CHICAGO--A man who was angry that his family would not go along with his conversion to Islam was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday in the slayings of his mother, pregnant wife, infant son and two nieces in a rampage last year on the South Side.
James A. Larry, 33, of Madison, Wis., pleaded guilty last month to multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and the intentional homicide of an unborn child.
The bald, bearded defendant issued a quiet apology in Judge James Linn's courtroom, as several surviving members of the family stood at a podium and clutched one another.
"I'm sorry for what I did to my family," Larry said, standing in a tan jail jumpsuit, his hands clasped behind his back. "I regret it every day, and I pray for them."
Family members chose not to submit victim-impact statements for the judge to consider and declined to speak after the hearing, telling a court liaison they were simply relieved the case was over.
Prosecutors said Larry came to Chicago in April 2010 bent on slaughtering his relatives at the home in the Marquette Park neighborhood. He had converted to Islam while serving a prison sentence in Wisconsin for a weapons conviction.
"He was upset at his wife and their family — he felt disrespected that they would not join his religion," Assistant State's Attorney Jim McKay said. "It didn't matter if they were young or old, pregnant or not. He wanted them dead."
The massacre began in the early morning hours April 14, at the family home in the 7400 block of South Mozart Street. Larry first shot his mother, Leona Larry, 57, as she slept on a sofa in the living room. He then went systematically through three first-floor bedrooms, fatally shooting his wife, Twanda Thompson, 19; his 7-month-old son, Jihad; his 3-year-old niece, Keleasha Larry; and his 16-year-old niece, Keyshai Fields, who was pregnant.
Larry also shot his 13-year-old nephew, Demond Larry, in the face, but the boy survived. The defendant then kicked in the bedroom door of a man who lived in the basement of the home and tried to shoot him, but no bullets fired, prosecutors said.
After Larry's 12-year-old niece awoke to the gunfire and saw her bloodied relatives, she ran out of the house. Larry chased her down the street and fired but missed, prosecutors said. The girl made it to a gas station and called her mom.
When Larry was arrested a short time later, he said to police that Allah told him to kill his family, according to court records. A police report quoted him as saying: "I wish I had more bullets. I wish I had more bullets."
Linn remarked in court that, based on the accounts of the defendant's erratic behavior, he expected to see some evidence of underlying psychiatric issues. But in the end, he said, "there were none." (Source)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Muslim Convert James A. Larry Gets Life in Prison after Murdering Family for Rejecting Islam
So Larry will get a life of prison dawah to help other inmates convert to Islam, just as he converted to Islam in prison before murdering his family in the name of Islam.
Labels:
Violence
13 comments:
If this was just for not converting to Islam, then why did he kill the infant? Aren't they considered to be Muslim until they reject Islam?
"There is no compulsion in religion....." /irony
Muslims keep inviting me to Islam, saying it will make me a better person. Well my family can sleep safe at night because their arguments, logic,and reasoning skill were so pathetic that I will never convert to Islam
He's not getting executed? That's a shame. I have a feeling he'll probably be a troublemaker in prison, so maybe he'll be in solitary confinement and won't be able to convert other inmates to Islam!
@GAP
You asked...
"He's not getting executed?"
The State of IL is famous for a few things, one it has more living governors in prison or awaiting trial then any state in the Union. And two it exhonerated
the most people on Death row do to DNA evidence. Thirteen I think in total were cleared do to DNA, some of them just hours away from the needle.
Becasue of this, Governor Ryan at the time, imposed a mauratorium
on the death penalty, right before he left office to serve his 10 year prison sentence.
Then just this year, the legislation revoked the death penalty. So there is no more death penalty in IL.
Before i became a believer i used to be full on support for the death penalty.
Now after becoming a follower of Christ, im torn between supporting it or not. i would love every person to get the opportunity to know Christ before they die.
But then again God says if a man sheds another mans blood by man his blood shall be shed. So i dont know.
for now im glade im not in the position to much such decisions, let the government handle it. Still sometimes when i see atrocities like this and honor killings i lean towards death penalty. *sigh*
Between a rock and a hard place :(
Tz
I for one used to be in favor of the death penalty, I'm not so much against it as I am for the procedure to be reformed. As stated 13 Men were found not guilty via DNA evidence in my state. Some of them where just hours away from the needle.
Also the US is one of only a few western countries that has the Death Penalty. I think Japan is the only other one. All the other countries are either Islamic, or in the case of China some remnant of Communism.
I don't think the US should be in the same class as these other countries.
But with that said, I do favor life imprisonment over the death penalty. The reason being is because to some Death is a Mercy.
For some, 23 hours a day in solitaire confinement at a supermax prison is well deserved.
Tizita, you may get some wisdom from Romans 13 in addition to the fact that God commanded the death penalty in the Old Testament.
Looks like freedom of religion is a real feature of Western culture.
Not just a pretension, not just a mockery of it.
Islam won't fly here.
The guy should get the death penalty unless there is some evidence that he is insane when he did it. From what I can tell, he blatantly did the crimes; so, there is no question as to his motives. He took innocent lives deliberately; so, he should also have his life taken away from him. To simply imprison him is to grant him the very thing that he deliberately took from others.
When properly implemented, the death penalty serves as a good deterrent for many who would consider murdering. To keep them in confinement is to give them a sense of victory since they still live and know that without a death penalty, they won't die.
simple truth wrote: ”The guy should get the death penalty unless there is some evidence that he is insane when he did it.”
First of all, death penalty is a must for crimes committed based on anger and arrogance derived out of supremacist nature of this cult belief system. Reasons of insanity must not be a consideration simply because the so called highly devout live in a mental state bordering insanity. Similarly devout of other religions pose little risk as except Islam no other religion explicitly commands its followers to indulge in violence. In Islam, violence is prescribed as a means of experiencing spiritual awakening(Jihad, loot, kill or subjugate etc) and it is the only way to achieve guaranteed salvation (kill or get killed in the acts of pleasing Allah)! Thus, the unfortunate devout are all victims of a severe infection let loose by the worst pervert charlatan the world has ever seen. They live a life of borderline insanity constantly waging a losing battle to hold back their senses. Depriving them defense of insanity for their crimes acts as a deterrent and helps millions of devout to hold back their senses. If not, they will trip; succumb to full blown insanity and commit acts of violence of the horrendous nature mentioned here. It’s simply a question of doing what is practical respecting reality.
"When Larry was arrested a short time later, he said to police that Allah told him to kill his family"
Another Muslim driven mad by Allah.
cmclvr, I agree with your position on insanity not being an automatic defense; but, I was looking at the fact that unless insanity could be seen as a part of the act, that guy has no defense whatsoever, IMO. At least with insanity pleas, one can have a defense, even it if it turns our to be a weak one. At this point, I don't see any defense.
Surely religions in the mold of Islam can set people on edge or toggle them to a state of action/reaction against the opposition. IMO, the only sane Muslims are those who don't try to follow Mohammad violent edicts. The contradiction to this is that those who call themselves sane aren't following the whole of the religon, and in some ways aren't true Muslims according to the historical setting of Islam.
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