Judge to Rafferty: "You, sir, are a monster."

'Only a monster could commit such pure evil': Judge delivers comments in Rafferty sentencing

The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Below are Mr. Justice Thomas A. Heeney’s comments in the sentencing of Michael Rafferty. Justice Heeney defends his decision to bar the child porn evidence against Mr. Rafferty from the trial. He later admonishes Mr. Rafferty for the pain and anguish he has caused Tori Stafford’s family. 

From Homolka to McClintic: Explaining the Inexplicable

Above: Terri-Lynne McClintic

Below: Karla Homolka

In the days since Michael Thomas Rafferty's first degree murder conviction, nearly every major Canadian news outlet has rushed to make comparisons between the case of Rafferty and his ex-lover, Terri-Lynne McClintic, and that of notorious serial rape and murder monsters Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.

As far as female offenders go, women like Homolka and McClintic are extremely rare according to popular science. When FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood and psychiatrist Janet Warren completed their famous study, they spoke to only 20 women; incarcerated former wives, girlfriends, and lovers of sexual sadists. Of the 20 women studied, only seven (including Homolka) had directly acted or assisted in sexual homicides, and four were actually present during the murders and convicted as accomplices.

What makes Karla Homolka such an unusual character is the fact that one of the girls she raped was her own little sister, Tammy, who died as a result of the attack.

Terri-Lynne McClintic is something of an anomaly, as well, with respect to all the research that has been conducted on women who kill in tandem with their sexual partners. According to the Hazelwood/Warren study, an astounding 85% of women studied had come from stable and supportive families, and had no prior troubles with the law before meeting their predator partners. Further, only four of the 20 women reported problems with alcohol or drugs, suicide attempts, or mental health issues prior to becoming involved with a sexual sadist.

Perhaps what one should take from these seemingly incongruent statistics regarding women who assist violent sexual offenders is to shift focus away from grappling with why these otherwise "normal" women end up committing unspeakable acts alongside their partners, and to allow ourselves as a society to come to terms with the fact that these women do exist, and for reasons unknown chose to commit the ultimate sin.

More Information...

Tragedy struck after violent Terri-Lynne McClintic met depraved Michael Rafferty

The Canadian Press (May 13, 2012)

From Homolka to McClintic: What we know about women who aid their mates in rape and murder

The Toronto Star (May 14, 2012)

Deviance, Perversion Inadmissible

Mr. "Fresh Jive" himself, Michael Rafferty

McClintic has been pictured wearing the same shirt.

And he says she wasn't his girlfriend.

Riiiiight.

While the Michael Rafferty jury is deliberating over the fate of this accused child killer, the rest of Canada is learning about the incriminating child pornography evidence found on a number of his computer devices. The evidence, including Google searches for "real underage rape" and "best program to download child porn," were ruled inadmissible in court by Judge Thomas Heeney.

Further computer evidence suggested that Rafferty had recently been in possession of a substantial amount of child porn, along with instructional videos illustrating how to sexually assault young children. Rafferty's proclivity toward deviance was also demonstrated by his Internet searches for "naked girl seizing," and "epileptic girl naked." 

Judge Heeney also refused to admit evidence that Rafferty enjoyed choking out his partners, an extreme sexual act in which a person is strangled, often to the point of passing out. At least 12 women (not including McClintic) were willing to testify that Rafferty had choked them for sexual gratification, but were never given the opportunity to take the stand.

I can think of at least one other violent sexual offender who was known to have practised sexual choking; Karla Homolka testified that her ex-husband, Paul Kenneth Bernardo, was fond of fastening an electrical cord around her neck during sex for the purposes of strangulation. 

It is interesting to note at this point that among Michael Rafferty's collection of digital smut and sinister searches, investigators also found the movie Karla, which is based on the unforgettable crimes of Bernardo and Homolka.

Crime columnist Christie Blatchford, who also covered the cases of Homolka, Bernardo, and Runaway Devil, offered her commentary on why Judge Heeney ultimately decided not to allow these powerful pieces of character evidence against Rafferty to be examined in court, along with her thoughts on what such broad decisions mean to the justice system as a whole. Although Canada officially maintains an immense amount of faith, hope, and pride in the jury system, so often are important evidentiary facts kept beyond the reach of those who the court system has given the crucial task of deciding innocence or guilt.

Update:

At 6:18 PM on Friday, May 11th, Michael Thomas Rafferty was convicted of the first-degree murder of eight year old Tori Stafford. He will be sentenced on Tuesday, May 15.

More Information...

The shocking child-porn evidence the Tori Stafford jury didn't hear

By Christie Blatchford @ The National Post

Karla

Internet Movie Database Article

McClintic fails again

Terri-Lynne McClintic posing gangsta (Facebook)

Convicted child-killer may never learn to keep her hands to herself. The media has recently learned that the woman who admitted to the abduction and murder of 8 year old Tori Stafford has been charged with assaulting a fellow inmate at the Grand Valley Institute for Women.

