Real Life Crime and Murder #18

[ordinaryjelly]

If you're up for talking about it or even giving us a clue on how we can find out who he is, i won't judge anyway. I mean 20 is such a young age, and America doesn't believe in rehabilitation it seems. I don't think the state killing them is justice either, I think people who commit the worst crimes (in any country) should be sentenced to life.

I am happy to talk about him. His name is James Goff. His crime was committed in 1994 so before the internet, which means articles are hard to find. He is in Chillicothe. But they are due to relocate across the road (literally) in spring at an insane cost to the American tax payer.

We have never spoken about his crime, only when he went to appeal in 2018. Whether he is guilty or not makes no difference to me. But he has sat on death row for longer than my marriage. Since I was a teenager. I just can't imagine.

Death sentence upheld for man who killed Bible school teacher in 1994

The Ohio\u00a0Supreme Court has upheld\u00a0the death penalty\u00a0of a man who was found guilty of killing an 88-year-old Bible school teacher in 1994.

eu.cincinnati.com

He is still a human being, who may or may not have committed this crime. He has seen me through 3 pregnancies, knitted each of my children baby blankets. Seen me through 4 international house moves. I add stamps to his jpay (the way we commumicate) I bought him the jpay tablet to make that easier. We video call once a week or so. My husband requested that I keep a boundary of not sharing photos of our children so he has never seen them, but I send him photos of places and things like that. I also write to him and send postcards etc.. I send him food packages once a month or so from the prison order book. He asks for things like ketchup, salad dressing, condiments we just have on tap

Death row is awful. The food they get is disgusting. Not fit for dogs. He has watched some good friends get that death warrant and not come back. That said Chilicothe is one of the 'better' ones. They get outside time, they aren't locked in their cells all day and can do little jobs to earn prison pay. The staff are generally ok.

To me it is just like having a friend who lives far away that you keep in touch with.

I will never believe that state sponsored murder is OK. It certainly isn't a deterrent to crime.

Sorry I went on a bit. I just wish people saw the other side to death row. Instead of all the documentaries that paint all the inmates so poorly and death row as such a dangerous place.

The average time between sentencing and an execution taking place is 19 years, he has over sat that by a long time. Ohio can't buy drugs for legal injection. So no-one is getting executed at the moment. The last execution was in 2018.
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Well I'm not going to judge you @ordinaryjelly and I commend you for seeing the humanity behind the crime.

One thing I would be interested in is has he ever expressed remorse for what he did?

I'm sure he's a nice guy and you can see a side to him beyond his crime but I don't think I could do it.

His crime is that he murdered an 88 year old lady during a home robbery when he was 19. It was in 1994 so not much on the internet. I did link to his most recent appeal up above.

We have never talked about his crime. At the beginning I said I would never ask but was happy to talk about it if he wanted to. He never has.
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So you weren’t friends prior to his crime then?
What makes someone decide to write to someone on Death Row? Genuine question because I honestly don‘t understand why anyone would choose to write to a complete stranger who had been found guilty of a crime like that.

Because he is still a human. He didn't stop being human when he became a criminal.

I started writing to him because I am of faith and it came up in our Church on the back of a church newsletter way back when. I decided to open my heart and mind to the idea.

To whoever asked if i talk about my friends and family to him. No, not in a detailed way. My children are older now and he remembers their birthdays every single year.

 

[evie1975]

I was fascinated with the Kray twins when I was in my teens - wrote a letter to Reggie and got a reply. That was the end of it - curiosity fulfilled.

 

[ordinaryjelly]

Sorry I have no idea what happened to my original post and it getting posted when I was part way posting it, so it cameagain with a lot more added to it.

 

[Eureka]

I have major issues with the prison system. I believe people should be imprisoned for serious crimes but that we shouldn't dehumanise them in the process. I've done a bit of work with female prisoners before and none of the women I met are inherently bad people, they are just people who were born into crappy circumstances to people who didn't care and a society that chose to ignore them.

The thing I hate about the US system is how someone like this guy kills one person and gets a death sentence and someone else in another state commits multiple murders and gets life. It's unfair and by virtue of being on death row I think the public see them as being somehow more evil which often isn't the case. It's well known that death row is populated by minorities, the poor and those with mental illness.

I just wish that this guy had been able to get help when he was in the midst of his addiction and that whatever led him to take drugs had been identified and dealt with. I'm going to guess he has some kind of trauma in his childhood or early adolescence. Of course, none of that is to excuse his actions but if the US had a better social care system that helped and supported people in crisis rather than leaving them adrift there would likely be a lot less crime. It's worth remembering that 20% of the people in prison globally are in the US.

However, he had a choice, his victim didn't and she and her family are paying an equally heavy price for his behaviour. Their sentence is just as burdensome as his and I'd like to think for everyone writing to a criminal there are multiple more reaching out to the victims of crime.

 

[LouBug19]

He definitely deserves to be behind bars for what he did to that poor woman and her family. However, like someone stated above not all states have death row so I do think everyone should be sentenced to life without parole. I don't believe the death penalty works, most people actually commit suicide or die before being executed and its a lot of money to keep them there.

Lethal injection isn't working, they can't find the drugs and it was found they were using other drugs to use which ended up horrible for the person being executed. Is ohio now going to use nitrogen gas too? There's not been an execution in 10 years. I've thought about writing to death row prisoners before to understand it more but I was concerned they might deny their crime and I wouldn't want to discuss that. There has been a few cases recently where people on death row are innocent and get to walk free. Not saying this guy is innocent but a lot of it can be circumstantial.

