Arrrgggh! Arrrggh!

A passage at the end of this article had me spitting mad on Saturday. It’s an article about Roger Bentley’s sentencing hearing for his conviction for raping and murdering Jetseta Gage. The passage is describing the point in the hearing where the victim’s mother, Trena Gage, spoke.

The Gage family has become less trusting of others since Jetseta's murder, Trena Gage said.

"Don't trust anyone," she said. "Unless you know that person, their history or anything else, don't invite them in."

What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK? Jesus Fucking Christ, what more did you need to know other than the fact that Roger Bentley was the brother of the man who repeatedly raped your daughter over a three-year period? I mean, if that fact by itself wasn’t enough to make you stay away from anyone else in the Bentley family, it should at least have been enough to make you wary, to make you maybe talk to the police and check into Roger’s background a little. "Unless you know that person, their history or anything else, don't invite them in.” You knew all you needed to know, Trena. You knew all you needed to know.

You know, I do not believe in the death penalty. But let’s add “knowingly, willingly, and recklessly putting your children in contact with a sex offender” to the short list of crimes I could be convinced should be punishable by death (along with election fraud and Enron-level defrauding of the public).