IT WAS THE NEWS WE HAD WAITED OVER A YEAR FOR! WE WERE TOLD THAT NEW EVIDENCE HAD COME FORWARD AND THAT NEW CHARGES WERE ABOUT TO BE FILED! COULD THIS BE TRUE? COULD SAND HAVE FINALLY DECIDED TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND REALLY CHARGE BOLASKI AND THE OTHERS WITH THE RIGHT CHARGES? WE DID NOT WANT TO GET OUR HOPES UP. THIS ALL HAPPENED TOO QUICK. IT SEEMED TOO CONVENIENT...

THE RUTLAND HERALD WAS ABOUT TO COME OUT WITH A STORY ON THE CASE WHICH WOULD HAVE BROUGHT OUT THE TRUTH. THEY CONTACTED SAND EARLY IN THE WEEK. THE STORY WAS TO APPEAR IN THAT SUNDAY'S EDITION BUT BEFORE THAT STORY COULD BE PUBLISHED, ON THAT FRIDAY, THE HERALD WAS TOLD BY SAND THAT NEW EVIDENCE HAD EMERGED WHICH PROMPTED MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES TO BE FILED. WITHIN A MATTER OF DAYS OF FINDING OUT ABOUT THE STORY THEY MIRACULOUSLY CAME UP WITH THIS SUPPOSED NEW EVIDENCE.

WE WERE ANXIOUS TO SEE THE NEW EVIDENCE. BUT NO EVIDENCE WAS FORTHCOMING. IF THEY HAD ENOUGH EVIDENCE FOR 2ND DEGREE MURDER CHARGES BEFORE THE NEW EVIDENCE CAME UP, HOW COULD THIS NEW EVIDENCE, WHICH SUPPOSEDLY PROMPTED THE NEW CHARGES, DOWNGRADE THE CHARGES TO MANSLAUGHTER!? WE SAW THE EVIDENCE. AS DID OUR ATTORNEY. WHICH WAS CORROBORATED BY COMMANDER L'ESPERANCE AND CAPT. ED LEDO THAT THERE IS ENOUGH EVIDENCE FOR AT LEAST 2ND DEGREE MURDER!

AND HOW COULD THERE NOT BE ANY CHARGES ON ANYONE ELSE? THE EVIDENCE IS DAMNING! THIS WAS A RUSE. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. THEY DUPED THE RUTLAND HERALD AND STOPPED THE STORY. BUT WE WERE NOT TO BE DUPED! THERE IS MORE THAN ONE NEWSPAPER. MORE THAN ONE WAY TO GET THE STORY OUT. HOW MANY TIMES COULD THEY STOP THE STORY BEFORE IT FINALLY CAME OUT? THEY KNEW WE WERE GOING TO GET OUT THE TRUTH. THEY KNEW WE WERE NOT STOPPING. IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME.

WE WERE HOLDING OUR BREATH FOR ANY MEASURE OF HOPE! MAYBE THERE IS EVIDENCE. MAYBE THEY WOULD LET US KNOW THE FOLLOWING WEEK. MAYBE THEY ARE GATHERING THE EVIDENCE TOGETHER. THERE WERE MANY QUESTIONS THAT NEEDED TO BE ANSWERED. WE COULD ONLY WAIT, AND HOPE!

THEN, UNEXPECTEDLY, ON THE SUNDAY THAT THE NEWS STORY WAS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT, I  RECEIVED AN E-MAIL PERSONALLY FROM SAND! THIS WAS UNPRECEDENTED. HE HAD NEVER E-MAILED ME DIRECTLY AT ALL. HE ALWAYS HAD PAM WEIGEL DO IT.  MAYBE THIS WAS IT! THIS HAD TO BE IMPORTANT IF HE E-MAILED ME HIMSELF! MAYBE NOW HE WOULD BE GIVING US THE ANSWERS WE WERE LOOKING FOR! I OPENED THE EMAIL WITH GREAT ANTICIPATION AND HOPE. HOPE THAT OUR EFFORTS HAVE FINALLY BEGUN TO BEAR FRUIT!

