From
The Union Leader Acevedo gets 3½ to 7 for killing boyfriend
By DALE VINCENT
Wednesday, May. 31, 2006
As she sat in a Hillsborough County Superior Court lobby yesterday waiting to learn her sentence for [b[negligent homicide[/b], Caryn Acevedo was approached by the man whose son she stabbed to death a year ago.
William Burns of Bedford knelt beside Acevedo, speaking to her and embracing the sobbing 23-year-old woman, who met 28-year-old "Billy" Burns in a rehabilitation hospital. Both had heroin and alcohol addictions.
Judge Carol Conboy imposed the 3½- to seven-year sentence requested by the prosecution, but said one year of the minimum sentence will be suspended if Acevedo successfully completes all programs offered by the prison for drug and alcohol abuse, anger management and mental health counseling.
So apparently there's a need for four seperate modes of counseling, and the total sentance could become 2-1/2 years, for "negligent" homicide.
OK, got it!
Burns said he would have been hurt by a suspended or deferred sentence. But, he said: "Her going to prison does nothing for me."
Acevedo did not take the stand in her trial, but yesterday she faced the Burns family in court and said: "I don't blame you for hating me. . . I will never forgive myself . . . He didn't deserve what I did to him."
Accompanying the piece was the obligatory photo of this woman in tears,with the caption-
guilty Acevedo at sentencing, Caryn Acevedo makes a tearful apology to the family of William Burns during her sentencing.
You bet!
The couple had lived together for about eight months when Acevedo stabbed Burns in the back with a steak knife after he beat her in their apartment on May 15, 2005.
Why doesn't the piece mention HERE that she had been discovered sleeping around, and maybe they weren't such a cozy couple.
The victim had a blood-alcohol level of .167, more than twice the legal limit, while Acevedo's blood-alcohol content was .066. The legal limit is .080.
I'd just like to add, the "legal limit" applies to operating motor vehicals on a public way. Otherwise, this just shows that the killer was not very impaired by alcohol, and was certainly in possesion of her
normal faculties, whatever those may be.
A jury in March rejected Acevedo's plea of self-defense, although prosecutors did not dispute that Burns assaulted Acevedo that night and photos of her injuries were shown at trial.
And then we see an opinion on the DV machine operations. Damn, it must suck when this stuff turns around and bites one in the ass.
In a victim impact statement yesterday, Burns' mother, Leslie, directed her anger not only at Acevedo, saying: "Caryn was the violent one," but also at the police, prosecution, media, domestic violence support groups, Acevedo's family and the state for what they did or didn't do to prevent her son's death and his negative image.
"He's not the villain," she said.
It gets wider of course.
Burns' father said the story of the couple's relationship became crueler with each telling and his son isn't able to defend himself. He acknowledged that although he and his wife did their best, Billy came home from college a heroin addict and was also an alcoholic by the time of his death.
And then the song starts
Defense Attorney Barbara Keshen sought to establish yesterday that Acevedo's fear level had risen as the couple's rocky relationship changed that week, after Burns discovered Acevedo had cheated on him.
Oh!
But where's the professional witness that can make far more cash from "expert" testimony than from a University salary?
Dr. Sharon Murphy, a University of New Hampshire assistant clinical professor whose specialties include domestic violence, said that Burns' reported behavior that night could have led Acevedo to fear she might be killed.
As a result, Murphy said, at the moment Acevedo swung the knife, it seemed a rational action to Acevedo.
Oh! my bad.
Sure are a lot of weasel words in that last passage, including the qualifications of Dr. Murphy to testify in this criminal case.
He beat her. (no details)
She stabbed him, in the back.
He died.
Self defense was NOT found by a jury of her peers.
Maybe 2-1/2 years.
What
The
Fuck?
What? Not bad enough? Think it couldn't get worse?
OK-
Niki Miller, the executive director of the New Hampshire Task Force on Women and Addiction said Acevedo would not only benefit from a four-day program for women that helps them understand the causes of their addictions and how to find help, but could then counsel other women
I guess the intensive rehab had taught her nothing that a four day "course" wouldnt
cure!
Then she can go out and instruct other women in her area of expertise! Of course, she'd be working for tax dollars.
I propose that
Niki Miller, executive director of the New Hampshire Task Force on Women and Addiction(that I have NEVER seen do anything useful) is practiced in the snake oil school of addiction recovery.
Defenistration can be an appropriate word.