Beginning of Essay
Jonathan was just 13. The pictures of him show a freckle-faced, eager scamp, maybe getting new sneakers for Christmas, rushing to grow up, hungry for life, hungry to get on with things. I imagine he was the kind of kid who’d pull a prank and then run for it, o ....

Middle of Essay
.... murder of 13 year old Jonathan A. Hall. Murray, who lived in the same neighborhood as Jonathan, had been in and out of prison, mostly in, since 1970. His prior convictions include murder, malicious wounding, and kidnapping. He once slashed a cab driver’s throat and left him for dead. Yet he was out on mandatory parole. Twenty-five years’ worth of victims, but Virginia set him free. Murray now faces life without parole. Jonathan was denied his life because a killer was turned loose rather than executed. If Murray had faced justice after his first slaughter, Jonathan would still be a boy with another day inside him, another jest, and another chan ....