"Twisted Desire" has a Twisted Outcome

I recently had the opportunity to watch the movie entitled "Twisted Desire." Applicable to the blog topic, the movie outlines an actual event that took place in 1990. Kathy and J.B. Wiseman, parents to Jessica Wiseman were gunned down while they were sleeping at the hand of Jessica's seventeen-year old boyfriend. Interestingly enough, the plot to kill the parents of Jessica Wiseman was constructed by non other than Jessica herself; therefore identifying the key issue at hand. At the age of fourteen, Jessica convinced her boyfriend to basically execute her parents. Considering the age difference between these two it’s obvious that the parents of Jessica Wiseman did not agree with the relationship. Unfortunately for Mr. and Mrs. Wiseman, had they known their outlook on parental control would have led to their death, they probably would have taken an alternative route to deal with the relationship, most notably their daughter. In the end, Jessica Wiseman was released from prison at the age of twenty-one. Her boyfriend, Douglas Christopher Thomas, was executed for this crime in 2000. Therefore, considering the death of Jessica's parents would never have occurred had Jessica not constructed the plan; did the system succeed or fail with the execution of Douglas Christopher Thomas and the seven year sentence for Jessica Wiseman?
To begin, the most troubling aspect regarding this crime is that Jessica is now a free woman and has been since 1997. Even more upsetting is that she was out of prison just two years before her ex-boyfriend was executed. Because of Virginia law at that time Jessica had to be charged as a juvenile, as well as the fact that she was fourteen automatically eliminates her from the death penalty. However, since her sentence Virginia law according to deathpenaltyinfo.org has changed in that minors at the age of fourteen may be tried as adults. At trial the courts platform regarding Jessica's sentence concluded that "inexperience, less education, and less intelligence, makes the teenager less able to evaluate the consequences of her conduct." Frustratingly enough, this comment was as good as garbage considering the changes to Virginia law. It is obvious that Jessica knew what she was doing was wrong, why else would she have her boyfriend commit the actual act? Furthermore, because Mrs. Wiseman was not killed initially while in bed, she walked down the hall to check on her daughter, unaware of Jessica's involvement, as she stood in the doorway Jessica noticed her and said to Douglas Christopher Thomas "Oh, God, Chris, shoot her again." Clearly, the horror that too place in that house on that terrible evening was constructed by the person who in the end received no more than a slap on the wrist compared to Mr. Thomas.
Considering the maximum sentence allowed at that time was carried out against Jessica, the implementation of the death penalty would have been justified if she were just two years older. This is the problem with the system. Age should not be the only determining factor when it comes to the death penalty or even sentencing for that matter. When evaluating the entire procedure Jessica had constructed we find many disturbing factors. Jessica's plan involved her acting like she discovered the bodies then ran to the neighbors to call the police. The murder scene was even staged to make the incident look like a burglary. If this much thought can be put into murdering your parents and your fourteen years old, your mind is anything but juvenile.