The story about the murder of a three-year-old boy is horrifying enough.  Learning that his 23-year-old father admitted to committed the act makes the story even harder to digest.

But when you find out that the monster who killed his own son may only serve ten years in prison it's enough to make you want to vomit. I understand that the prosecution had a tough time proving their case resulting in a mistrial the first time out. I understand that the evidence was largely circumstantial. And I certainly understand the need to make a deal to get a murderer off the streets if you think there's a chance he'll walk. As I understand it the judge can tack on more time if he feels it warranted but that's not likely. It seems that if a plea deal is met and terms are agreed upon it would behoove the court to follow the deal or undermine the ability for future deals.

The idea that a man who murders his own son serving only ten years is offensive and wrong. I had a conversation this morning on air with our news director Eric Scott and he added that under New Jersey's 85% rule and the possibility of time already served counting toward the sentence he may actually only serve seven years. Let that sink in a moment.

Prosecutors in New Jersey are at a disadvantage. They lack the power afforded to other prosecutors to leverage the possibility of seeking the death penalty in order to obtain a plea. In a similar child murder case in California, the murderous father will serve 25 years to life for killing his 5-year-old son because he did not want to face the possibility of execution.

Officially we haven't had the death penalty since 2007. It's time to change that.

It's time to remove some monsters from society permanently. It's time to empower law enforcement with a weapon that will ensure they can force the issue and extract guilty pleas from more killers by making them face the possibility of the ultimate punishment.  Ten years for murdering a child is unacceptable. But it's not made better hoping that 'prison justice' will punish him further. That's an entirely different subject about the state of violence in some prisons. And that's equally unacceptable. What we need is to solve problems through the courts by making sure law enforcement has EVERY available weapon in their arsenal.

A majority of the states in the US have legal execution. It's worked both as a way of stopping individuals who commit heinous crimes from ever seeing the light of day and it's a tool to get more guilty pleas.

Wonder if there are any politicians in state government with the courage and common sense to raise the issue in a productive and meaningful way and push to reinstate the death penalty in New Jersey?

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