ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995 TAG: 9512110056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
A LOT of people are sorrowed and angered by the abduction-murder this week of Virginia Tech student Alexander DeFilippis. Most of the anger is properly targeted at the alleged perpetrators, but some should be reserved for a criminal-justice system that did not reincarcerate accused triggerman Benjamin Lilly after parole violations this summer.
In 1992, Lilly went to prison for malicious assault, breaking and entering, and grand larceny. He was paroled this past July, and by August was in trouble again, charged with illegal possession of a firearm and with attempted breaking and entering. But instead of being sent back to prison, he was set free on bond. Why?
Perhaps no one could predict Lilly would be facing a capital-murder charge before the end of the year. But why wouldn't any violent offender, charged with new felonies the month after his release, have his parole revoked immediately? Why wasn't Lilly in jail while awaiting trial on the new charges? Such questions demand answers.
GALILEO successfully sent a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere Thursday and got back 75 minutes worth of weather data before the probe was crushed by the planet's air pressure.
Southwest Virginia's forecast of snow, sleet and freezing rain may seem to have greater urgency today, but that is the short view. The long view is held by NASA scientists in California 600 million miles away (from Jupiter, that is, not Roanoke), who will be able to figure out what the ringed planet's atmosphere is made of. That, a project scientist said, is the "most important weather report we'll ever get." Of course, icy roads aren't a big concern in Pasadena.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB