Post by CCADP on Aug 28, 2005 7:45:02 GMT -5
Families mixed on attending Rolling's execution
By BOB ARNDORFER
Sun staff writer
August 28. 2005 6:01AM
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t some point the appeals will end. The presumed outcome is that Danny Rolling's death sentence will be upheld, a death warrant will be signed and he will be executed.
When it happens, will his victims' families be there?
"I have thought about the day he is going to be executed, and whether I wanted to attend," said Tracy Paules' brother, Scott Paules of Great Mills, Md. "And I can't decide one way or another.
"It might be somewhat therapeutic, but it would not be closure," said Paules, 43, who retired last year after 26 years in the U.S. Navy and now works for a security firm in Maryland. "I reached my closure when I realized Tracy was not coming back."
He added, "If my parents need to be there, then I'll be there."
His sister, Laurie Lahey, is more definite.
"I'm coming," said Lahey, 40, a mother of four who lives near Dallas. "I've predicted from the start that it would be 13 years (until Rolling's sentence is carried out). I don't know why, but I just feel that at the 13-year mark it will end and we'll be done with him.
"It's not like you can move on," she said. "It's just another step. I'm still going to ache for her."
Dianna Hoyt, Christa Hoyt's stepmother, said her sense is that most of the parents would want to be at Florida State Prison when Rolling is executed. She doesn't know if they'd want to personally witness his death or just stand by outside the prison.
"It would be a very difficult thing to watch, because we're not of the same mind as he is," said Hoyt, 61, a pediatric registered nurse at Shands at the University of Florida. "It wouldn't be pleasurable to watch someone die.
"I hear people say, 'Why can't you forgive and forget?' " she said. "But I think he is such a malicious person and has devious and devilish things going on in his mind. He can still enjoy their deaths. As long as he is alive he has that memory, and to me that's just horrible."
Rolling's death, Hoyt said, "would not atone for Christa's death. But at least that part of it would be done."
Sonja Larson's mother, Ada Larson, said she probably wouldn't want to witness the execution. She might stand outside, she said, but even that isn't certain.
"I'm not sure why, but I'm not even sure I would go," said Larson, 67, a retired Broward County teacher who has homes in Chagrin Falls, Ohio - where she works part time for a music-educators association - and Deerfield Beach. "But I probably might go and be there outside, just to be with the other families if they go."
One person she won't see there is Mario Taboada, Manuel Taboada's brother.
"I will not attend," said Taboada, 44, an account executive at a Miami radio station. "It doesn't really resolve anything.
"In the news and in more recent cases, I've heard families resort to the word 'closure,' " he said. "There is no such thing. When a family member dies, they die forever and you carry the memories forever. Closure is a false expectation, a false advertisement of reality."
His mother, who rarely talks about her son's death, is a deeply religious person who may struggle with the death penalty, Taboada said.
"But I don't think she'd be opposed to (Rolling) being executed," he said. "In fact, in his case she may actually prefer execution. I, on the other hand, have always been an advocate of execution . . . But I don't have to be there."
Bob Arndorfer can be reached at (352) 374-5042 or arndorb@gvillesun.com.
By BOB ARNDORFER
Sun staff writer
August 28. 2005 6:01AM
Font Size: 101112131415161718192021222324
t some point the appeals will end. The presumed outcome is that Danny Rolling's death sentence will be upheld, a death warrant will be signed and he will be executed.
When it happens, will his victims' families be there?
"I have thought about the day he is going to be executed, and whether I wanted to attend," said Tracy Paules' brother, Scott Paules of Great Mills, Md. "And I can't decide one way or another.
"It might be somewhat therapeutic, but it would not be closure," said Paules, 43, who retired last year after 26 years in the U.S. Navy and now works for a security firm in Maryland. "I reached my closure when I realized Tracy was not coming back."
He added, "If my parents need to be there, then I'll be there."
His sister, Laurie Lahey, is more definite.
"I'm coming," said Lahey, 40, a mother of four who lives near Dallas. "I've predicted from the start that it would be 13 years (until Rolling's sentence is carried out). I don't know why, but I just feel that at the 13-year mark it will end and we'll be done with him.
"It's not like you can move on," she said. "It's just another step. I'm still going to ache for her."
Dianna Hoyt, Christa Hoyt's stepmother, said her sense is that most of the parents would want to be at Florida State Prison when Rolling is executed. She doesn't know if they'd want to personally witness his death or just stand by outside the prison.
"It would be a very difficult thing to watch, because we're not of the same mind as he is," said Hoyt, 61, a pediatric registered nurse at Shands at the University of Florida. "It wouldn't be pleasurable to watch someone die.
"I hear people say, 'Why can't you forgive and forget?' " she said. "But I think he is such a malicious person and has devious and devilish things going on in his mind. He can still enjoy their deaths. As long as he is alive he has that memory, and to me that's just horrible."
Rolling's death, Hoyt said, "would not atone for Christa's death. But at least that part of it would be done."
Sonja Larson's mother, Ada Larson, said she probably wouldn't want to witness the execution. She might stand outside, she said, but even that isn't certain.
"I'm not sure why, but I'm not even sure I would go," said Larson, 67, a retired Broward County teacher who has homes in Chagrin Falls, Ohio - where she works part time for a music-educators association - and Deerfield Beach. "But I probably might go and be there outside, just to be with the other families if they go."
One person she won't see there is Mario Taboada, Manuel Taboada's brother.
"I will not attend," said Taboada, 44, an account executive at a Miami radio station. "It doesn't really resolve anything.
"In the news and in more recent cases, I've heard families resort to the word 'closure,' " he said. "There is no such thing. When a family member dies, they die forever and you carry the memories forever. Closure is a false expectation, a false advertisement of reality."
His mother, who rarely talks about her son's death, is a deeply religious person who may struggle with the death penalty, Taboada said.
"But I don't think she'd be opposed to (Rolling) being executed," he said. "In fact, in his case she may actually prefer execution. I, on the other hand, have always been an advocate of execution . . . But I don't have to be there."
Bob Arndorfer can be reached at (352) 374-5042 or arndorb@gvillesun.com.