Prosecutors have no one to blame but themselves when they asked for and received a prison sentence for a woman with terminal cancer who committed a non-violent crime.
People usually commit arson to collect insurance money. Mary Hoskins’ was arrested, and no money was awarded for the loss of her home. Furthermore, no firefighters were injured while putting out the fire.
A British court granted clemency for a Libyan terrorist with terminal cancer who bombed a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, claiming many lives.
Hoskins could have been granted house arrest for her few, final days on this earth. And while she were home, she could have received the care she needed in order to prolong her life, which county and state facilities often fail to provide.
Medical requests to care for persons in custody usually take days to answer. I wonder how many unanswered requests Hoskins had during her final days. We will never know, since many incarcerated people are considered an administrative burden and are more likely punished than helped.
How convenient for the prosecuting attorney to be unavailable for comment in the Nov. 22 article. No one condones criminal activity, but in the case of Hoskins, a little compassion would not have hurt the state. In my opinion, it only tarnished the image of the judicial system.
Leon Nason
Skowhegan
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.