Erin Downing's brother, Ryan, dutifully stepped in to read her testimony. Erin was able to read the first sentence of her testimony before realizing she would need him to read it on her behalf.
Erin Downing's Testimony
My name is Erin Downing. I am the daughter of Janet Downing. In 1995, my mother was stabbed nearly 100 times by then 15-year-old Edward O’Brien. In the years that followed my mother’s death, my family endured two transfer hearings, a trial and several appeals; each one of these being emotionally, mentally, and physically grueling.
I still remember the first time I sat in a courtroom with O’Brien. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, hoping he’d feel my gaze and acknowledge my family sitting there trying so hard to contain their grief. But, he never looked at us - not even once. And in the 19 years since my mother’s murder, O’Brien has never once shown an ounce of remorse or taken responsibility for her death. Yet this is the person the SJC has now made eligible for parole.
When O’Brien’s sentence was handed down in October of 1997, we believed that life without parole meant just that – life without parole. Never in a million years did we imagine that we’d be facing a life of parole hearings. After everything we have already been through, we’ll now be forced to sit in a room with my mother’s killer, hear the gruesome details of her murder, and pour out our hearts to a room full of people just to keep him behind bars. Imagine having to relive your most traumatic life event over and over and over and over again. It’s nothing short of an absolute nightmare.
Every time I hear the argument regarding a juvenile’s brain development, I want to scream at the top of my lungs out of frustration. These juveniles, who are now men, planned and carried out brutal and morally depraved acts of murder – not spur of the moment crimes or accidents, but pre-meditated murders. My two brothers, who according to state law, were both juveniles when they had to sit in a courtroom day after day no more than 30 feet away from O’Brien. Did they have thoughts of harming him? I’m sure they did. Did they act on those thoughts? No because even as juveniles they knew and understood the difference between right and wrong. But according to this science, they shouldn’t have because their brains weren’t fully developed.
Just this past Sunday was Mother’s Day. I dread this day almost as much as the day my mother was killed. It always serves as a harsh reminder that I don’t have a mother to buy a gift for, or call, or spend the day with like others. There is no parole for me from my loss, and there is no parole for my mother.
God forbid another teen kills someone the way my mother, Beth Brodie, Lewis Jennings, Kenny Claudio, Amy Carnevale, Bonnie Sue Mitchell, or Colleen Ritzer was killed. Should this killer be eligible for parole after serving only 15 years? Should the victim's family be subjected to a life of parole hearings after only 15 years? Even after all these years, my sorrow, anger and loss remain at the surface. When you lose someone at the violent hands of another, you never heal from that. It’s a wound that remains open forever, causing you pain for rest of your life. I strongly believe that 15 years is not an adequate amount of time served before being eligible for parole because as I stated before, we’re talking about pre-mediated, heinous crimes. The victims and their families should take priority over killers.
I still remember the first time I sat in a courtroom with O’Brien. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, hoping he’d feel my gaze and acknowledge my family sitting there trying so hard to contain their grief. But, he never looked at us - not even once. And in the 19 years since my mother’s murder, O’Brien has never once shown an ounce of remorse or taken responsibility for her death. Yet this is the person the SJC has now made eligible for parole.
When O’Brien’s sentence was handed down in October of 1997, we believed that life without parole meant just that – life without parole. Never in a million years did we imagine that we’d be facing a life of parole hearings. After everything we have already been through, we’ll now be forced to sit in a room with my mother’s killer, hear the gruesome details of her murder, and pour out our hearts to a room full of people just to keep him behind bars. Imagine having to relive your most traumatic life event over and over and over and over again. It’s nothing short of an absolute nightmare.
Every time I hear the argument regarding a juvenile’s brain development, I want to scream at the top of my lungs out of frustration. These juveniles, who are now men, planned and carried out brutal and morally depraved acts of murder – not spur of the moment crimes or accidents, but pre-meditated murders. My two brothers, who according to state law, were both juveniles when they had to sit in a courtroom day after day no more than 30 feet away from O’Brien. Did they have thoughts of harming him? I’m sure they did. Did they act on those thoughts? No because even as juveniles they knew and understood the difference between right and wrong. But according to this science, they shouldn’t have because their brains weren’t fully developed.
Just this past Sunday was Mother’s Day. I dread this day almost as much as the day my mother was killed. It always serves as a harsh reminder that I don’t have a mother to buy a gift for, or call, or spend the day with like others. There is no parole for me from my loss, and there is no parole for my mother.
God forbid another teen kills someone the way my mother, Beth Brodie, Lewis Jennings, Kenny Claudio, Amy Carnevale, Bonnie Sue Mitchell, or Colleen Ritzer was killed. Should this killer be eligible for parole after serving only 15 years? Should the victim's family be subjected to a life of parole hearings after only 15 years? Even after all these years, my sorrow, anger and loss remain at the surface. When you lose someone at the violent hands of another, you never heal from that. It’s a wound that remains open forever, causing you pain for rest of your life. I strongly believe that 15 years is not an adequate amount of time served before being eligible for parole because as I stated before, we’re talking about pre-mediated, heinous crimes. The victims and their families should take priority over killers.