McClintic's lawyer, Geoff Snow, confirmed the charges stemming from what he called a "scrap" that took place between his client and an inmate named Aimee McIntyre on January 30, 2012. McIntyre is also serving a life sentence for the first-degree murder of her former lover after a jury found that she had coerced two men into carrying out a "hit."

Snow refused to elaborate further on the incident or on the relationship between Ms. McIntyre and his client. He did confirm, however, that McClintic is scheduled to appear in court via videoconference on April 26. 

"She's lost her freedoms, but she certainly hasn't lost her rights," Mr. Snow said.

 More Information...

Terri-Lynne McClintic charged with assaulting fellow inmate
The Globe and Mail (April 6, 2012)

Pair plead guilty in Ajax murder
Background information on Aimee McIntyre's case
durhamregion.com (May 4, 2010)

Rafferty Trial Evidence Released

As the trial against accused child killer Michael Rafferty progresses, a virtual mountain of evidence has been released to the media. Perhaps the most damning of all, the smoking gun, if you will, is represented by the evidence submitted by a woman who has already confessed to assisting Rafferty in the abduction, rape, and murder of 8 year old Victoria (Tori) Elizabeth Marie Stafford.

As much as I despise those who raise their hands in violence against anyone, let alone utterly defenseless children, I feel as though I must give some credit to Terri-Lynn McClintic for having the guts to own up to her unforgivable actions.

Confessed, convicted accomplice in the horrendous sex-killings of 3 Ontario teens Karla Homolka (now a wife, mother, teacher, and entrepreneur) could learn a lot from this self-proclaimed 18 year-old junkie.

Rather than attempting to use her own tale of woe as an excuse for the inexcusable, McClintic has admitted, flat-out, that she is wholly and fully responsible for Tori's death. In confessing her own guilt, her aim is not to absolve her ex-lover Rafferty of his own wrongdoings, but rather to accept responsibility for her own.

They planned to kidnap a little girl together. They snatched Tori together. They were together when Tori was enduring the most horrific final hours imaginable. They were together when Tori was killed.

It is the opinion of the author that it hardly seems to matter who actually wielded the weapon at the time when the final blow was struck. I doubt that the grim details mattered much to Tori, either.

Both of those assholes betrayed her.

"I don't know Tori Stafford."

Terri-Lynn McClintic's scripted denials regarding the abduction of Tori Stafford.

She later confessed to a police interrogator.

Terri-Lynne McClintic: Facebook Diagnosis

Originally posted: March 27, 2012

(April 4, 2012) Updated to include more from Facebook

Is Terri-Lynne McClintic clinically insane? Her social network seems to think so...

The following images taken from the convicted child killer's (now defunct) Facebook:

I really, really wish this whole

white kids thinking they are gangsters

thing would go away...

McClintic Covers Up: Scenario 1

Originally Posted: March 15, 2012

(April 3, 2012) Updated to include more pages

Terri-Lynne McClintic jotted the following notes after Tori Stafford was killed:

Author's Note:

Who the Hell adds girly flourishes to child-murder cover-up scenarios?

At last, we have an answer to one of life's great mysteries.

Terri-Lynne McClintic Climbed Deadly Ladder

McClintic strikes a "gangsta" pose (Facebook)

Confessed and convicted child-killer Terri-Lynne McClintic violent history was entered as evidence in the ongoing murder trial against her former lover, Michael Rafferty.

"I’m not denying that I have a history of violence, but I'm not violent towards children and I've never hurt a child in my life. To try to fathom and comprehend the fact that a child lost their life by my hands is something I could not comprehend." 

Terri-Lynne's troubles with the law began with two assault charges stemming from altercations with her adoptive mother, Carol McClintic. Terri-Lynne choked her mother with her left hand as she punched her in the face with her right hand after the two got into an argument over the fact that Terri-Lynne had been dismissed from work. Carol McClintic suffered partial vision loss as a result.

The second charge resulted from Terri-Lynne punching her mother in the back of the head after the two got into a "mutual confrontation." Terri-Lynne alledged that she punched her mother after Carol burned her with a cigarette.

Carol McClintic (Police File Photo)

Once inside the Youth Criminal Justice System, Terri-Lynne McClintic racked up a number of additional assault charges, mostly with regard to altercations with other incarcerated young offenders. A journal that Terri-Lynne kept while serving time was given centre-stage at Rafferty's trial:

• "Respect"  an entry detailing the (fictional) killing of another person.

• "Locked Up"  an entry detailing an (actual) incident where McClintic stabbed someone during a robbery. According to police records, McClintic brandished a knife as she approached two men and demanded money or drugs. McClintic stabbed one of the men, and the police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. Although the officers had their guns drawn, Terri-Lynne resisted arrest and punched one of the officers in the face.

