Ashley Smith: "Wishing I were free..."

Today's post is not about a woman who committed murder, but rather about a woman who was murdered by the "justice" system.

Ashley Smith first came into contact with the system in 2003 when she was only 15 years old. She was incarcerated for series of petty crimes which included throwing crab apples at a postal carrier and pulling fire alarms. Originally sentenced to 30 days for the infarctions, Ashley ultimately served over 4 years in "treatment," and was transferred a staggering 17 times among 9 different prisons in 5 provinces due to the "unruly behaviour" she exhibited. She was involved in more than 800 "incidents," and attempted to harm herself at least 150 times.

The Fifth Estate: Hunting Magnotta

Poor Luka Magnotta; details relating to his case are being profiled by one of the most respected investigative news programs in Canada, but he won't be able to watch it because he is languishing in jail, awaiting trial for murder. 

CBC's The Fifth Estate is set to air "Hunting Magnotta" on Friday, November 30th. The following description was pulled from their web site:

"A year ago virtually no one knew anything about a young man named Luka Magnotta. Then came the horrifying discovery of the body of Jun Lin in Montreal, followed by a feverish international manhunt and then the arrest in Berlin. Luka Magnotta now stands charged with the murder of the young Concordia University student from China.

The name Luka Magnotta seemed to appear from nowhere in May of this year. But if he was unknown to the wider public, for 18 months before his arrest, he was being tracked... by a group of Internet users who were horrified over videos they believed he'd made, which depicted the killing of kittens and apparent threats to do worse. In an exclusive interview with Mark Kelley, the online investigators share for the first time the details their attempts to chase Magnotta down through the deep web and alert authorities as they tried to stop a man they considered dangerous.

The hundreds of cryptic online postings Luka Magnotta uploaded to the web paint an unsettling psychological portrait of a disturbed young man who shocked the world to its core, and reveal much about his life growing up as Eric Newman. But Magnotta would disclose much more to the few people who knew him personally, two of whom share their stories exclusively with the fifth estate. What became apparent to everyone who knew him is that Magnotta appeared to have an obsessive narcissistic need to be noticed, and exhibited increasingly erratic, possibly threatening behaviour online, ringing alarm bells for those who knew him and watched his chilling story unfold."

Source: The Fifth Estate: Hunting Magnotta

Knowing what I know about this clown-turned-killer, it must be killing him to know that people are talking about him while he has absolutely no control over how his image is being affected by what's being said. To me, he will never be legendary, or even notorious; to me, he will always be little more than a socially inept misfit who ventured to make a name for himself by absorbing the essence of everything around him.

For all his primping, posturing, and manipulation, Magnotta was unable to achieve recognition based on his own merit; it took the death of an innocent to capture the attention this pathetic waste of human skin craved so profoundly.

I can't wait to see what The Fifth Estate has uncovered about the "hunt" for Magnotta, which began long before he ever came into contact with victim Jun Lin.

The Fifth Estate: Karla Homolka

Thanks to the tireless staff at WKH2012, this long lost episode of  the award-winning documentary series The Fifth Estate is accessible once again. 

As I watched the program (which I hadn't seen in years), all the same feelings of horror, sickness, sadness, and rage stirred in me anew. The Fifth Estate illuminates Homolka's role in the sex killings of three Ontario teenagers in shocking clarity; the sheer gall with which an unaffected Homolka recites the details of her crimes is nothing short of astounding. 

Karla Speaks for Herself

In spite of everything that has been said about Karla Homolka by the multitudinous professionals assigned (in some way or another) to her case, I have always felt that her own words speak volumes about her involvement in the crimes. 

Simply reading about her comments to police in preparation for then-estranged husband's trial, and her sworn testimony on the stand reveals only part of the picture. The full effect of her statements can only be experienced with the assistance of Karla herself: her appearance, her demeanor, and the apparently unaffected ease with which she delivers the chilling details surrounding the deaths of three innocent young women. 

My interest in obtaining the documentary aired by The Fifth Estate was primarily due to the fact that it contains some video footage of Homolka's cautioned statement to the police following her agreement to cooperate fully in the Bernardo investigation in exchange for a lesser sentence. While the footage amounts to less than seven minutes in total, the "diagnostic mystery" that is Karla Homolka speaks for herself.

Karla Speaks for Herself: Part 1

Extracted from: CBC's The Fifth Estate

This episode can be obtained in its entirety here. 

Thanks to: WKH2012

Karla Speaks for Herself: Part 2

Extracted from: MSNBC's Dark Heart, Iron Hand

This episode can be obtained in its entirety from: 

WKH2012

Open Letter to The Fifth Estate: Release the Karla Homolka Broadcast

Update: August 17, 2012 --> The Karla Homolka broadcast has been made available for download -- please see this page for more details.


Open Letter to The Fifth Estate:

Greetings! 

First and foremost, I grew up watching The Fifth Estate, and I think that your program is by far the best documentary series out there. Your entire crew is thoughtful, diligent, and the great amount of work they put into each and every episode is appreciated.

Now, on to my question... Why is perhaps the most well-known and revealing documentaries you have ever produced -- The Karla Homolka Episode -- not currently available for viewing online?

I couldn't help but notice that the video timeline seems to stop just short of the Homolka broadcast. There are conspiracy theoriests out there who would suggest there's a reason it's not on the menu :)

Archive: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/archives05-06.html

Thanks for the great shows!

If you feel that this important broadcast should be made available, please take a moment to sign the petition:

Start a Petition by iPetitions.com