Once again, Mississippi’s highest court was asked to hold out for justice for a family murdered in 1990 in a hellish scene in their Walnut community home in rural Quitman County.
On June 12, the Mississippi Supreme Court denied the most recent attempt by one of the two men convicted of the Parker family murders. The appellant was Anthony Carr, now 60 and on Death Row at Parchman.
His co-defendant, Robert Simons Jr., is also under a death sentence for the same murders. Still, in 2011 a federal appeals court granted a stay of execution based on claims that Simons fell out of his prison bunk and suffered a head injury that caused memory loss.
Both Carr and Simons have been up and down the elevator of state and federal death-penalty appeals. Simons is in legal limbo – still under the death sentence, but the stay of execution has not been lifted; consequently, the state has not sought a new execution date.
Carr’s trajectory still leads to execution for the quadruple murders, unless new and legally noteworthy evidence emerges.
Scott Parker — the lone surviving son- maintained the lonely vigil of waiting for what he believed was justice for his murdered family. Sadly, Scott Parker, 56, died Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, at Greenwood Leflore Hospital in Greenwood — a victim of COVID.
My lingering memory of Scott Parker is from a 2003 interview I did with him at Brenda’s Restaurant in Marks, and later that same day at the gravesite of his parents and siblings in the Lambert Cemetery. He was an affable, friendly man carrying around an incredible burden of loss and pain.
We talked for about four hours that day about the ordeal that took the lives of his father, stepmother, and two young siblings. We talked about the impact the crime had on Scott’s life and that of his brother, Dean Parker. Dean has since died of cancer.
The story I wrote based on our interview focused on the concept of indigent defense — the provision of competent legal counsel for defendants who cannot afford it. Scott Parker was an unlikely supporter of that concept based on his family’s hard experiences in waiting to travel the labyrinth of state and federal appeals by the two individuals convicted and sentenced to death for murdering his family in one of the more heinous crimes in Mississippi history.
Standing by his father’s grave, Scott suddenly got a catch in his voice and a stricken expression on his face before saying, as his jaw began to tremble: “I need to get out of here before I get upset.”
The Parker family nightmare began Friday, Feb. 2, 1990. The facts of the case, as recorded in trial and appeal transcripts, are chilling. The family left the Riverside Baptist Church Bible study class at about 9 p.m. to return to their Walnut community home some 10 miles away on Hwy 322 southwest of Lambert.
Carl Webster “Bubba” Parker, 58; his wife Bobbie Jo, 45; daughter Charlotte Jo, 9; and son Gregory, 12; were active in the church where Bobbie Jo served as the church secretary and pianist. The family entered the isolated rural home in the midst of an apparent burglary, Quitman County investigators later testified.
The victims were bound, assaulted, tortured, and shot. Investigators believe Bubba Parker was forced to watch the attack on his family.
Firefighters said Parker had almost severed his own wrists struggling against the extension cord used to bind his hands and feet. After shooting all four family members, raping the little girl, and finally cutting off Mr. Parker’s finger to steal his wedding ring, the killers set fire to the home and left the wounded family to burn alive, according to court records.
The Parker family’s odyssey merges with an unspeakable crime, an ineffective and frustrating legal system, and the slow march of time in the appeals process.
Since those grisly murders, Mississippi created the Office of Capital Defense Counsel in 1998 and the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel in 2000. That’s a start, but the calendar moves too slowly between the commission of such crimes and the eventual reckonings
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
14 comments:
Sons of bitches should have been made into wind chimes immediately.
OMG, this is sickening and we taxpayers are still paying to keep them alive. They should have visited wood chippers (feet first, 1/4 speed) 15 minutes after they were sentenced.
Can anyone imagine a more heinous crime?
What about this one, Sid? https://www.wlbt.com/2024/08/21/attorney-says-star-msu-football-player-not-being-held-accountable-months-after-allegedly-attacking-his-client/
The federal court system has their fascists boot on the neck of Mississippi. (states) These federal court decisions are destroying the ability of state to protect its citizens. Liberals know how to run to federal courts to get their way when they lose in state courts.. Our founding fathers did not intend for this to happen. So, with this country being 250 years old will not survive for another 20 years.
36 years the citizens have been waiting for justice.
Sid's summary of what these two did to that family is accurate, but the raw details are even more horrifying. I was born in Marks and have family there, so I have followed the story closer than most. Since this happened, I never reenter my home (especially at night) with being armed. You snowflakes can argue that doesn't guarantee my safety, but at least I'll have a fighting chance this family didn't have.
I'm largely agnostic about the death penalty, and understand and respect both sides of the argument. But situations like this make me wonder if the US would be better off doing away with it and replacing it with something that severely punishes animals like these two, gives the family some opportunity to have both closure and peace, and does not overly burden the taxpayers. IIRC, Quitman County had to raise property taxes for several years to pay for the defense of these two.
Everyone in the US has some measure of rights, even animals like this. However, just like a criminal defendant is entitled to a "tolerably fair trial," they should receive "tolerably fair punishment." I think any reasonable person would agree that these two need to be permanently separated from society. Execution would certainly provide for that. So would life without the possibility of parole, clemency, pardon, etc. Obviously, a suite at the Waldorf and an open room service account would not be appropriate, nor would a situation that was an end-run and tantamount to the death penalty.
But why not a prison situation that was "tolerably unpleasant" in which the prisoner had to largely support his or her own costs of incarceration or perish in failing to do so. There are a large number of honest, law-abiding, decent people who work long hours in difficult conditions to do that very thing, often also supporting children, family, etc. I realize there are those who would oppose that. I would respect their right to oppose it, but they would need to respect the right of society to act in its best interests while not being "intolerably unconcerned" about those who would transgress decency.
This is how I look at it. I have no problem with the State killing our most hardened and violent criminals, but I think the amount of resources that it takes to convict and see it through the appeals process is to much sugar for a dime. Instead, make their remaining life so miserable that they wished they had gotten the death penalty.
A certain date for execution would concentrate these human animals focus on trying to get right with Jesus.
If they've been incarcerated, and continue to be incarcerated, I wouldn't say they've escaped justice.
That's tough to read. I remember the crime and the horror that occured that evening. There is no solution but the death penalty for these two. It should have been done the day after the trial.
Addressing the comments about the costs of incarceration, the anguish of the victim's family, and no sense of finality...
Those against the death penalty have valid points - one is that if life without parole were chosen, the certainty of punishment would be unquestioned, and the appeal process would not be as extensive as the death penalty.
I lean in that direction because life is precious, and there are mistakes made (the West Memphis Three come to mind).
RMQ
"If they've been incarcerated, and continue to be incarcerated, I wouldn't say they've escaped justice."
Until the sentence imposed is carried out, it is at least a reasonable argument that they have escaped the full measure of justice to which they are entitled and deserving. That isn't a comment on whether they should or should not be executed or on the death penalty, but the lawfully imposed sentence was death and they have certainly had that sentence reviewed. It is unlikely that society would accept as "justice," for example, a person found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to 10 years in prison delaying the imposition of that sentence for 30-plus years and forcing society to expend millions on that delay. Along that line, these decades-long delays of death sentences, along with millions in costs, is equally unjust.
@10:17, I also grew up in Quitman County. I knew the Parkers and was about 10 when this happened. For years afterwards, my family would not enter our house at night without guns drawn and checking every room/closet. What happened to them is still the worst fear I have in my life.
Post a Comment