Here's another case that left me shaking my head in disbelief when the wrap up the program by telling you what happened to the man accused of the crime. In this case, Travis Umstadter was sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter and got out in just 10 years for good behavior. Umstadter shot a guy four times in the head. Each time, he had to cock the trigger and shoot once more. As the district attorney said: "one shot would have killed him." However, this guy puts four bullets in the man's brain...and spends 10 years in jail. That's justice? What's more amazing is that most of the people in Honesdale, Pa., weren't bothered with the jury's and judge's verdict.
The real tragedy of the sordid mess was that two people were killed and the other sent off to jail...and all three were young people, around 17-21 years old. The shocker was the first death: an "All-American" high school graduate considered one of the finest girls ever to graduate from a very good high school. She was class president twice, homecoming queen and a whole bunch of other things that all made her appear as about the sweetest thing since apple pie. Then, about a month before heading off to college, she began hanging around a guy who was into cars and booze.
For high school kids in Honesdale, Pa., a small town in the Poconos about 20 minutes away from the New York State border and two hours from New York City, the only thing exciting to do was to "go over." That meant drive to New York where they could legally drink, or at least get served easier. The route out of town was Rte. 652 and on weekends, the cops and medics were always on alert for car crashes. Rte. 652 also was known as "The Highway To Hell." One night Kristen Umstadter made the mistake of taking off with 20-year-old Glenn Evans who had drunk a couple of six packs of beer and was going to get more. Evans had Umstader and another girl in the car when he speed up a hill doing 80 m.p.h., tried to pass a car and crashed head on with a station wagon in the other lane. Miraculous, only Umstadter was hurt....but she was dead. The greatest young person in Honesdale was dead. Outside of her parents, no one mourned this more than her older brother Travis.
Watching this episode of "City Confidential, you could see where this case was headed pretty early. The older brother was going to avenge his sister's death. Sure enough, several months after the accident, it happens. More drinks, and then gunshots as Travis murders Glenn in the latter's apartment. At the trial, he claimed he was drunk and only went over to get "the truth" out of Evans on what happened that night of the fatal accident.
However, taking the time to cock the gun and shot, and then doing that three more times - all point plank to a person's head, wasn't enough to put Travis away for too long in jail, I guess. Well, at least the town is a pretty one and looks like a nice place to retire, if you like quiet, small-town living.
The real tragedy of the sordid mess was that two people were killed and the other sent off to jail...and all three were young people, around 17-21 years old. The shocker was the first death: an "All-American" high school graduate considered one of the finest girls ever to graduate from a very good high school. She was class president twice, homecoming queen and a whole bunch of other things that all made her appear as about the sweetest thing since apple pie. Then, about a month before heading off to college, she began hanging around a guy who was into cars and booze.
For high school kids in Honesdale, Pa., a small town in the Poconos about 20 minutes away from the New York State border and two hours from New York City, the only thing exciting to do was to "go over." That meant drive to New York where they could legally drink, or at least get served easier. The route out of town was Rte. 652 and on weekends, the cops and medics were always on alert for car crashes. Rte. 652 also was known as "The Highway To Hell." One night Kristen Umstadter made the mistake of taking off with 20-year-old Glenn Evans who had drunk a couple of six packs of beer and was going to get more. Evans had Umstader and another girl in the car when he speed up a hill doing 80 m.p.h., tried to pass a car and crashed head on with a station wagon in the other lane. Miraculous, only Umstadter was hurt....but she was dead. The greatest young person in Honesdale was dead. Outside of her parents, no one mourned this more than her older brother Travis.
Watching this episode of "City Confidential, you could see where this case was headed pretty early. The older brother was going to avenge his sister's death. Sure enough, several months after the accident, it happens. More drinks, and then gunshots as Travis murders Glenn in the latter's apartment. At the trial, he claimed he was drunk and only went over to get "the truth" out of Evans on what happened that night of the fatal accident.
However, taking the time to cock the gun and shot, and then doing that three more times - all point plank to a person's head, wasn't enough to put Travis away for too long in jail, I guess. Well, at least the town is a pretty one and looks like a nice place to retire, if you like quiet, small-town living.