A young woman is savagely beaten to death. Three children are left without a mother, and loved ones without their daughter and sister. In the midst of it all a community is rocked by a senseless and vicious act of brutality.

Is this the time when we seek “an eye for an eye.”

•••

A photo of Danielle Pruett stares at me from a computer screen.

It is March of this year, and the region is watching as law enforcement officers comb the area in search of the missing woman.

Danielle’s story has taken news and social media by storm. Everyone wants to know what happened to the beautiful young lady who suddenly disappeared. We cover the story throughout the day but, hours into the night, a late-night tip tells me this story will not have a happy ending.

Danielle’s body has been found.

Shaun Matthew Wakefield, 33, of Tazewell, is arrested for the crime.

•••

Wakefield was recently indicted on one count of capital murder.

Tazewell County Commonwealth Attorney Mike Dennis tells the media that “the circumstances of this killing more than justifies our decision to charge Wakefield with capital murder. Wakefield is now facing the death penalty.”

Some may believe this potential sentence is too harsh. I am not one of those individuals.

Having spent years covering crime, courts and murder, I know the toll violent crime takes on family members. They suffer through endless court hearings and procedures as due process is awarded the individual charged with the crime.

It is our system, and one that is just. But it doesn’t lessen the raw emotions for family members.

•••

In an area where the state line is criss-crossed endlessly on any given day, the punishment for the most horrific of crimes is notably different.

In West Virginia, one faces life in a cell.

In Virginia, it is life itself.

Should the Mountain State take a cue from its sister state and enact capital punishment for the most brutal of crimes?

I think it should.

Nearly 12 years ago I recall speaking frequently with family members of a woman who was horrifically murdered and dismembered in the Princeton area. Her body parts were scattered on a cold winter landscape. They came to attention when spring’s thaw began melting the ice and crime scene evidence. A dog brought a human leg to his family’s home. In the days that followed, one headline screamed, “Another body part found.”

The perpetrator, Ernest Jeffrey Meadows, ultimately pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison with mercy, plus an additional 40-year sentence.

To this day I believe he got off too easy.

You see, I will never forget the emotions of the victims’ family members — her parents, her cousins and her young son. I remember the agony of what they went through on those dark February days in 2004.

Jeff Meadows did not spare his victim’s life. Why did we spare his?

•••

In a quiet moment my mind brings up a movie reel — a kaleidoscope of crimes.

I recall Kayla LaSala, the Mercer County girl who, at age 14, brutally stabbed her father more than a hundred times. I think of Cassidy Byrd, found guilty of manslaughter in the death of his child, and of Crips gang member Orlando Davis, now awaiting trial for the murder and robbery of a man in the Bluewell Kroger bathroom.

And I remember the Skygusty slayings in McDowell County, and the story of a toddler who was in the home when both of her parents were murdered.

•••

My close association with law enforcement and victims’ families may not make me an impartial source. But it does give me a firsthand look at the heartbreak of violent acts. How many tears must we witness in West Virginia before stepping up and imposing the harshest of punishments on those who commit the most brutal of crimes.

It is fitting that across the state line in Tazewell County Danielle Pruett’s alleged murderer will face the death penalty.

“An eye for an eye.”

For some, like me, these are words that should be heeded.

Samantha Perry is editor of the Daily Telegraph. Contact her at sperry@bdtonline.com. Follow her @BDTPerry.

http://www.bdtonline.com/opinion/col...b469bee2e.html