Who Will Protect Us?

March 1st, 2012

We must protect ourselves. This article perfectly demonstrates that the law will not.

From Excitenews.comRapist, Just Out Of Jail, Rapes Victim Again
Updated 6:56 AM ET November 5, 1999
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – A convicted rapist released from prison four months ago broke into the home of a 75-year old woman he assaulted in 1992, said “I’m going to kill you for putting me in jail” and raped her again, police said on Thursday.
Louis Brooks, 40, served just over six years of a 15-year sentence for the sexual assault seven years ago. But he was freed in July because of good behavior and other reasons, prison officials said.

Brooks, who has served three separate stints in Florida’s prison system over two decades, was being held at the Volusia County Jail without bond on charges of attempted murder, sexual battery and burglary.

He broke into the victim’s home late Sunday, woke her and threatened her with a butcher knife, saying “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you for putting me in jail,” a Daytona Beach Police report said.

After raping her on the dining room floor, the suspect demanded money, again threatened to kill her, and left the home with her wallet and car keys, police said.

The woman, injured in the attack, remained on the floor for 20 minutes before she went to a neighbor’s for help. She told investigators the name of her attacker and identified him as the man who had raped her in 1992, police said.

Brooks was first jailed in 1979 on a charge of burglary of an occupied dwelling and was released in 1982. In 1985 he began a 15-year term for sexual battery and making a threat with a deadly weapon and was released in 1991 after serving six years.

In 1993 he was convicted in the 1992 sexual assault and on other charges and was given several sentences to run concurrently, totaling 15 years. He was released on July 13 after earning nearly nine years “gain time” for good behavior and other jail credits.

The 75-year-old woman was sent a letter notifying her that Brooks was being released, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Frances Marine said.

“No one can really say if any of this could have been prevented,” she said “We really feel bad that it happened. I don’t think there was any way we could have prevented it.”

Gain time rules were enacted by the Florida legislature in the 1980s to help relieve chronic prison overcrowding. Lawmakers passed new laws in 1995 to force prisoners to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

“Had he committed his crime after 1995, he would have had to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence,” Marine said.