Dear Governor DeWine: My Grandmother’s Murderer Belongs in Prison
Dear Governor DeWine:
I am writing to you as a lifelong Republican who not only worked for the Ohio GOP but hosted a fundraiser for you. I also write as the grandson of Marie Belcastro, who was murdered on March 31, 2015, by 15-year-old Jacob Larosa. I wish to explain how your signing of Senate Bill 256, which retroactively ends life without parole for most juvenile murderers, has impacted me and my entire family. SB256 canceled the life without parole sentence given to Larosa. This change has devastated my family and re-opened the wounds we spent years trying to heal. I have written to you about this before but never received a response.
Larosa not only beat my grandmother to death with a MAG flashlight, but he also tried to rape her. At 94, and around 80 pounds, Grandma didn’t stand a chance against the flashlight-wielding young man who entered her home that day in March 2015.
Larosa’s life without parole sentence was handed down three and a half years after these brutal crimes. I flew up from Florida for the sentencing, and I left Ohio so grateful that justice had prevailed. I finally had closure. The fog began to lift. I was getting better, knowing my gram’s killer was locked up forever. No parole hearings, and no future worries about targeting or retribution. But SB 256 has undone all that emotional healing. It also undid three and a half years of work by prosecutors and judges.
Ironically, a Democrat County Prosecutor prosecuted Larosa. And a Democrat judge sentenced him to life without parole. But Ohio’s mostly Republican General Assembly and Republican governor made him eligible for parole.
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that life without parole is a legal and constitutional sentence for juvenile murderers like Larosa. Just 10 days after SB256 went into effect, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Jones v. Mississippi that juvenile murderers do not need to be found permanently incorrigible before receiving the sentence. Larosa’s original sentence was completely legal and was appropriate given the circumstances of his crimes. It should never have been undone.
I wrote to Larosa a few years ago, telling him that God loves him and wants to heal his mind and spirit. My grandmother was a woman of deep faith, and I know she’d share that good news with Larosa if she could. God can and does forgive. I can forgive. But this wonderful fact does not absolve Larosa of the consequences of his actions.
Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl wrote that humans can endure much suffering, provided we can attach meaning to that suffering. My grandmother’s murder is meaningful so long as her killer is behind bars, unable to harm his family, mine, or yours.
I no longer live in Ohio. But much of my family does. And many of my friends do. And they want to know what you will do to address the harm caused to my family and others. Will you stand by a bill that values murderers like Jacob Larosa over vulnerable victims and their families? Or will you stand up for justice, crime victims, and safety?
Sincerely,
Brian Kirk
