A murder victim’s mother speaks out

(The writer is the mother of Jeff Ballor and friend of Kristen Pangman, murder victims in a double homicide 2017 in Meridian Township.)

As the mother of a murder victim, I can assure you that losing a child to a brutal murder is life-changing, life-shattering and not only to me but to all the members of my family and the victim’s friends. It is a life event that is impossible to fully understand if you haven’t personally experienced it. First comes the worry that the murderer may not be caught. Then there is arranging for an untimely funeral, and all of the other personal affairs that must be dealt with under the worst of conditions. And then there are the horrors of the trial. There are no words to describe the terror of reliving the ghastly details of what my son suffered as he was stabbed in the back and neck multiple times only to be followed by multiple stabbings in his eye after death.

Left on the concrete basement floor in a bloodied room where my son fought for his life and the life of his murdered friend are just some of the nauseating, horrific details brought out through graphic pictures and investigator descriptions during the trial. The shock, the blood, the pain and horror he must have felt weighs heavy beyond belief in my heart. Not only were my son and his friend killed, but our family was broken, our personal and work lives suffered as the shock and grief cut deeply into our hearts and souls. And the heartache and the consequences continue to this day. The pain of this process is severe beyond description, far-reaching and never-ending and yet Carol Siemon endeavors to pursue a process to free murderers from prison.

Siemon has already enacted a policy to always offer defendants (even those accused of the most heinous crimes) a chance to plead guilty to a lesser charge like second-degree murder.  Now she is initiating a plan to review the cases of 90 convicted murderers for the possibility of rehabilitation leading to eventual release from prison under her “belief that everyone deserves a second chance.”  Where is the second chance for the victims? They are gone forever.

With all the issues Ms. Siemon promised to spend her time on like substance abuse, mental health, poverty, sexual assault, domestic violence and victim-centered approaches to violent crimes, how did she land on this idea?  And now she is apologizing for the way she announced it to the public through a newspaper interview as if sending her intentions in a pretty envelope with a fancy logo would make her plan somehow palatable to murder victims’ families. I don’t want an apology. I want a statement that she will drop her initiative.

I am enraged over this. Ms. Siemon’s actions only add to the pain and suffering of the innocent victims’ families by forcing them to relive the loss and horrific, very graphic details of the murder of their loved ones. I thought it was the job of a prosecutor to prosecute offenders, not to punish innocent families while defending the guilty.

In Michigan, first-degree murder is the only charge that carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.  We have the Truth in Sentencing law that assures us that the MDOC cannot parole an offender prior to the completion of the minimum sentence. How is it that Ms. Siemon has the desire, time and ability to skirt around that law? If she has an issue with the law, she should be trying to change the law on her own time and not using her office as a prosecutor to wiggle around it. Furthermore, how are prosecutors to justly prosecute a murder case when Ms. Siemon pulls the rug out from under them with her policies of pleading to a lower crime and reviewing already convicted cases? Why take the case at all? Why even bring murderers to trial if she intends to water their punishment down to suit her personal beliefs?

In her announcement, Ms. Siemon says, “… I personally believe there are some people who should be in prison forever, like the Jeffrey Dahmer type of people.” I fail to see how her personal beliefs even enter into this issue. Yet they seem to be driving her initiative. Does she intend to let the murderer of an individual done in some way she sees as more acceptable have preference over “The Jeffrey Dahmer” type? First-degree murder is first-degree murder. Dead is dead. The victims are not coming back. Why then should their murderers receive the luxury of living free? Even if they are rehabilitated, they belong in prison for life.

In deference to the victims’ families, Ms. Siemon tells us that once reviewed those murderers she chooses will go before a Parole Board where the family members will be given voices. We already gave voice as did a jury of peers when they decisively found a man guilty of 4 counts of first-degree murder as did the judge when she gave the mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in our case. Ms. Siemon says it is vengeance on the part of the victims’ families, trying to put our character on trial instead of upholding justice. I say justice should stand!