief charges and eight charges of cruelty to animals.
The teens, armed with pistols and shotguns, ran down a herd of horses in a remote area at Beaver, near Elkhorn City, in January 2007. Ratliff and Damron killed three of the horses and wounded five. One of the horses was shot more than 50 times.
Over the past couple of weeks, several letters have been filed in Ratliff and Damron’s files in Circuit Court, addressed to Pike Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman, who will sentence them today.
Some letters ask for lenient sentencing, while others ask for Ratliff’s record to be expunged.
Included in those letters is one from Ratliff himself, in which he claims to understand the gravity of his crime and asks for Coleman to consider letting him return to Lexington, where he was living, and serve his sentence on home arrest.
In the letter, Ratliff acknowledges his past problems, including “recreational drinking” and occasional drug use, but said that before the shooting of the horses, he had never been in any kind of trouble.
“It seemed like overnight, I went from an all-American boy to a criminal, which is not who I am,” he states in the letter.
In the letter, Ratliff said the shooting came during one of the hardest times of his life.
“One of my close personal friends, Todd Prater, was killed on his ATV. He died on Jan. 14, 2007, and I let my guard down,” he wrote. “Sure enough when I did, I slipped up and made the biggest mistake of my life. It caused me to miss attending the college of (my) choice, ruined my reputation and deeply hurt my family.
“I come to you with a humble and open heart, begging you for mercy and trust that what happened was nothing more than a bad choice of an impulsive stoned teenager,” Ratliff wrote in the letter.
In exchange for their plea, Pike Commonwealth Attorney Rick Bartley’s office has recommended that they both be sentenced to five years in jail.
They had originally pleaded guilty in May, but Coleman had rejected the deal offered by prosecutors that would have resulted in the teens serving a 30-day sentence, with the charges being diverted after that.
Steve Owens, the attorney representing both Ratliff and Damron said that an expungement would be something that they would seek administratively later, but that his clients are hoping that Coleman will follow this deal.
“We’re seeking to have the deal that’s in play enforced,” Owens said. “We’re hoping, naturally, that Judge Coleman will go along with that.
The letters, Owens said, show that there is support in the community for his clients.
“I think it shows that people understand teenagers make serious mistakes,” he said. “And their penalty should take everything into consideration.
“They couldn’t even vote — that shows something about their level of maturity at the time,” he said.
That level of maturity is something that is brought up in letters from Ratliff’s aunt, Beverly R. Whitaker, of Lexington, with whom he was living while on home incarceration.
Whitaker, who identified herself in the letter as a psychologist, wrote to Coleman asking for leniency, stating that often, youths don’t anticipate the long-term consequences of their actions.
“I’m not saying that they can’t make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong, but that they are more likely to act impulsively, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences,” she wrote. “Biologically, they are more vulnerable.”
Added to that physiological difference, she wrote, was that Ratliff was drinking alcohol and using pills.
Whitaker also wrote that Ratliff is currently in a cell with individuals who have “served twenty plus years in prison” for crimes such as drug dealing and bank robbery.
“It is believed that what young people learn when being exposed to this subculture can be very detrimental to their positive intentions,” she wrote in the letter. “I believe the sooner you get him away from these career criminals the better.”
In addition to the letters, there are two petitions in Ratliff’s file. One comes from the Elkhorn City Church of God, asking that he be given a lighter sentence and asking for expungement. The second was distributed widely and just asks for his record to be expunged after he has served the term of his sentence.
In Damron’s file, one letter, from Birdie Coleman, asks for the judge to consider his past and his future.
“(Damron’s) whole life has been a rough one,” she wrote. “I would like to see him have a chance to grow into a young man and make a living for himself.”
Expungement might not be possible in Ratliff and Damron’s case.
The first-degree criminal mischief charges to which the teens pleaded guilty are felonies.
Pike Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Bartley said Wednesday that the only way a felony could be cleared from someone’s record is if they receive a pardon or if the case is diverted, which is what the prosecution had originally offered in the case.
“The current law is there is no expungment of a felony conviction,” he said.
Bartley said his office is simply requesting that Coleman follow the recommended sentence.
http://www.news-expressky.com/articles/2008/03/20/top_story/01horses.txt
Here is other stories about the incident.
http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/10686/VA/US/
Support shown for horse killers
As the two Pike teenagers who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing several horses last year prepare for their sentencing today, the file of one of the men has swelled with letters asking for leniency.