 

[Scarlett O' Hara]

All I can think of is Catherine Tate's "Elaine Figgis" & Jeremiah Wainwright III -

Apologies to anyone who is a penpal/friend of a prisoner , perhaps you have a kinder heart than me but not in a million lifetimes would I willingly engage with an incarcerated felon.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

All I can think of is Catherine Tate's "Elaine Figgis" & Jeremiah Wainwright III -

Apologies to anyone who is a penpal/friend of a prisoner , perhaps you have a kinder heart than me but not in a million lifetimes would I willingly engage with an incarcerated felon.

Oh yes remember that well.

There was also a couple of programs on few years ago,woman in uk going to visit death row prisoners they was in a relation shop with them,The women came across sad women.Marriage as well

 

[Liverbird2003]

I have no sympathy that the food in prison is awful. Don't murder people and then you get to stay out of prison and eat decent food.

 

[SamPam]

My friend received a letter and a drawing from Dennis Rader (BTK murderer). She’s bizarrely proud of it.

 

[Davena94]

My friend received a letter and a drawing from Dennis Rader (BTK murderer). She’s bizarrely proud of it.

I think you can appreciate something like this without condoning the crimes. I’ve bought some of Charles bronsons drawings from prison that he sent to his son

 

[LouBug19]

I think you can appreciate something like this without condoning the crimes. I’ve bought some of Charles bronsons drawings from prison that he sent to his son

That's so true, Charles bronson has done a lot for charity. His art is meant to be really good too. He's one person I would write too. He's such a complicated person but I think he deserves a chance.

 

[SamPam]

Charles Bronson is a different kettle of fish compared to child killing Rader to be fair.

 

[Eltonjohnsflorist]

I don’t agree with the death penalty under any circumstances. It’s medieval and if you look at the list of counties who have the death penalty the USA is an outlier in that it’s not impoverished, run by dictators and not completely lacking in humans rights for all people not just prisoners.

I don’t really see the point in pulling up the poster who writes to a prisoner with little “gotchas” about how awful he is- like she cares what a bunch of strangers on the internet think of her friendships and she doesn’t need to justify it to you.

that said I don’t believe people who write to prisoners are doing it for kind and supportive reasons. I think it allows them to get the excitement of being close to danger and dysfunction in a safe way - similar to a white saviour getting off on swooping in to save the starving black orphans.
I don’t believe they do this consciously and fully expect that anyone who has had this kind of friendship will tell me very firmly that I’m wrong.
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I have no sympathy that the food in prison is awful. Don't murder people and then you get to stay out of prison and eat decent food.

That’s such a minor and pointless thing to pick out of a fantastic post- you’re completely diminishing everything the poster said by boiling it down to one minor thing you don’t care about. The poster was clearly reflecting a sentiment of poor treatment, rather than the food point to be taken in isolation.

 

[Officedoor123]

All I can think of is Catherine Tate's "Elaine Figgis" & Jeremiah Wainwright III -

Apologies to anyone who is a penpal/friend of a prisoner , perhaps you have a kinder heart than me but not in a million lifetimes would I willingly engage with an incarcerated felon.

Plenty of lonely law abiding people who could do with a pen pal/ friend.

 

[Liverbird2003]

I don’t agree with the death penalty under any circumstances. It’s medieval and if you look at the list of counties who have the death penalty the USA is an outlier in that it’s not impoverished, run by dictators and not completely lacking in humans rights for all people not just prisoners.

I don’t really see the point in pulling up the poster who writes to a prisoner with little “gotchas” about how awful he is- like she cares what a bunch of strangers on the internet think of her friendships and she doesn’t need to justify it to you.

that said I don’t believe people who write to prisoners are doing it for kind and supportive reasons. I think it allows them to get the excitement of being close to danger and dysfunction in a safe way - similar to a white saviour getting off on swooping in to save the starving black orphans.
I don’t believe they do this consciously and fully expect that anyone who has had this kind of friendship will tell me very firmly that I’m wrong.
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That’s such a minor and pointless thing to pick out of a fantastic post- you’re completely diminishing everything the poster said by boiling it down to one minor thing you don’t care about. The poster was clearly reflecting a sentiment of poor treatment, rather than the food point to be taken in isolation.

Sorry I didn't realise in order to reply I had to make a point on every single thing that was mentioned.

 

[Eltonjohnsflorist]

Sorry I didn't realise in order to reply I had to make a point on every single thing that was mentioned.

It was more about understanding what the post was saying in the first place but you do you

 

[Justherefortittle]

Plenty of lonely law abiding people who could do with a pen pal/ friend.

Totally agree especially the elderly left languishing in care homes with little or no contact with family or friends.
Would love a scheme like that!

Perhaps even people who had similar professions to you in their workdays to help keep their brain ticking over, mentally alert and feeling listened to.
Think it’s a project care of the elderly teams could really easily set up and get involved in.

 

[Scarlett O' Hara]

Plenty of lonely law abiding people who could do with a pen pal/ friend.

I'm sure they could, never stated otherwise. Was purely stating my own stance on incarcerated felons.

 

[Eltonjohnsflorist]

Well if people wanted to write to lonely old people they obviously could. But you’re not going to be a Penpal with someone you’re not interested in.

 

[VicksterIcon]

Absolutely devastating for the 2 families. Sounds from the arrests this could be a father and son??

Bristol stabbings: Boys, 15 and 16, killed in stabbing attack named

A 44-year-old man and a boy, 15, have been arrested after an attack in Bristol, say police.

www.bbc.co.uk