The Daily Beast
Infamous killer wants compassionate COVID release – after refusing vaccine
Shane Young / APA As millions of Americans desperately searched for the COVID-19 vaccine, the imprisoned former Army Green Beret doctor from the famous murder case “Fatal Vision” was one of at least four prisoners who turned down a shot and still seeking early release. Jeffrey MacDonald turned down the offer of a vaccination against Moderna on March 2 in the federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, where he was serving a life sentence for the death of his pregnant wife, Colette, and their two daughters in 1970 with a stab and pale death. , 2-year-old Kristen and 5-year-old Kimberly, but that did not stop his lawyers from arguing in federal court in Raleigh on Thursday that kidney problems make him so vulnerable to COVID-19 that he deserves compassionate release. The thought that MacDonald would ask for compassionate anything that angered his former brother-in-law, Bill Stevenson. Tears filled Stevenson’s eyes as he made an impact statement of the victim to the court. He kept a photo of Colette from more than half a century ago. “This is the sister I lost,” he told the judge. Stevenson kept a photo of Kimberly. “It’s Kimmy,” he said. “I miss her today. I’m her uncle. Stevenson said of MacDonald: ‘This man should never be able to walk the earth again. What he did is unspeakable. Unthinkable. “After that, Stevenson spoke to The Daily Beast.” How can someone who had no compassion when he killed his family and mutilated their bodies, ask for compassionate release? Stevenson said. “He does not know compassion.” He added: ‘This is a crime for which there can be almost no sufficient punishment. He must never walk on earth again. He must die. Stevenson reported that his hearing was not as good as before, so he could not follow the process. But he has read the court documents and understands that MacDonald’s petition is dependent on the killer’s alleged vulnerability to COVID-19. To this end, the Government has submitted a document entitled “NOTICE OF REFUSAL OF COVID-19 VACCINATION AND SUPPLEMENTARY ANSWER IN CONTROL TO DEFENDANT’S MOVEMENT FOR MERCY RELEASE”: offered and refused, “the document reads.” By claiming that ‘extraordinary and compelling’ reasons justify his release … MacDonald relied solely on his ‘vulnerability to COVID-19’, given certain risk factors he identified, including chronic kidney disease, a history of skin cancer and hypertension. “document points out that on January 11, 2021, McDonald received a rapid antigen test that was positive for COVID-19, but McDonald has never experienced symptoms and this should not stop him The government is not aware of any evidence that MacDonald falls into the categories of individuals for whom the Moderna vaccine has been medically contraindicated, or even for whom precautionary measures a “is not indicated by the CDC Clinical Considerations,” reads the document. ‘Available medical records indicate that MacDonald has never had a symptomatic case of COVID-19, has never received monoclonal antibody treatment, and has not been given another vaccine within 14 days before being offered the Moderna vaccine. , and did not have an acute non-COVID disease presented the Moderna vaccine, and did not have a history of allergic reactions to other vaccines, anaphylaxis or other significant allergies – the latter of which merely requires a monitoring period after administration of the vaccine in accordance with the guidance. ” In fact, medical associations support vaccination via mRNA vaccines such as the Moderna vaccine for individuals like MacDonald who suffer from chronic kidney disease (‘CKD’), as the perceived benefits of vaccination are significant given the known risks of COVID- 19 infection in people with CKD. 9. ”In other words, there seemed to be nothing MacDonald could stop him from accepting the vaccine that would protect him from the virus, even if he needed it if the asymptomatic case gave him some immunity. The most logical reason for MacDonald because he not only rolled up his sleeve and got a shot would have invalidated his argument for release due to the threat of the virus. “He’s a cheater,” Stevenson told The Daily Beast. A deceiver as well as a murderer. ” At least three and probably more federal prisoners refused shots and subsequently released condolences over COVID-19. John Lohmeier is making a request in federal court in Illinois to plead guilty to a security conviction early on, even though he has twice denied what so many people want. ‘The medical records indicate that the accused was offered not one, but two vaccines,’ The court documents indicate that Lohmeier is in a minimum security prison in Wisconsin, after being sentenced in 2016 for ” a security fraud scheme that led to the loss of more than $ 8 million by hundreds of victims. He has been arrested on that sentence since August 30, 2016. “The newspapers mock a petition based on a vulnerability