A man whose mother was murdered and dumped into the woods more than two decades ago is speaking out against the death penalty even though her killer faces capital punishment for his heinous deed.
Brett Malone 's mother, Mary Ann, was abducted from her home in Dealing, Louisiana by her gardener Jeremiah Manning a week before Christmas and subsequently dumped into the woods where her dead body was found. Manning was seeking money to settle some gambling debts and a ride to a nearby town, but the kidnapping took a horrid turn as Manning decided to slit her throat .
Brett admits he was livid with Manning in the wake of his mother's death—even going as far as daydreaming about torturing the killer and hearing his screams echo around him. Manning was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death, but Brett said that didn't satisfy his vengeful feelings toward his mother's former employee.
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"At one point I wanted to torture Jeremiah," he told the New York Times . "There were things I wanted to do that were excruciatingly painful. I wanted to hear his voice screaming like my voice screamed that night."
Despite the grief that Manning put Brett and his family through, he now wants to "save his life." The still-grieving man was able to let go of his anger thanks to advice from his grandmother who assured him that forgiving Manning was the only way to make peace with what had happened. "For there to be healing, there has to be mercy," he said. "Killing Jeremiah will not bring us any closure."
Brett later viewed online photos of his mother's killer posing with friends and family who'd visit him in prison. Seeing Manning with his own mother made him realize that there were people who loved and cared about him despite the terrible crime he had committed. It pushed him further into his healing journey, during which he tried to come to terms with his mother's death.
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Walking along the wooded path where Mary Ann was slain, Brett says Manning must stay alive because his loved ones need him in their lives. "[Death] by the state will result in more harm and more pain and more suffering and not just for my family but for his family, which is something that people forget about."
Mary Ann's family, including Brett, is ready to move past the incident and start anew, however the state is not. The family wants Manning's death sentence to be commuted to life in prison without parole, but their request has gone unheeded.
"Essentially what the state is doing is they're taking away any opportunity for repairing the damage that's been done. We're good about convicting and punishing people, but we're not so good about repairing the damage that was done."
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