'Bunker' Rapist Jailed for 18 Years

[Pert_UK]

"A retired handyman from New York State who kidnapped women and used them as sex slaves has been sentenced to 18 years to life in jail.

Sixty-eight-year-old John Jamelske, from near Syracuse, New York, kept his victims in a concrete bunker under his home for up to three years.

During sentencing on Tuesday the judge ignored a plea for leniency, calling Jamelske "a sick coward", a kidnapper and a rapist.

The kidnappings, which occurred from 1988 to 2002, were uncovered when his final victim, a 16-year-old girl, managed to call her family for help."

Words cannot begin to describe this level of evil, although I'm sure I could have done better than "a sick coward".

Full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3070015.stm

[tkmorris]

1. What?

18 years? That's it? And that is AFTER the judge "ignored" a plea for leniency? You gotta be kidding me. If this clown had done this to someone I loved he'd really be wanting life without parole in an undisclosed location. Because if I ever found him......

:grr:

[tlb]

2. My first impulse also was 18 years is inadequate.

The man however being age 68 that would add up to age 86 if he served his full term. The question then becomes one of parole eligibility and probability of release.

I am guessing like Charlie Manson, this man won't be released for quite some time even after he becomes eligible. This should be in practical terms a life sentence.

Still if this had been a much younger man the problem would be a lot more real. Even 18 years is inadequate punishment for this sort of crime if there is a real probability the defendant will ever be able to walk the street again.


edited for darn typos.

[uhhuh]

3. I was floored too!!

But I read some articles about this just now and his sentence was 18 years to life. There is no way, even if he lives to 88, that any parole board or governor will let him breathe fresh air again. If it was just 18 years, words would totally fail me.

It's just too bad that the lowest level of sentence in this case even has to be mentioned. He imprisoned and raped people for up to three years! I don't like the death penalty, but I sometimes feel an "instinct", I guess, that wishes for slime like this to stop existing. It is truly hard to fight sometimes.

[Aaron]

6. That sentence seems weak to me too

I wonder if there's some circumstances or another part to it or something?

[Rowdyboy]

4. Monsters like this...

make the death penalty seem far too mild a punishment.

[colorado_ufo]

5. Can you imagine your 16 year old daughter,

disappearing? Not knowing what happened to her? With the possibility that she could be imprisoned under such circumstances, in a windowless slave bunker?

What of older women who suffered this? For a married woman, what would she come home to? What of her children, without a mother? For a single woman, in three years, what happened to her house or apartment? Her pets? Her car and furniture and everything else she owned? Her taxes and credit rating?

Did this monster give them diseases that would last a lifetime? Did any of them become pregnant? Will they ever be mentally normal again and able to live their lives?

I spit on 18 years as a punishment.

[WildClarySage]

7. 18 Years was probably based on the kidnapping charges

as rapists, regardless of how brutal, are rarely sentenced to extensive jail terms.