Stolen Boy’s Weblog

Even the kids at the Wall Street Journal got into the act regarding the recent California Supreme Court ruling in the Jesse James Hollywood death penalty case. But just like the rest of the media, they just didn’t seem to get it. Or they don’t understand what’s really going on here. Or maybe even worse—they don’t care. They don’t give a fat rat’s ass that a young man is probably going to die as a result of all this craziness. Nobody seems to really care about that.

And if you consider the fact that Ryan Hoyt, who already rests uncomfortably on the bed of nails that is California’s death row – for being convicted as being the trigger-man for the murder of fifteen-year-old Nicholas Markowitz – two men’s lives are at stake. Of course we didn’t mention that in Alpha Dog either. And you won’t read about it in Stolen Boy.

In making their decision, all the California Supreme Court really did was tell the prosecutor that he was a bad boy, but it’s okay, he can come out and play again. And if he wants, he can go ahead and try to kill Jesse James Hollywood. Just like he wanted to do before all this mess started. I know because he told me as much.

And with the United States Supreme Court’s recent ruling opening the door to Capital Punishment all across our fine nation, the time is nearly ripe to pluck guys like Hollywood and Hoyt from the system and cook them. But why is that? Should these two men’s lives really be stricken from the record of life for what they’ve been accused of doing.

No, it wasn’t pretty what they’ve been accused of. It was pretty dirty work, in fact. And an innocent kid died as a result of what happened. But I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want anyone else to die on his behalf. He knew Jesse James Hollywood. He liked him. Jesse was at one time good buddies with his brother. He’d never met Hoyt at all until that fateful and frightening night, but Ryan Hoyt was nothing but a schlep. And schleps really shouldn’t have be put to death. Especially if they’ve been beaten when not neglected their whole lives.

But let’s for the moment assume that the public sentiment is still leaning heavily toward killing these two men. One condemned. The other well on his way. For the moment, let’s answer the question in the affirmative. Let’s say “Yes. These two men should die for what they allegedly did.” Let’s also take it a step further and say that all of those convicted for this crime should be given the gas; that all four of Hollywood’s co-defendants should fry right along with him for what they did to this poor boy and his surviving family members. Then what?

We kill them, and they’re gone. And what? Their families grieve at the loss of their children at such a young age. Of course the kids were lost a long time ago, but that’s not the point. Because these kids were convicted a long time ago in the public consciousness and they are now dead men walking. And who’s better off?

Do the victim’s family members and friends really feel better if the convicted die? And if they do feel better that boys have died on behalf of their fallen family member, what does that say about them? What does it mean for someone to really want to see someone else die? And horribly and painfully so, as some people have stated? What does that say about any of us? Does a winner rise from the ashes of this kind of ten-eyes-for-two scenario? What about the four eyes for two reality that we’re presently looking at?

People are angry. They’re angry at life in general. They’re angry about their own lives in particular. And they’re angry about what these young men have been accused of doing. But in this regard, they’re angry for the wrong reasons. They’re angry because the mass media told them to be angry. They’re angry because law enforcement personnel told the media how angry they were at what happened. And the mass media again told us that we should be angry.

That something terrible had happened and justice now needed serving and these young boys need to die for what they’ve done. Jesse’s father Jack Hollywood knew how angry law enforcement personnel were. He told me that one of the lead Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s sergeants who helped serve the search warrant on his home told him that he’d love to be the one to find his son (Jesse) because he wanted to be the one to shoot and kill him. Jack was flabbergasted. The sergeant was angry. And now so are we. And what are we going to do about it?