Lorraine's Blog

A Mother's Message
Can You Imagine?

May 5, 2012 by Lorraine

A few years ago I had the privelage of meeting yet another mother whose daughter, Shannon was murdered. Her story is compelling, and devastingly heartwrenching. Our paths have crossed periodically over the past five years, and this past April, we met again. Sherry shared her story and read the powerful speech she delivered on September 30, 2003 before the U.S. Senate Committee of the Judiciary in support of the Victim's Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

Sherry is a strong victim advocate and National Volunteer Coordinator of POMC - Parents Of Murdered Children. With permission, she has agreed to allow us to share this with you, exactly as she wrote and delivered it.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee,

My name is Sharon Nolan and my husband and I have traveled here today to speak to you on behalf of our daughter Shannon Marie Nolan-Broe and our unborn grand-daughter Alexandra Jordan who were violently and intentionally murdered on September 7th, found buried on September 10th, and during the autopsy performed on our daughter, our murdered granddaughter was delivered on September 11, 2001. The day the earth stood still for so many.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Waking up one morning 24 years after the birth of your first child and realizing that she has dissappeared "without a trace" calling the police to report her missing and having to beg for a search to pursue after being told that she is 24, married, pregnant, and probably just walked away. We will have to wait 24-48 hours [legally] for police intervention.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Being advised to pursue your own search for your children [along with 25-100 other family and friends] taking us through waist high creek water, wooded areas thick with brush, abandoned tractor trailers, trash dumpsters, miles of railroad tracks and empty boxcars, including any high places that she could have jumped from when a policeman asks, "Could she be suicidal?" Searching for four days, always hoping for the safe return of your children, but fearing the worst. And then it happens! The knock at the door. The sight of the police and the clergy. The look of sadness in their eyes and then excruciating "numbness" before those horrifying words are spoken. "We have found your children. They have been murdered."

YOU CAN'T IMAGINE?

Making funeral arrangements to bury your oldest daughter and unborn granddaughter after being denied the right to see them one last time because the coroner says that it is so bad there will be no need for embalming. And then to look into your surviving children's tormented eyes to deny them their only request, an open casket to say good-bye properly to their sister and their niece. Instead, they are to kiss and embrace the cold black coffin [along with the 800 other mourners who attended.]

PRE-TRIAL

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Your world has just been devastated, you're in shock, yet, it's time for the justice system to take over. Always protecting the criminal's rights first. You are notified of your right to attend pre-trial hearings, yet not notified beforehand about changes. All the while being reminded to "be on your best behavior", and always feeling like the "outsider looking in" on what was your children's lives. You are warned repeatedly by the prosecutors about not talking to the press for fear of causing a mistrial, yet a newspaper reporter be it illegal or unethical, writes a column that provides personal information concerning the trial that was not of public record. We call this "freedom of the press." You also become aware that you have court documents, via the internet, that your own prosecutors do not, prior to a motion to suppress, and then you are asked, "Why are you so angry?"

TRIAL

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Being denied the right to be present during the jury selection and for the next three days to be left out in an open hallway outside the courtroom, while the trial proceeds without you. Not being allowed to attend the trial, yet, the animal is paraded in front of you several times a day because it is his right to be there but not yours. After three days of unexplainable control of your instincts to attack this murderer, you are asked to move from the hallway because you are causing 'him' to feel uncomfortable. And then to add insult to injury, you are required to purchase the transcripts of the trial at a cost of $1500.00 so that you can feel as though you have the same constitutional right that was provided to the murderer. The knowledge of what transpired.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Being called to the witness stand during the most traumatic and evil event in your lifetime, giving up your right to attend the trial, all the while knowing that you have no direct information to the crime. Yet, hoping to testify that the sonogram in your hand is that of your unborn granddaughter only to be stopped short by the defense attorney's objection to quote, unquote, "Hearsay." During on office visit with our daughter you heard the baby's heartbeat but in the courtroom she has no name, she is ignored.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

After finding proof of previous abuse by the murderer, you are told that "legally" it would be a violation of his rights to use this information in the trial. You hear the defense attorney's insinuation that your five month pregnant daughter was not murdered but died accidentally because, "Domestic Violence happens every day. It is not aggravated murder or even murder when two people who know each other fight and one of them ends up dead." Statistics show that the leading cause of death of pregnant women is not from health related issues, it is homicide!!

After three days of trial he is convicted, the judge passes sentence, you are granted your right to an impact statement. End of trial. So-called justice rules.

APPEALS

CAN YOU IMAGINE?
After being found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of his peers, that he is sentenced to life terms for aggravated murder plus for the unlawful taking of two lives. Yet, he is now "awarded" one more right. His lifetime right to appeal. Could the same taxpayer's dollar that keep him from living amongst society, also grant him his freedom? Thirteen months after the jury and the judge convicts and sentences him, once again his rights prevail. He is granted a lesser sentence. Nine months to convict but only three and one-half weeks to overrule through appellate decision his sentence for tampering with evidence.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Be appalled by the appellate decision yet denied your right to speak at the re-sentencing. He is given back five years of his life, you are denied five minutes of your rage!! What's next? His right to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. Always'with the intent of proving that his rights in the constitution were violated.

IN CLOSING, CAN YOU IMAGINE?

A country with a constitution that protects all people, both the accused and the victim or the survivor. A place where both can receive equal rights of the choice to be present, to be informed, to be involved, and to be heard. Our Shannon and Alexandra were denied all of these rights when their God-given right to live was stolen from them making them the most important victims. Because of the self serving acts of violence directed towards our children by the murderer, their voices have been silenced.

Please don't revictimize them again by legally silencing us. Who better to become their voices then the people who love them the most? We did nothing wrong. We do not deserve the life sentence of victimization by the country that we choose and are proud to call "home". We may not speak the language of the bill, but we do speak the language of the heart. We support this amendment in the name of all victims who "scream without sound."

Respectfully submitted in loving memory of our daughter Shannon Marie Nolan-Broe and our granddaughter Alexandra Jordan [Murdered on September 7, 2001].

There are places in the heart that are reserved for those too special to forget. Shannon Marie and Alexandra Jordan are two of those very special people.

Thank you Sherry for standing before the Judicary Committee and delivering your powerful statement on behalf of all victims of crime and being the voices of those who cannot speak for themselves.

God Bless You

Lorraine Whoberry
Founder/Director S.T.A.C.I.E. Foundation
Silenced NO More Central Southwest Chapter