Michael Rafferty's lawyer, Dirk Derstine, suggested to Terri-Lynne McClintic that she had no remorse. McClintic replied that she "didn't feel certain emotions" at the time.

When McClintic was questioned by police regarding the disappearance of Woodstock, Ontario Grade 3 student Tori Stafford, she admitted that she had been present during the kidnap, sexual assault, and murder of the little girl, but told her interrogator that it had been Rafferty who killed Tori with a claw hammer that had been purchased earlier that day. On the witness stand at Rafferty's trial, however, McClintic told a different story: she told the packed courtroom that it had been her who fatally bludgeoned the child.

"Yes, it did take me time to come to terms with that. But now I have come to terms with that and I'm sitting here today telling the truth. And it doesn't get any more real than that. My testimony wouldn't be any different a year from today than it is today."

More from Mascara & Murder...

Terri-Lynne McClintic Confesses Gory Details
Heart-wrenching account of the abduction and murder of Tori Stafford, compiled from a numerous media reports on her testimony.

"I told her I was sorry."
Impressions on Christie Blatchford's article covering McClintic's testimony at the trial of ex-lover Michael Rafferty.

The Many Faces of Terri-Lynne McClintic
Examining McClintic's fractured upbringing in contrast with that of another notorious female killer, Karla Homolka.

Terri-Lynne was "Trigger Happy"
Read the actual note that troubled teenager McClintic sent to one of her friends while she was being held in a youth detention centre.

"I basically taught myself not to feel certain things."
Read a portion of the actual letter that Terri-Lynne McClintic sent to her (then) lover Michael Rafferty.

McClintic Covers Up: Scenario 1
Read Terri-Lynne McClintic's handwritten notes composed shortly after Tori was killed.

Terri-Lynne McClintic: Facebook Diagnosis
View screen captures from McClintic's Facebook account, before it was suspended.

"I don't know Tori Stafford."
View more of Terri-Lynne McClintic's handwritten scripted denials regarding her knowledge of Tori's disappearance.

Rafferty Trial Evidence Released
View photos of evidence released at the trial of McClintic's ex-lover, Michael Rafferty.

McClintic Fails Again
Details about new assault charges Terri-Lynne McClintic is facing after engaging in a fight with a fellow inmate at the Grand Valley Institution for Women.

Deviance, Perversion Inadmissible
Details concerning the child-porn evidence the jury in the Michael Rafferty case didn't get to hear.

From Homolka to McClintic: Explaining the Inexplicable
Discussion of popular science surrounding sexually violent female offenders

Judge to Rafferty: "You, sir, are a monster."
Read Justice Thomas A. Heeney's comments to Michael Rafferty during sentencing hearing

"I basically taught myself not to feel certain things"

Convicted child-killer Terri-Lynne McClintic wrote the following (undated) letter to ex-boyfriend Michael Rafferty, who is currently on trial for his part in the abduction, rape, and murder of 8 year old Ontario girl Tori Stafford:

Terri-Lynne was "Trigger Happy"

Terri-Lynne McClintic wrote the following note to one of her "homies" while incarcerated as a juvenile offender:

Lawyer Tim Danson: "I feel incredibly protective of these children"

Although not representing the family of slain Ontario schoolgirl Tori Stafford, lawyer Tim Danson has had much to say about the trial of accused child killer Michael Rafferty, as ongoing testimony from his ex-girlfriend, Terri-Lynne McClintic, paints a vile picture of depravity not unlike the Bernardo/Homolka affair which made him famous.

Danson represented the families of murdered teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, and spent the next twenty years working alongside those families in their numerous legal battles.

Tori Stafford's parents show solidarity with slain girl

[Excerpt]

The parents experience a “unique dichotomy,” Danson said. On one hand, they do not want to hear about the terror and anguish of their child’s final moments. On the other hand, they feel they must.

“They were not able to be with their child when it was important to protect them, so not being in the courtroom in solidarity with them is unthinkable. If they're not there, they feel like they've abandoned their child.”

Sitting through the trial also helps bring a degree of closure, he added.

“They need to know the truth because without having answers to their questions, they cannot move forward.”

But there is some evidence that families do not need to see or hear, and Danson has acted as a buffer, protecting them against the worst of it, such as gruesome autopsy and crime scene photos or videotapes of the deaths.

In the Bernardo case, for example, Danson watched the videotapes of the sexual attacks and deaths, the crime scene photos and certain other hard evidence, not just for the French and Mahaffy families but for Jane Doe who survived.

He persuaded the families not to be in court when the tapes were played and successfully fought to have the images on the tapes shown only to the judge, jury and court stenographers. The news media and others in the public gallery were limited to hearing the soundtrack.

