From Tragedy to Change: Horrific Crimes that Transformed Laws — Part 1

When someone hurts or takes the life of another person, we want that person caught and locked away. We not only want justice for the victim but to ensure that the perpetrator is never able to do it again. Sometimes, there is no precedent for specific events that occur in a case, which calls for a reactive addition or change to current laws.

Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr.

Matthew Shepard was a student who was tortured, beaten, and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming on October 6, 1998. He died six days later from blunt force trauma to the head. It was determined that he was targeted because he was a homosexual man.

James Byrd Jr. was an African American man who was tortured and murdered by three white supremacists in Jasper, Texas on June 7, 1998. He was tied to a truck and dragged behind it. He died when his body hit a culvert and it ripped his right arm and head from his body.

Both are what we now recognize as hate crimes. At the time, Wyoming’s hate crime laws did not include homosexuals and Texas had no hate crime laws at all.

The 1968 federal hate-crime law recognized crimes motivated by actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin, and was only applicable when the victim was engaging in a federally protected activity, such as voting or going to school.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced and passed in the fall of 2009. It expanded the original law to include crimes motivated by actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability in any instance.

Caylee Anthony

Caylee Anthony was just 2 years old on July 15, 2008, when her grandmother Cindy called 9–1–1 to report her missing. Cindy told the dispatcher that she had not seen her granddaughter in 31 days and her daughter Casey’s car smelled like something dead had been inside it. This immediately raised concerns for Caylee and the investigation began.

Casey told investigators that Caylee had been kidnapped by the nanny several weeks earlier and that she was trying to find her herself. In October, Casey was charged with first-degree murder.

Caylee’s remains were located on December 11, 2008, near the Anthony’s family home. She was wrapped in a blanket and placed inside a laundry bag. The cause of death could not be determined but was declared a homicide, in part due to the duct tape located on the mouth of Caylee’s skull.

Even with all the evidence presented in the case, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of all charges related to Caylee’s death. She was only found guilty of providing false information to law enforcement.

Caylee’s death and the media surrounding her mother’s trial prompted protestors who disagreed with the jury’s verdict to start a petition to establish a new law. It started on Change.org and after gaining 1.3 million electronic signatures, prompted lawmakers of several states to begin drafting versions of the law.

Caylee’s Law makes it a felony crime for a parent or legal guardian to fail to report a missing child in cases where the guardian knew or should have known that the child was possibly in danger.

See the list of states that have signed off on the bill and those with the bill in legislature here.

Megan Kanka

Megan Kanka was 7 years old on July 29, 1994, when her short life would abruptly end with the promise of seeing a puppy.

Megan seemed to simply vanish. The neighborhood began a search for her when they found her bicycle abandoned. As they searched, they were informed about a man named Joseph Cifelli who was a neighbor and convicted sex offender.

The police questioned Cifelli and his roommate Brian Jenin, who was also a convicted sex offender. Both had alibis. However, the third roommate, Jesse Timmendequas, who had been convicted of two separate attacks on young girls, did not.

Timmendequas eventually confessed and lead authorities to Megan’s body.

After Timmendequas attacked a 7-year-old girl in June 1981, he was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison by the judge who referred to him as a “compulsive, repetitive sexual offender” who “constitutes a danger to the public at large and to young children in particular.”

Nevertheless, the Kankas had no idea that they were living so close to not just one, but three convicted sex offenders. They stated that if they had known, they never would have let their daughter play outside without supervision.

Shortly after Megan’s death, the Kankas and other citizens began pushing for a law that would mandate notification if a sex offender moved into a neighborhood. New Jersey, where the Kankas lived, signed the law into effect just three months after Megan’s death.

President Bill Clinton signed a federal version of Megan’s Law on May 17, 1996.

Polly Klaas

On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was at home playing a board game with two friends when a stranger broke in and kidnapped her at knife point.

Over 4,000 people searched for Polly for the next two months. On November 28, 1993, a property owner was inspecting her land and ran across what appeared to be girls’ clothing. The leggings were identified as Polly’s and officers began reviewing calls for that area on the day of the kidnapping.

They saw where officers made contact with a Richard Allen Davis on that day when he was called in as suspicious and trespassing on the land. The officers that got out with him that day didn’t know any of the details related to the kidnapping 20 miles away as they were on a different radio channel than the officers investigating Polly’s kidnapping.

A palm print at the scene matched Davis and he was arrested. Davis finally admitted to the kidnapping and led investigators to where he buried Polly’s body in a shallow grave, about 30 miles from the search site.

Davis was convicted on June 18, 1996, of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

After Polly’s death, her father, Marc Klaas, became an advocate and started the KlaasKids Foundation, which aids parents of kidnapped children. The California Highway Patrol was upgraded so that an all points bulletin such as the one that went out after Polly’s abduction are now broadcast on all police channels through a centralized 9–1–1 system.

Davis had previous convictions for burglary, assault, and kidnapping. He had been sentenced to 16 years in prison, but only served a fraction of that time. There was no excuse for him to have been a free man at the time and have the opportunity to kidnap and murder a 12-year-old girl.

This is where the lobbying for the “three strikes” law began, which would give criminals with three felony convictions life in prison. California’s Three Strikes Act was signed into law on March 8, 1994.

We can always armchair quarterback and say that lawmakers need to be proactive in creating legislation to protect people.

However, it’s almost impossible because every time we believe we have all the bases covered, a bad guy even more evil than the last does something unthinkable.

So, while those in charge of creating laws are almost always reactive, as long as they react within a timely manner, it’s really the best we can hope for.

***Previously published on Medium.com by the author***