WTF, this can't be real. I hope this gets thrown out and not allowed to even a sniff to the courts.
Paula Henry lost her husband Robert to murder in 1995 and she helped fund a long-running investigation that eventually brought Larry Shandola to justice in Washington State.
Shandola is serving a term of more than 31 years, but Henry’s ordeal is far from over.
When Shandola applied to serve the last 20 years of his sentence here in Canada (he has lived here at some point in the past), Henry wrote a letter to the Washington corrections service that helped the state decide that Shandola should not be allowed his desired move north.
In an exasperating turn of events, , and the same amount from three other people who also objected to the transfer to Canada. The inmate contends that Henry and the others made false accusations about him.
The fact that Shandola was able to have someone serve Henry with the legal paperwork is also worrying for the widow. It means her location is known to Shandola and she’s worried he may have someone hurt her.
Henry’s lawyer, John Ladenburg, is trying to get the suit dismissed.
“People incarcerated often file frivolous lawsuits, but they’re normally attempts to get out,” Ladenburg told a reporter. “I’ve never seen this.”
Shandola’s lawsuit has prompted a call for Washington State legislators to pass a new law that limits what charges a violent felon can file from jail. It’s been suggested the inmate’s own trial judge should have a final say over what sort of legal challenges a convicted person can make from behind bars.
Limiting any individual’s right to use the legal system is a tricky notion, especially when the U.S. Constitution will have the final say. It could take years of legal arguments before a law can be drafted that limits the frivolous while protecting some important options for convicted prisoners.
It’s quite likely that of all the legal efforts prison inmates make, some are based on facts. Shutting off all opportunities for inmates to use the legal system would effectively make them less of a citizen than others. If a society must be judged on how it treats its weakest members, stacking people up behind bars and then denying them any chance of justice if they are mistreated says society on the outside is broken.
That message doesn’t come from a bleeding heart; it comes from a heart that sees any erosion of one person’s rights – even a felon – as a first step in limiting the rights of others. No court access for inmates today can all too easily become a limit on court access for the unemployed, the young, the old or the ones without blue eyes.
Sorting fact from fiction when an inmate cries foul is a difficult, yet critical job. And given the pain an inmate like Shandola can currently cause, limits are clearly needed.
Henry’s motive for writing the letter to Washington State’s corrections service is not clear, but she should not be denied her right to comment on how her husband’s murderer is treated. She should be spared a legal fight for doing what she felt was the right thing.
Paula Henry lost her husband Robert to murder in 1995 and she helped fund a long-running investigation that eventually brought Larry Shandola to justice in Washington State.
Shandola is serving a term of more than 31 years, but Henry’s ordeal is far from over.
When Shandola applied to serve the last 20 years of his sentence here in Canada (he has lived here at some point in the past), Henry wrote a letter to the Washington corrections service that helped the state decide that Shandola should not be allowed his desired move north.
In an exasperating turn of events, , and the same amount from three other people who also objected to the transfer to Canada. The inmate contends that Henry and the others made false accusations about him.
The fact that Shandola was able to have someone serve Henry with the legal paperwork is also worrying for the widow. It means her location is known to Shandola and she’s worried he may have someone hurt her.
Henry’s lawyer, John Ladenburg, is trying to get the suit dismissed.
“People incarcerated often file frivolous lawsuits, but they’re normally attempts to get out,” Ladenburg told a reporter. “I’ve never seen this.”
Shandola’s lawsuit has prompted a call for Washington State legislators to pass a new law that limits what charges a violent felon can file from jail. It’s been suggested the inmate’s own trial judge should have a final say over what sort of legal challenges a convicted person can make from behind bars.
Limiting any individual’s right to use the legal system is a tricky notion, especially when the U.S. Constitution will have the final say. It could take years of legal arguments before a law can be drafted that limits the frivolous while protecting some important options for convicted prisoners.
It’s quite likely that of all the legal efforts prison inmates make, some are based on facts. Shutting off all opportunities for inmates to use the legal system would effectively make them less of a citizen than others. If a society must be judged on how it treats its weakest members, stacking people up behind bars and then denying them any chance of justice if they are mistreated says society on the outside is broken.
That message doesn’t come from a bleeding heart; it comes from a heart that sees any erosion of one person’s rights – even a felon – as a first step in limiting the rights of others. No court access for inmates today can all too easily become a limit on court access for the unemployed, the young, the old or the ones without blue eyes.
Sorting fact from fiction when an inmate cries foul is a difficult, yet critical job. And given the pain an inmate like Shandola can currently cause, limits are clearly needed.
Henry’s motive for writing the letter to Washington State’s corrections service is not clear, but she should not be denied her right to comment on how her husband’s murderer is treated. She should be spared a legal fight for doing what she felt was the right thing.
