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The Beast, coda: Trial of the Beast
Feature Story
[Published in The Blue Paper newspaper on October 4, 2013.]
The Beast, coda: Trial of the Beast
This is a sequel to the three-part story:
The story up to now: Five years ago this week, a 3-year old girl was attacked (Facing the Beast) with a tree saw on William Street by a troubled eccentric neighbor (Face of the Beast). Fortuitously, a passing bicyclist disrupted the assault, and the attacker entered “the system” (Caged Beast).
When we last looked in on Christopher Cornelius Farrell he had been shipped back to Key West from the South Florida Evaluation & Treatment Center on the mainland. He’d been declared competent to stand trial, and his trial had been scheduled for just after his 50th birthday, during the week of May 27, 2013. Did I mention he had dismissed his public defenders and was preparing to defend himself? Seriously? Yep.
I had been off the Rock during the “can we go to trial?” hearing so I had not witnessed it (the only hearing I missed over the 5 years). I’m told that Judge Wayne Miller tried hard to talk him out of defending himself, but to no avail. Nevertheless, he (more…)
It Breaks a Village
KONK REACTOR column
[Published in the KONK Life newspaper on December 6, 2012.]
It Breaks a Village
Hillary’s expression “It takes a village [to raise kids]” is turned on its head in Key West. The (grown) children of the community must work to foster the village itself – especially the oldest neighborhood on the island: Bahama Village. I ashamedly have to admit, though, that our neglect has broken this Village…
The Bahama Village neighborhood dates back to the earliest days of our settlement and once covered the westernmost quarter of the populated island (when New Town was a salt marsh). Many descendents of African/Caribbean settlers ended up in this neighborhood. Over time, (more…)
The Beast, part 3: Caged Beast
KONK REACTOR column
[Published in the KONK Life newspaper on August 30, 2012.]
The Beast, part 3: Caged Beast
In my last two columns ( “Facing the Beast“ and “Face of the Beast“) we witnessed Christopher Cornelius Farrell’s foiled attempt to decapitate his 3-year-old neighbor, and learned how he’d tormented the community for years. But what happened after the Key West police arrested him at gunpoint on October 1, 2008?
I attended the arraignment of Farrell three weeks later, in Courtroom D of the brand new Freeman Justice Center – one of the first arraignments held there. Farrell sat among six or seven other prisoners, the only one in black and white striped (“crazy person!”) scrubs. (more…)
The Beast, part 2: Face of the Beast
KONK REACTOR column
[Published in the KONK Life newspaper on August 16, 2012.]
The Beast, part 2: Face of the Beast
In my last column (“Facing the Beast”) I related my encounter with Christopher Cornelius Farrell, as he was attempting to cut off the head of a three year old girl on a William Street sidewalk. But who is this guy?
I can find no record of when Farrell first showed up in Key West. But by the early 1990s — in his late 20s — he was ensconced in the two story building at the corner of William and Southard Streets diagonally across from the big Albury house (now being restored after the death of the last Albury, Bonnie). Farrell seems to have always been unemployed – nobody seems to know how he could afford the place.
In the summer of 1993 Farrell went to court on a Trespassing charge and was adjudicated guilty, (more…)
The Beast, part 1: Facing the Beast
KONK REACTOR column
[Published in the KONK Life newspaper on August 2, 2012.]
The Beast, part 1: Facing the Beast
I recently caught a YouTube video of new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield’s Comic-Con speech, where he described how Spidey shaped his life. How Spidey inspired him to do good. I too was a young Spider-Man fan. Perhaps Spidey had influenced me as well a few years ago when fate placed me in the right place at the right time.
I’d left the gym after a vigorous workout and was warming-down on my bike-ride home. Nice ride through the cemetery (before the “locked gates” brouhaha) and then down Southard. As I passed William Street I heard a girlie-squeal to my right. (more…)
Crimes and Punishments
KONK REACTOR column
[Published in the KONK Life newspaper on April 5, 2012.]
Crimes and Punishments
Enough with the trivialities (ref my last column). it’s time to get serious. Dead serious…
Dateline Wednesday, March 21, 2012:
Today, former Big Pine Key resident Keith Weitzman stood before Judge Fowler and pleaded guilty to a charge involving his action that killed someone. He had fallen asleep driving on US1 on Cudjoe Key and veered into a car carrying three California men. One didn’t make it. FHP Lt. Kathy McKinney was quoted: “People don’t realize [sleepy driving is] just as dangerous as getting behind the wheel drunk,” His sentence: $500 fine and community service.
Today, in another Key West courtroom, (more…)