Marketplace
![[SeMissourian.com]](http://www.semissourian.com/images/nameplate.gif)
|
|
Partly Cloudy ~ River stage: 33.99 Rising Saturday, November 21, 2009 |
RSS
 Print
 Email link
 Respond to editor
 Read comments (13)
 Share link
Blunt commutes sentence of convicted Scott County murdererSunday, January 11, 2009A Morley, Mo., woman who pleaded guilty to murdering her husband in 2000 could be released from prison later this year after Gov. Matt Blunt commuted her sentence on Saturday. Charity Sue Carey was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2002 for the Oct. 24, 2000, shooting death of her husband, Michael Carey, in their mobile home in Morley. On Saturday, Blunt announced in a news release he was commuting her 30-year sentence for second-degree murder to 10 years, making her eligible for parole later this year. Blunt also commuted the sentence of Stacey Ann Lannert, a St. Louis woman convicted of murdering her father in 1990. In the news release, Blunt cited the pattern of violence the women endured at the hands of their victims for years leading up to their respective crimes as the reason for his action. "Stacey Lannert and Charity Carey have paid for their crimes," Blunt said in the release. "In both cases, the abuse these women suffered was clearly a mitigating factor in their actions. It is my hope and belief that when Ms. Lannert and Ms. Carey are paroled that they will become productive members of society." Carey's mother, Sue Orzech, said Saturday was "absolutely the most wonderful day in the world." She heard the news directly from Charity, who called her Saturday afternoon. Orzech said the worst day of her life was when her daughter was sentenced to prison. "We hoped, we prayed, but we knew it could go either way, but we just kept praying and our prayers were answered," Orzech said of the commutation, expressing her gratitude to the Washington University School of Law's Civil Justice Clinic, which helped bring the case to the governor's attention. Orzech said she didn't know about the abuse Charity was suffering until after the murder. Michael Carey's mother, Ava Carey, said the news was disappointing to her and her family. "When she was sentenced on June 5, 2002, some of our family members were at her trial, and we understood her to be sentenced to 30 years and have to serve at least 25.5 years for Michael's murder," Ava Carey said. She said the development was "quite a shock." Orzech said she hasn't spoken to the Carey family since the murder, but "I am sorry they lost their son. I've lost two sons of my own, and I know how it is to lose a child, so I sympathize very deeply with them losing their son, but nothing we can do is going to bring him back." The news release said Blunt commuted the sentence to 10 years because 10 years is the state's recommended sentence for second-degree murder with "mitigating circumstances" -- in this case the abuse that Charity Carey endured at her husband's hands. Under Missouri law, Charity Carey is up for parole after 85 percent of her sentence. Carey "has conducted herself in an exemplary manner" while in prison, the release stated. The news release said Michael Carey began abusing Charity six months into their marriage, abuse that worsened over the next three years when Michael began raping Charity and threatening to kill her and her son. Michael Carey's wife before Charity and a former girlfriend gave depositions that they were also abused by him, and the former wife testified that he had been convicted of raping her 13-year-old daughter, the news release stated. Charity Carey made a 911 call the night of Oct. 24, 2000, and police arrived at the couple's mobile home to find Michael Carey lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor with small-caliber bullet wounds in his head and chest. There were signs of a struggle, but no evidence of a break-in. 388-3652 Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
|
Enter your email address to subscribe to our mailing lists:
|
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
Google
This is incredibly bad policy. Note to all women out there. If you want to kill your husband, go on and do it and then "claim" that you were abused. There are legal avenues for an abused person to get away. Killing someone is not the solution.
Not always does the system help abused women in a timely manner, So in turn they feel they have no other choice but to save their own life. To kill someone is wrong, However to be physically and mentally abused by someone is just as wrong.
Muff
While I can't comment on these cases as I am not familiar with them, I have seen quite a few cases of spousal abuse resulting in the wife killing the husband. In order to mitigate sentencing one must prove a pattern of spousal abuse rather than just make a claim. This often requires witnesses, doctors/hospital reports and other documentation. This is not an easy task and anyone who thinks they can "get away with murder" by simply claiming spousal abuse will be wrong. I have seen women who have been beaten beyond recognition who took no actions while others have.
The legal system cannot be designed to provide protection for these women and sometimes they reach a breaking point. This is a very difficult situation for most of us to understand and should not be trivialized.
The facts of this case were obviously not taken into consideration. This was not any spouse abuse, it was cold calculated murder. Ms. Carey formed a plan, shot her husband not once but three times. Ms. Carey was scared all right. She was scared of her husband finding out what all she was doing that he was not aware of.
thank you gov. blunt for exhibiting compassion for women abused. there are simply three things i cannot tolerate...abuse toward children, women, and the elderly. a man who abuses women is no man at all!
LEO
Like I said, I don't know the particulars of this case, but there is a process that is supposed to be followed when the Governor's Office is requested to commute a sentence or pardon and that is outlined on the government website. I am familiar with these reports and quite a bit of information is required to be placed in these reports including the circumstances of the offense and of course all of this information is available in the form of reports submitted by Probation and Parole and DOC which would include a PSI.
I think it would be interesting to see all of your reactions if the roles were reversed, and it was a man who shot his abusive wife.
I get the feeling that it wouldn't be quite as "justifiable" or "mitigated" if that was the case.
I think it would be interesting to see all of your reactions if the roles were reversed, and it was a man who shot his abusive wife.
I get the feeling that it wouldn't be quite as "justifiable" or "mitigated" if that was the case.
YES, I can read! The facts are the things that she was doing that he did not know about, it was not until she failed the polygraph about shooting him that she even admitted it. She stuck to her story of the VICTIM until she knew she was caught!! There was never any stories of abuse until it came time for the Criminal Defense.
Abuse is abuse rather it is the woman or the man. If he
would have shot her over the same issues, I would feel the same way about the case. There are men that are abused by their spouse just as women are.
Both of these women could have avoided what happened by simply leaving. There are a lot of places these days they can go for help. Most of the women who stay with these abusive men are doing it just to get symphanthy from others and just stay until they crack.
Newman90
You are totally wrong about the victims staying for sympathy. There are a lot of reasons victims stay! And trust me, it's not for sympathy. If you really are concerned about domestic violence then follow the link below and read up! There is a lot more to domestic violence than someone getting beat!
http://www.mocadsv.org/dv101/
Thank you Gov. Blunt. You've done what others before you were too afraid to do. You've freed not only these ladies but their families as well.
I became interested in Stacey's case when it was highlighted on TV awhile back. Here's a link to better understand what she went through, even as a little girl. Congratulations Stacey!
http://crime.about.com/od/female_offenders/p/lannert.htm