“I feel incredibly protective of these children and when I see the extent of their violation on videotape, why should anyone else want to see this degradation and humiliation?” Danson asked.

After the appeals process ran its course, he successfully fought on behalf of the families to have the tapes destroyed.

Danson also pushed to have Homolka’s plea bargain nullified on the grounds that she lied to the Crown about her involvement in the deaths. This effort failed, but he was successful in blocking Homolka’s parole to ensure she served her full 12-year sentence for manslaughter. She was released in 2005, while Bernardo is serving a life sentence.

The Many Faces of Terri-Lynne McClintic

Convicted child killer Terri-Lynne McClintic painted a grim portrait of her own childhood years while testifying against Michael Rafferty, her ex-lover and partner in the murder of Victoria Elizabeth Stafford.

McClintic told the packed court that her birth mother was a stripper who gave her away to another woman -- also a stripper -- to be raised. She claimed that she suffered a separated shoulder resulting from abuse when she was just a baby. At the tender age of eight, Terri-Lynne began experimenting with a variety of drugs; ironically, the same age that Tori Stafford was when she was brutally murdered by McClintic and Rafferty.

McClintic amassed a lengthy criminal record, with numerous assault and robbery convictions. She admitted that she had been using and dealing drugs -- OxyContin, mostly -- at the time Stafford was killed.

If all of this is true, it stands in stark contrast with the background story presented by perhaps the most notorious woman in serial killer history: Karla Homolka. McClintic has often been compared to Homolka with respect to the fact that she has admitted to luring an underage victim on behalf of her paedophile lover, but in this author's estimation, the similarities end there.

The only real darkness radiating from the Homolka household emanated from Karla herself. She was raised in a stable, supportive family, and rose to considerable popularity among her contemporaries. The eldest of three beautiful, blonde daughters, Karla was smart as a whip and an excellent student. She could have aspired to anything she desired; she desired Paul Kenneth Bernardo.

In the case of Terri-Lynne McClintic: born of a stripper, raised by a stripper, and lost to drug addiction before she had even reached puberty. By no means am I suggesting that her back story excuses what she did to little Tori Stafford, but I feel that it at least offers some explanation as to why.

After the murder, McClintic's opinion of herself was so low that she actually offered to take 100% of the blame for the horrific things that she and Rafferty had done together:

"I told him that I would take the fall for everything, that I would say it is all me, that he had more to lose than I did, because I was just an 18-year-old junkie anyways."

Terri-Lynne McClintic with her adoptive mother, Carol

"Coverage begins to verge on pornography"

The following editorial appeared in the Wingham Advance Times, and deals with the appropriateness of media coverage of particularly heinous crimes.

In the interest of forming logical impressions and making informed decisions, I do not accept that the documentation streaming forth from our court system should be sanitized or censored in any way before it reaches my ears/eyes.

Those who aren't able to endure the uncensored truth should stick to Reader's Digest, and leave the rest of us to sift through the raw information; unpleasant though it may be.

"I told her I was sorry"

I can't imagine how Christie Blachford must feel, sitting through McClintic's testimony which stands in sickening parallel with that of Karla Homolka nearly two decades ago.

Each of these women admitted to feeding the unspeakably sick desires of their lovers without so much as a thought about anyone but themselves. Each of these women, these utter wastes of human skin, were somehow able to rationalize the kidnap, rape, and murder of children to themselves because they believed it would win them favour with their respective partners.

Bernardo Victims' Lawyer on "Sanitizing the Facts"

Tim Danson speaks to a crowd of reporters in Joliette, Quebec

just prior to Karla Homolka's release from prison

With the Tori Stafford murder trial now underway, one can't help but wonder: how much does the general public need to know?

Toronto area lawyer Tim Danson, who became famous for representing the families of slain teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French at the trial of serial rapist and murderer Paul Bernardo, weighed in during an interview with CBC's Metro Morning:

"If you start setting up a rule of sanitizing the facts so that the public doesn't really know exactly what happened then you're not in a position to evaluate the administration of justice," 

The full interview can be accessed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/14/audio-stafford-trial-hanson-bernardo.html

Terri-Lynne McClintic Confesses Gory Details

Convicted child killer Terri-Lynne McClintic shocked a packed court room yesterday when she admitted that it had been she -- Michael Rafferty -- who delivered the fatal blows that ended the beautiful little girl's life.

McClintic took the stand this week to begin her testimony against her ex-boyfriend, who is currently on trial for the murder of Tori Stafford. Rafferty has pleaded not-guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault causing bodily harm.

McClintic and Rafferty met at a pizza joint in Woodstock, Ontario in February 2009. Less than two months later, the pair snatched the Grade 3 student shortly after school was let out for the day on April 8.

“He knew what to say. He made me feel good,”