that Lohmeier could end up by simply accepting an offer he rejected twice.” The circumstances in this case are not ‘extraordinary’, not ‘compelling’, ‘the newspapers said. In other words, it is a fraud, a disadvantage, and there is also Xiomara Gonzalez Zambrano, who was sentenced in 2018 to 63 months for the delivery of 2,591 grams of methamphetamine for a drug. gang as they drove through Iowa with two of her daughters. She released Compassion in August last year because she was vulnerable to COVID. ‘Although she requested that the court act immediately to reduce her sentence and release her due to the threat of COVID-19, she herself was not prepared to be vaccinated. herself against the same disease, ”Federal Judge CJ Williams ruled in Iowa. “Although the defendant has the right to refuse medical treatment, the court finds that it would be inappropriate to reward her refusal to protect herself by granting her release. It would be paradoxical to endorse a system by which an accused can create extraordinary and compelling conditions for compassionate release by unreasonably refusing the health care offered to them. ‘And there’s Cory Williams, who was sentenced in 2018 to 84 months on conviction by money laundering Federal Court in Arizona. He applied in September 2020 for compassionate release from the Federal Correctional Institution Tucson, where more than 40 percent of inmates tested positive for COVID-19. “The COVID-19 rate among inmates was more than four times that of the U.S. population and the death toll was twice as high,” federal judge Douglas Rayes remarked in Arizona. “Defendant contends in his motion that there are no common sense precautions at the FCI Tucson plant.” Williams argues that he is at particular risk because he is obese, has asthma and has a heart murmur. “The accused did not present facts that contradict the government’s description of him as ‘a healthy 43-year-old who is slightly overweight and apparently suffering from a mild asthma,'” Reyes found. ‘According to records, he has a mild case of asthma caused by exercise. He has not needed an inhaler for more than ten years, and he only beeps when he exercises. The accused provides no evidence that a heart murmur was classified as a condition that posed a higher risk to him if he became infected with the COVID-19 virus. ‘Williams’ petition was already shaky when he appeared at the end of court for oral argument. January. “The accused admitted in court that he was offered the vaccine on January 6, 2021, but refused it,” Reyes notes. “The court finds its explanation for the refusal to trust the Food and Drug Administration to use the process of authorization for emergencies, incredible in light of its allegation that its risk of a serious illness is due to the COVID-19 virus is extraordinary and compelling. reason for his immediate release. “Reyes’ decision on February 1 should come as no surprise.” IT is ordered that the accused’s emergency proposal to reduce sentence … merciful release (including release due to COVID-19) … be denied. When it came to Jeffrey MacDonald on Thursday, Judge Terrence Boyle was not prepared to make a quick decision. This is a well-known case, and as the News Observer noted, the judge was asked to correct the prosecutor when he said it happened 50 years ago. “Fifty-one years,” Boyle said. “It was February 17, 1970.” Stevenson returned home and said he was glad he made the trip. “The point was really to give a face to the people who were put apart by him,” he told The Daily Beast. not happy that MacDonald’s lawyers have begun to intimidate their client into innocence, citing an often-discussed unparalleled hair that was allegedly found at the crime scene. “In every person’s home all over the world, there is hair from other people,” Stevenson said. “I left a hat in my hotel,” he said. “They sent someone to fetch it.” He has his hat as well as a cane that he placed briefly with him when he grabbed a hamburger at the airport. His wife, Vivian, 80, was waiting for him at home in Massachusetts. Speaking to The Daily Beast earlier in the day, Vivian also slammed the language in MacDonald’s petition. “Compassionate?” Ask Vivian. ‘Release?’ Her son and daughter were about the same age as their murdered cousins, and then they were suddenly gone. “They used to play together,” Vivian said. “They often bathed together. I had to lie. I said, ‘They’re in Germany.’ ‘Vivian and her husband are from an age where they had just as much chance as a federal inmate of getting a chance. They took both. One concern they still have about the virus is that MacDonald could somehow set up the pandemic in an early release. “I do not want him out of jail,” Bob Stevenson said Thursday night. “Not ever.” Read more at The Daily Beast. Do you have a tip? Send it here to The Daily Beast Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily membership of the beast: Beast Inside goes deeper into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.