The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog
It is with considerable disappointment, disbelief and even anger that I write of what I will here today.
23 years ago, a piece of human filth by the name of Robert Kosilek murdered his wife, Cheryl, in act of savage brutality. When he was done slashing her to death, he dumped her body in a trash bin. Kosilek was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison, where he remains today at MCI/Norfolk. Except that during his tour as a lifetime guest of the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC,) he decided that he was “really” a woman , and began wearing women’s makeup and growing his hair long. That shouldn’t surprise anyone these days, should it? After all, life is about changes, isn’t it? After a while, he wasn’t satisfied with the Maybelline look, so what did he do? He got the bright idea of seeking a sex change operation (something that ten years ago was considered freakish, and in our “culture” now seems like nothing at all.) But, you see, Mr. Kosilek didn’t plan on paying for this himself. Of course not. So what did he do? The “natural” thing, of course: He sued the state of Massachusetts, seeking to force the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) to pay for it.
The DOC, of course, refused. So Mr. Kosilek – with lawyers paid for by you and me, the taxpayers, sued in federal court, seeking an order forcing the state of Massachusetts to pay for this “sex reassignment surgery.” Judge Mark L. Wolf (the L should be for “Liberal,”) of the U.S. District Court in Boston, ordered in a September 2012 decision that the state of Massachusetts was required to provide the surgery for this murderous, fried example of a human being. The esteemed Judge Wolf’s legal reasoning? It would be “cruel and Unusual punishment” to deprive poor Mr. Kosilek of this “urgently needed” operation. Thankfully, the state of Massachusetts appealed the judge’s decision to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals. Everyone in the legal community waited with baited breath.
The result? A 3 judge panel of the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that judge Wolf’s ruling was correct. Affirming the lower court ruling, the Court of Appeals ordered the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to make immediate arrangements for this surgery. Their legal reasoning? The same as it was below: To deny Kosilek this surgery would constitute “cruel and unusual punishment,” in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
To say that, as a Dedham/Boston Massachusetts criminal defense attorney, I am outraged by this, would be an understatement. Let me give you a very brief course on where and why the Eighth Amendment banning “cruel and unusual punishment” came about. The Founding Fathers of this country escaped another country (England) where savage brutality was regularly inflicted by the government on criminal defendants and convicts. In pre-colonial England, torture as a form of punishment was commonplace. Some examples? The Rack, where victims were slowly torn apart until they either confessed or died. Public floggings, where people were literally whipped to death. Draw and quartering, where victims’ limbs were tied to four horses, and their limbs literally pulled out. People were burned to death at the stake. Their intestines were pulled out of them while they were still alive (ever see the end of Braveheart?) They were literally boiled to death, in scalding oil. Heard enough?
All those frightening forms of punishment and torture defined the lives of the Founding Fathers who escaped to this country to form a more just government. Coming from where they did, they knew that the new government that they were forming here, must not be allowed to inflict such “cruel and unusual punishments” on its citizens. That’s why they amended our original Constitution, to make sure that our government could never inflict such punishment on criminal defendants, criminal convicts, or anyone else. THAT is why this Amendment was passed. THAT is what it was designed to prevent. And yet, shockingly,THAT is the same constitutional basis upon which both the U.S. District Court in Boston, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, based their reasoning on in this case.
As an attorney, this is truly almost impossible for me to comprehend. But it has actually come to this, in this country: Denying a savage murderer’s request for a sex change operation, is now legally considered to constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” To say that both of these rulings is an abomination, is too meek; to say that these rulings are a perversion of our Constitution, is too understated. To say that it is a sad day for this country, is too inadequate. As a Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer, I want to apologize to people for these federal court rulings. What has caused this? What has become of this country, that such a twisted decision could come from two separate federal courts? The answer is one word: Liberalism. Liberals, and liberal judges, are rapidly transforming this country from one where common sense and reasonable thinking once prevailed, to a distorted place, where even convicted murderers can get a sex change operation – estimated to cost upwards of $50,000.00 – paid for completely by you and me, the taxpayers.
Oh, one other thing that should be included here: Kosilek’s lawyers – the ones who have been “Fighting” to defend his “constitutional rights. How much do you think that cost, in total? Almost $700,000.00, over the years spanning this case. And, together with the medical expenses involved here, who will pay for that approximately $750,000.00? You and me – the taxpayers.
So the next time you hear that a judge has been nominated to this or that court, whether a local court or the U.S. Supreme Court – I suggest you find out if that judge is known to be a “liberal thinker” or not. Because this kind of decision is what can result.