In January, Jacob Leslie Ratliff and Michael Ross Damron pleaded guilty to three first-degree criminal mischief charges, five second-degree criminal mischief charges and eight charges of cruelty to animals.
The teens, armed with pistols and shotguns, ran down a herd of horses in a remote area at Beaver, near Elkhorn City, in January 2007. Ratliff and Damron killed three of the horses and wounded five. One of the horses was shot more than 50 times.
Over the past couple of weeks, several letters have been filed in Ratliff and Damron’s files in Circuit Court, addressed to Pike Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman, who will sentence them today.
Some letters ask for lenient sentencing, while others ask for Ratliff’s record to be expunged.
Included in those letters is one from Ratliff himself, in which he claims to understand the gravity of his crime and asks for Coleman to consider letting him return to Lexington, where he was living, and serve his sentence on home arrest.
In the letter, Ratliff acknowledges his past problems, including “recreational drinking” and occasional drug use, but said that before the shooting of the horses, he had never been in any kind of trouble.
“It seemed like overnight, I went from an all-American boy to a criminal, which is not who I am,” he states in the letter.
In the letter, Ratliff said the shooting came during one of the hardest times of his life.
“One of my close personal friends, Todd Prater, was killed on his ATV. He died on Jan. 14, 2007, and I let my guard down,” he wrote. “Sure enough when I did, I slipped up and made the biggest mistake of my life. It caused me to miss attending the college of (my) choice, ruined my reputation and deeply hurt my family.
“I come to you with a humble and open heart, begging you for mercy and trust that what happened was nothing more than a bad choice of an impulsive stoned teenager,” Ratliff wrote in the letter.
In exchange for their plea, Pike Commonwealth Attorney Rick Bartley’s office has recommended that they both be sentenced to five years in jail.
They had originally pleaded guilty in May, but Coleman had rejected the deal offered by prosecutors that would have resulted in the teens serving a 30-day sentence, with the charges being diverted after that.
Steve Owens, the attorney representing both Ratliff and Damron said that an expungement would be something that they would seek administratively later, but that his clients are hoping that Coleman will follow this deal.
“We’re seeking to have the deal that’s in play enforced,” Owens said. “We’re hoping, naturally, that Judge Coleman will go along with that.
The letters, Owens said, show that there is support in the community for his clients.
“I think it shows that people understand teenagers make serious mistakes,” he said. “And their penalty should take everything into consideration.
“They couldn’t even vote — that shows something about their level of maturity at the time,” he said.
That level of maturity is something that is brought up in letters from Ratliff’s aunt, Beverly R. Whitaker, of Lexington, with whom he was living while on home incarceration.
Whitaker, who identified herself in the letter as a psychologist, wrote to Coleman asking for leniency, stating that often, youths don’t anticipate the long-term consequences of their actions.
“I’m not saying that they can’t make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong, but that they are more likely to act impulsively, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences,” she wrote. “Biologically, they are more vulnerable.”
Added to that physiological difference, she wrote, was that Ratliff was drinking alcohol and using pills.
Whitaker also wrote that Ratliff is currently in a cell with individuals who have “served twenty plus years in prison” for crimes such as drug dealing and bank robbery.
“It is believed that what young people learn when being exposed to this subculture can be very detrimental to their positive intentions,” she wrote in the letter. “I believe the sooner you get him away from these career criminals the better.”
In addition to the letters, there are two petitions in Ratliff’s file. One comes from the Elkhorn City Church of God, asking that he be given a lighter sentence and asking for expungement. The second was distributed widely and just asks for his record to be expunged after he has served the term of his sentence.
In Damron’s file, one letter, from Birdie Coleman, asks for the judge to consider his past and his future.
“(Damron’s) whole life has been a rough one,” she wrote. “I would like to see him have a chance to grow into a young man and make a living for himself.”
Expungement might not be possible in Ratliff and Damron’s case.
The first-degree criminal mischief charges to which the teens pleaded guilty are felonies.
Pike Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Bartley said Wednesday that the only way a felony could be cleared from someone’s record is if they receive a pardon or if the case is diverted, which is what the prosecution had originally offered in the case.
“The current law is there is no expungment of a felony conviction,” he said.
Bartley said his office is simply requesting that Coleman follow the recommended sentence.
http://www.news-expressky.com/articles/2008/03/20/top_story/01horses.txt
Here is other stories about the incident.
http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/10686/VA/US/