No Murderers in Military Cemeteries
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Maryland) requested a panel hearing to review the rules for who is allowed to rest in national cemeteries. Both she and Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) introduced bills after the hearing to strike the “without parole” clause from the 1997 bill prohibiting criminals sentenced to life imprisonment from burial in national cemeteries.
The bill prevents those convicted of a federal or state capital crime and sentenced to life or death from being buried in military cemeteries, but the clause allows for those eligible for parole during their life sentence be buried in them.
The big example given at the hearing was Russell Wayne Wagner. Wagner murdered an elderly couple in 1994 by breaking into their home and stabbing them several times each. He was sentenced to life in prison but would have been eligible for parol in 2017. He died of an overdose in Febraury, and because he was honorably discharged from the army in 1972, was buried alongside heroes at the Arlington National Cemetary.
The bill that Senator Craig introduced would also order the removal of Wagner’s remains from Arlington National Cemetery.
SOURCE: FoxNews.com
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