This is an unbelievable miss on our part, a man promise a women drugs and tries to rape her, she responds by choking him to death and is serving 20 years. WTF.
A 19-year-old woman who strangled a man because he repeatedly tried to kiss her during a prostitution encounter last fall was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison.
Precious Dupriest pleaded guilty to first degree reckless homicide in the death of Billy W. Murray, 63, who was found naked with red suspenders wound around his neck in a room at the Village Inn, 3001 W. Wisconsin Ave., on Oct. 18, 2011.
Her attorney said events that night became “a perfect storm” for the violent reaction, after a life full of trauma for Dupriest that included early abandonment, violent sexual abuse and drug addiction.
She had been charged with first degree intentional homicide but pleaded guilty to first degree reckless homicide. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 20 years. In addition to the 18 years, she will serve another 10 years on extended supervision.
Police tracked down Dupriest from video that showed her leaving the hotel in Murray’s car, which she later traded to someone for $50. She told detectives Murray had picked her up on the street and asked she wanted to get high and have sex.
The two went to the Village Inn and smoked $40 of crack when Murray started trying to kiss her, she told investigators, an act she found “disgusting.” When he persisted, she choked him to unconsciousness, then strangled him with a pair of red suspenders to make sure he was dead.
In court Friday, the victim’s family asked Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Ellen Brostrom for 60 years. Dupriest “put out the light,” that was his brother’s life, said Thomas Murray. More than a dozen family and friends, from several states, came to court, and many more sent letters about Murray, the judge indicated.
Dupriest’s father also appeared. Robert Bartleson apologized to his daughter for not being a better father to her, then told Brostrom how he had battled crack addiction himself and left his family when Precious was just 2 to move to Arkansas.
After he cleaned up his own life, he said, he tried repeatedly to have Precious live with him and his wife in Arkansas but said he met resistance from social workers waiting for Precious’ mother to overcome her own drug problems.
Dupriest said she hates herself for what she’s done, but is currently sober after 342 days in jail and has learned from her mistakes.
“I just ask that you please have mercy,” she told Brostrom.
The judge noted Dupriest’s sincere remorse, young age and traumatic childhood, and the altered state while high on crack, but said the seriousness of the crime, and huge loss to Murray’s family demanded a serious prison term.
Brostrom called Dupriest’s two dozen foster care placements “an absolute travesty,” but told Dupriest she could find redemption even in a prison term, because when it’s done she will have paid her debt to society and be able to “turn the page” and move on with a better sense of self worth and years of treatment and education.
