LETTERS: PROSECUTOR URGES DENIAL OF PAROLE FOR `EVIL RAPIST'

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letter was sent to Cranston Mitchell at the Board of Probation and Parole in Jefferson City:

As prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau County, I am writing on behalf of the people of this county to urge the Board of Probation and Parole to deny parole at this time for rapist Charles O'Howell.

In making the decision whether to parole a rapist who received 55-year sentence after just 14 years, each parole board member casting a vote should ask himself or herself two important questions: (1) Is this person likely to harm someone when he gets out? (2) Would the general public lose faith and confidence in the strength and procedures of the criminal justice system if the defendant is granted this early parole? If the answer to either question is yes, each parole board member should vote to deny the early parole.

On Nov. 9, 1982, O'Howell was sentenced to 55 years in prison for his kidnapping and rape of ... a 15-year-old girl. The sentence broke down as 30 years for rape, 15 years for kidnapping, five years for burglary and five years for receiving stolen property (the stolen .22 rifle he used in the kidnapping), all to run consecutively. By imposing such lengthy and consecutive sentences, the sentencing judge clearly indicated his intent to take this rapist off the streets for a long period of time.

Every rape case is different. Some are more horrible than others. This is a rape case of the most terrible sort, the type of case that strike terror and revulsion into the hearts of the public, the type of case that a community watches to see whether the criminal justice system can really be effective in protecting our children and our women from the most evil form of rapist.

Charles O'Howell was a complete stranger to the 15-year-old girl he raped. He saw her from a distance riding her horse on her family's property and made the decision to stalk and rape her. He violated the sanctity of her parents' home, kidnapped her at gunpoint and forcibly raped her.

Every parent's worst nightmare is that an evil man will harm his or her child. Charles O'Howell is the personification of that nightmare. O'Howell happened to see this victim as the young girl was riding a horse. Will he find his next victim playing upon a schoolyard, lying next to a public swimming pool, walking with friends at a mall?

All of the time and effort spent by the police in catching this rapist, all the hours spent by the prosecuting attorney (now Supreme Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.) in prosecuting this rapist, all of the soul-searching done by Circuit Judge Stanley J. Murphy in deciding upon the proper sentence, now all boil down to the judgment of the three or so people sitting on the parole board panel hearing this case. The hard work, good judgment and wisdom of all of these other public servants can be nullified in one tragic minute by a mistake on your part. You have an awesome responsibility upon your shoulders.

It seems clear to me by the very nature of the facts of this case that Charles O'Howell is very likely to start searching for his next rape victim shortly after the prison door swings closed behind him. The only real question is whether this next little girl will be someone who lives in Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Springfield or elsewhere.

You cannot look at the facts of this rape case and feel comfortable that Charles O'Howell will not rape again. You cannot cast a vote to release him early without knowing with bone-chilling certainty that you are putting the most cherished daughter of some loving parents somewhere in the world at risk.

The public in the Cape Girardeau area will be watching your actions in this case with the same critical eyes the people of the nation cast upon the California Parole Board every time Sirhan Sirhan comes up for parole. Charles O'Howell has the chance to be a poster boy for the slamming of the Board of Probation and Parole. We have a rapist who committed the most awful sort of rape, who was given the most significant sort of sentence. I can tell you with certainty that the general public will lose faith in the strength of the criminal justice system, and in the procedures and judgment of the Board of Probation and Parole, if this rapist is let out after serving just 14 years.

On the other hand, you have the opportunity, by your vote, to show the public that the system works, and that dangerous rapists in Missouri do not get released after serving just 14 years of a 55-year sentence.

I urge each person sitting on the parole board panel hearing this case to vote against releasing Charles O'Howell from prison at this time.

H. MORLEY SWINGLE, Prosecuting Attorney

Cape Girardeau County

Anyone wishing to write concerning the parole hearing for Charles O'Howell should send a letter to Cranston Mitchell, Board of Probation and Parole, 1511 Christy Drive, Jefferson City, Mo. 65101.