BUT THERE WERE NO ANSWERS. NO EVIDENCE! NO EXPLANATIONS! INSTEAD, IN THAT EMAIL WE WERE GIVEN AN ULTIMATUM... "NO PROSECUTOR IN THIS COUNTRY OR THIS STATE WILL EVER TAKE THIS CASE! ALL EFFORTS TO REMOVE ME WILL SIMPLY RESULT IN NO CHARGES WHATSOEVER!" I READ THIS OVER AND OVER. TRYING TO MAKE SOME SENSE OUT OF THIS. BUT THE MESSAGE WAS CLEAR; STOP OUR EFFORTS TO GET SAND OFF THIS CASE OR THERE WILL BE NO JUSTICE FOR VINNIE! WE EITHER LET HIM PROSECUTE HIS WAY, HIS CHARGES, OR THERE WILL BE "NO CHARGES WHATSOEVER!" WE WERE BEING TOLD WE MUST ACCEPT WHAT EVER JUSTICE THEY DECIDE TO METE OUT. HOWEVER LITTLE OR NON EXISTANT. FOR IF WE DON'T THERE WILL BE NO JUSTICE FOR OUR SON! IT NOW BECAME CLEAR WHY SAND E-MAILED ME HIMSELF. IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT, BUT TO THEM NOT US!

I ASKED FOR A FACE TO FACE MEETING WITH SAND. TO GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN HIS E-MAIL. AT A MEETING IN BOSTON, ALONG WITH 5 FAMILY MEMBERS, SAND CONFIRMED HIS E-MAIL. WE MUST STOP OUR EFFORTS TO REMOVE HIM OR THERE WILL BE NO JUSTICE AT ALL. HE STATED THAT IF HE IS REMOVED AG SORRELL WILL MAKE SURE THE CHARGES GO AWAY! SAND SAID THAT HE ANSWERS TO NO ONE, NOT THE AG OR EVEN THE GOVERNOR, AND WILL DO WHAT EVER HE WANTS! IF WE DON'T GO ALONG, THERE WILL BE NO CHARGES!

THIS IS A DECISION NO GRIEVING PARENTS SHOULD EVER BE FACED WITH! WE ARE BEING TOLD TO COMPROMISE OUR SON'S MURDER! TO BETRAY OUR PROMISE TO VINNIE THAT WE WILL FIGHT FOR HIM. TO GET  JUSTICE FOR THE COLD BLOODED MURDER OF OUR SON THAT HE DESERVES. WE HAVE LABORED OVER THIS DECISION EVERY DAY AND EVERY NIGHT SINCE THE ULTIMATUM WAS GIVEN. WE HAVE FOUGHT WITH OUR EMOTIONS. REACHED DEEP INTO OUR HEARTS AND PRAYED TO GOD FOR GUIDANCE. THIS HAS TORN US APART!

AS FOR THE NEW EVIDENCE? THERE IS NONE! THEY HAVE HAD THIS SAME EVIDENCE FOR OVER A YEAR JUST SITTING THERE. NO FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS. NOTHING! SAND COULD HAVE PUT THESE SAME CHARGES A YEAR AGO BUT DID NOTHING! HE HAS LET THESE MURDERERS ROAM THE STREETS, ENDANGERING THE PEOPLE OF VERMONT, THE VERY SAME PEOPLE HE TOOK AN OATH TO PROTECT, KNOWING THAT THESE MEN COMMITTED MURDER!

DO THEY REALLY EXPECT US TRUST THEM? DO THEY REALLY BELIEVE WE WOULD LET THIS MAN, WHO HAS SHOWN VINNIE EVERY INDIGNITY, SPEAK FOR OUR SON? DO WE GIVE IN AND SETTLE FOR OPEN ENDED JUSTICE? TRUST THE SAME PEOPLE WHO HAVE DENIED OUR SON JUSTICE FOR 17 MONTHS? 

DO WE TRUST THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM WHO HAS DENIED VINNIE DIGNITY IN DEATH BY PROTECTING HIS KILLERS? CAN WE FORGET THE LIES AND DECEIT, THE TOTAL DISREGARD FOR VINNIE THAT THEY HAVE SHOWN? MOST OF ALL CAN WE EVER LIVE WITH OURSELVES, CAN WE EVER AGAIN VISIT VINNIE AND NOT FEEL ASHAMED? ASHAMED THAT WE LET HIM DOWN. THAT WE GAVE IN. WE SURRENDERED!

THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER. NO!! NEVER!! WE WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR VINNIE! WE WILL NOT COMPROMISE OUR SON'S DEATH! WE WILL NOT GIVE IN TO THREATS! OR COERCION! WE WILL FIGHT UNTIL OUR DYING BREATH FOR VINNIE! WE WILL NOT BETRAY OUR SON! COME WHAT MAY WE WILL CONTINUE FIGHTING. WE WILL NOT SURRENDER! IF PER CHANCE JUSTICE ELUDES US, IT WILL BE WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE! WITH HONOR AND DIGNITY! NOT THROUGH THREATS OR COERCION! BUT THROUGH LOVE AND DEVOTION FOR OUR FIRST BORN SON WHO WAS TAKEN FROM US FAR TOO SOON! WE WILL HOLD OUR HEADS HIGH KNOWING WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING POSSIBLE FOR VINNIE.

NO, WE WILL NOT GIVE IN! FOR THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE! AS LONG AS WE HAVE HOPE THERE IS A CHANCE. A CHANCE FOR HOPE THAT THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE NOT AFRAID TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE. SOMEONE WILLING TO GO AGAINST INSURMOUNTABLE ODDS!  HOPE, THAT THIS HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE WILL SOON END! FOR ONCE WE GIVE UP ON HOPE WE MIGHT AS WELL GIVE UP ON LIFE. SO WE WILL NOT GIVE UP! WE PRAYED TO GOD TO GIVE US HOPE AND HE ANSWERED US! THAT HOPE CAME TO US IN ATTORNEY TIM BRADL.

ATTORNEY BRADL, OF BOSTON, MA. HAS DECIDED TO TAKE UP THE FIGHT. HE SEES THE INJUSTICES BEING DONE AND DECIDED TO HELP RIGHT THESE WRONGS. HE IS THE ONLY ONE WITH ENOUGH GUTS TO SAY, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" ATTORNEY BRADL'S RECORD, A FORMER ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE OF MASSACHUSETTS, INCLUDES 25 STRAIGHT TRIAL CONVICTIONS IN SERIOUS FELONY MATTERS AND EIGHT CONSECUTIVE CONVICTIONS IN FELONY MURDER CASES!

HE WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE SENIOR TRIAL AND MAJOR FELONY TRIAL TEAM WHILE AN ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY. HE NOW CONCENTRATES HIS PRACTICE IN DEFENSE OF COMPLEX CRIMINAL CASES. HE IS A NO NONSENSE INDIVIDUAL WHO WANTS TO FIND THE TRUTH!

THE INJUSTICE OF THIS CASE HAS SO TOUCHED HIM THAT HE HAS CHOSEN TO FIGHT FOR US! TO HELP FIND JUSTICE FOR VINNIE. TO BRING TO JUSTICE ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN THE MURDER OF MY SON. HE HAS THE GUTS, THE FORTITUDE TO DO WHAT MANY OTHERS WERE TOO AFRAID TO DO, STAND UP TO INJUSTICE! MAKE A STAND AGAINST THOSE WHO WOULD USURP THE LAW! THOSE THAT HAVE A LICENSE TO KILL! NO MATTER THEIR STATURE!

SO I SAY TO THOSE COWARDS OUT THERE THAT TOOK MY SON'S LIFE AND THOSE THAT HAVE PROTECTED THEM WITH THEIR VEILS OF LIES AND DECEIT... WE ARE NOT GIVING UP!  JUSTICE, THOUGH DELAYED, WILL BE FORTHCOMING. THOSE OF YOU THAT WILLFULLY PLANNED THE MURDER OF OUR SON WILL FEEL JUSTICE. YOUR TIME IS COMING! THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE LIED AND COMMITTED PERJURY TO PROTECT THE MURDERERS, THEREBY INVOLVING YOURSELVES AS ACCESSORIES TO MURDER, YOU WILL FEEL JUSTICE!

THEN, YOU WILL ASK YOURSELVES, WAS IT WORTH IT? WAS IT WORTH A LIFE? WAS IT WORTH ALL THE LIVES NOW RUINED BY THIS STUPID, SENSELESS ACT? ALL THE FAMILIES THAT HAVE BEEN AND WILL BE DESTROYED? FOREVER TO ANGUISH ABOUT ONE DAY OUT OF A LIFETIME! ONE MOMENT OF ANGER THAT CAN NEVER, EVER BE TAKEN BACK! BUT THE ANSWERS WILL HAVE COME TOO LATE!

OUR TRUE FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN! OUR ANGUISH WILL LAST FOREVER.

BUT SOON OUR VINNIE WILL BE ABLE TO REST IN PEACE...