Long Island killer of four sentenced

Here is what David Laffer did, as reported in today’s NY Times:

On the morning of June 19, Mr. Laffer entered Haven Drugs in Medford, N.Y. He exchanged a few words with the pharmacist, Raymond Ferguson, 45, and then pulled out a handgun and shot him. Mr. Laffer then fired on Jennifer Mejia, 17, who worked at the pharmacy, killing her. When two customers, Bryon Sheffield, 71, and Jaime Taccetta, 33, entered the store, Mr. Laffer shot them in the back of the head.

He fled with 11,000 hydrocodone pills, the main ingredient in Vicodin.

Yesterday Laffer was sentenced to four concurrent life terms, with the judge recommending that he be kept in solitary. His wife, Melinda Brady, who was his accomplice, was sentenced to 25 years.

David Laffer and Melinda Brady

The story tells us:

In a brief statement, Mr. Laffer, who initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but admitted to them in September, offered a kind of explanation and apology to the more than 30 relatives in court.

“To ask forgiveness of them would be a selfish act,” Mr. Laffer, 33, said. “I truly believe my crime is one that cannot and should not be forgiven.”

Of course he should be executed, the only just sentence for his murders. But because of the rule of liberalism, capital punishment has been effectively eliminated in New York State, effectively eliminating justice in New York State.

Also, from his name, I had assumed that Laffer was Jewish. An article at Fox News from last June confirms that he is.

Here is the article:

Mercy Not Sought or Given, Killer of Four Is Sentenced

RIVERHEAD, N.Y.—Amid the swirl of raw emotions in a Suffolk County courtroom on Thursday, one sentiment was clearly shared: David Laffer, who killed four people inside a Long Island pharmacy in June, deserved no leniency.

Relatives of those killed in what officials described as the most horrific crime in the area’s history offered heart-wrenching accounts of living without their loved ones, and characterized Mr. Laffer as a coward. A grandmother of one victim said he deserved to “burn in hell.”

Even Mr. Laffer refused to ask for forgiveness, describing the formality as a “selfish act” that he would not partake in.

Finally, Judge James C. Hudson weighed in, sentencing Mr. Laffer to four consecutive life sentences without parole and a fifth one served concurrently, adding that he would recommend that he serve his time in solitary confinement because his “murderous character” posed a risk to correction officers.

“In your saying you promise to plead guilty, you could not hope for mercy,” Judge Hudson said. “I will not disappoint you.”

“You merit all the scorn of this community,” he said.

On the morning of June 19, Mr. Laffer entered Haven Drugs in Medford, N.Y. He exchanged a few words with the pharmacist, Raymond Ferguson, 45, and then pulled out a handgun and shot him. Mr. Laffer then fired on Jennifer Mejia, 17, who worked at the pharmacy, killing her. When two customers, Bryon Sheffield, 71, and Jaime Taccetta, 33, entered the store, Mr. Laffer shot them in the back of the head.

He fled with 11,000 hydrocodone pills, the main ingredient in Vicodin.

In a brief statement, Mr. Laffer, who initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but admitted to them in September, offered a kind of explanation and apology to the more than 30 relatives in court.

“To ask forgiveness of them would be a selfish act,” Mr. Laffer, 33, said. “I truly believe my crime is one that cannot and should not be forgiven.”

He added: “I know it doesn’t begin to explain or excuse my horrific actions that day. However, if the discussion of prescription pill abuse and doctor shopping has been generated among the public, then maybe something beneficial can come of this.”

Mr. Laffer’s wife, Melinda Brady, 30, who admitted to helping her husband plan the robbery and cooperated with law enforcement officials, was given 25 years in prison for first-degree robbery, the maximum sentence allowed.

Though she offered a tearful apology, Judge Hudson said her remorse was “insincere” and “self-serving.”

“You are more sorry for yourself than for the victims,” he said.

The lengthy sentences were, in part, meant to offer some measure of catharsis for the relatives of those killed.

In the courtroom, Mr. Sheffield’s daughter, Laura Bustamante, offered a glimpse into the shock and trauma the event set off. The day before her father was killed, her mother had come home from a series of exhausting operations, including heart surgery. Since her parents, who were high school sweethearts, did everything from chopping wood to working together, it had been a difficult, stressful period for her father.

“He was lost without his wife,” she said.

When Mr. Sheffield went to the pharmacy that morning, his job was to fill his wife’s many prescriptions, Ms. Bustamante said. When her father did not come home, and it became clear that he had been killed, the family was thrust into a period of “insurmountable shock,” she said. Reporters, lawyers, detectives, medical examiners and others involved in the case became a constant presence.

“It had such a surreal feeling; we kept waiting for someone to tell us there had been a mistake,” she said, adding that her mother is “alone in her own home.”

As several relatives and others took turns speaking, family members seated in the courtroom passed tissue boxes and choked back tears.

John Ray, a lawyer representing the family of Ms. Taccetta, spoke to Mr. Laffer as though he were Ms. Taccetta’s two daughters; they are too young, Mr. Ray said, to look into the “eyes of the beast.”

“I’m 6 years old, where is my mommy?” he said, looking directly at Mr. Laffer and speaking on behalf of Kaitlyn. “Someone told me that you took her away. Will you bring her back?”

- end of initial entry -

Paul K. writes:

Perhaps Laffer’s mind has cleared from its drug-induced haze and he now sees the horror for which he is responsible. As he said, his crime is one that cannot and should not be forgiven. I see no alternative but to put someone like this to death, or to allow him to take his own life and save the state the time and expense that such a punishment now seems to require.

One of the things I find preposterous about our justice system is the efforts it makes to prevent convicted murderers from committing suicide, even taking heroic measures to resuscitate those who attempt it. I know there’s a religious argument against suicide, but Laffer is going to hell anyway.

If it were up to me, I would put a bottle of poison in every prison cell that inmates could avail themselves of if they chose.

Sam writes:

Laffer’s behavior tells us something important about the human psyche. Now that he seems to have emerged from his haze of intoxication, he is able to see himself for what he truly is. He says that he does not deserve “forgiveness,” and in a sense he is correct. He knows what he is, and he knows that he has merited punishment. This tells us that, despite his many vices and grave moral failings, he still cannot erase the concept of moral culpability from his mind. This phenomenon suffices to refute the liberal lie that our sense of shame is something “alien” to us and is imposed upon us by society. The truth is that we cannot escape from the reality of shame or the possibility of justified self censure. These things are hard-wired into us and we cannot get rid of them. We cannot fail, in moments of clarity, to see ourselves for what we really are. This is what the apostle Paul spoke about when he wrote that the very law of God is written upon our hearts and that we are all “without excuse.”

Nevertheless, I must disagree with Paul K when he says that Laffer will go to Hell. We cannot know that Laffer is destined to the torments of Hell, because we cannot fathom God’s capacity for mercy. It is still within Laffer’s ability to repent and accept the offer of forgiveness that was won for our race through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. There but for the grace of God go we all.

November 13

F. writes:

I am curious as to what Laffer’s being Jewish has any relevance. Hopefully, there is a reasonable explanation.

LA replies:

I constantly write about the race/ethnicity of black and Hispanic murderers. Here’s a mass murderer who is Jewish. That is very unusual, and worth noting. Also, not to mention his ethnicity, given my general focus on the ethnicity of murderers, would not be right.

LA adds:

However, I can see that my bare mention of his Jewishness, without any context or reason for mentioning it, could have been jarring.

Jim C. writes:

I assume the accomplice is Irish.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 11, 2011 01:55 PM | Send