Monday, December 06, 2004

Who Is Truly Penitent?

Me writes:

Apparently KosherToday questions Peta employee Tal Ronen's baal teshuva
status
, but on the same page it appears to accept thay a convicted and
self-confessed child rapist and murderer is a ''Torah-observant Jew''. Go
figure.

1) "PETA employee Tal Ronen misrepresented himself to Rabbi Shar Yoshuv
Cohen, Haifa's Chief Rabbi, as a baal teshuva (returnee to authentic
Judaism) interested in proper slaughter practices."

2) Ralph Benning, 40, a ''Torah-observant Jew'' who is an inmate in a
Georgia prison can wear a yarmulke at all times and be served kosher food,
the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled.


Courtesy of the Awareness Center YahooGroup:
Case of Ralph Harrison Benning, Fulton County, Georgia
1)
Abuse victims often get less therapy than molester `No follow-up
unless parents have money,' says DA
by Gayle White Staff Writer
Atlanta Journal and Constitution
January 10, 1987
...
- In September 1985, Ralph Harrison Benning, 23, pleaded guilty to molesting
and murdering Peter Downing Howell Jr., 8. Benning told police he killed
Howell on the site where he was molested as a child. "Assaulting Downing was
like a re-enactment of something that had happened to him," a police officer
said.
...
2)
BENNING, RALPH H
GDC ID: 0000427174
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
DOB: 12/26/1963 RACE: WHITE GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 6'03''
WEIGHT: 211
EYE COLOR: UNKNOWN
HAIR COLOR: UNKNOWN
SCARS, MARKS, TATTOOS

INCARCERATION DETAILS
MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: HANCOCK STATE PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: LIFE, W/POSSIBLE PAROLE
TENTATIVE PAROLE MONTH: N/A
ACTUAL RELEASE DATE: CURRENTLY SERVING
CURRENT STATUS: ACTIVE

KNOWN ALIASES
A.K.A. BENNING,RALPH
A.K.A. BENNING,RALPH HARRISON
STATE OF GEORGIA - CURRENT SENTENCES
CASE NO: 198322
OFFENSE: AGGRAV ASSAULT
CONVICTION COUNTY: FULTON COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 09/16/1992
SENTENCE LENGTH: 5 YEARS, 0 MONTHS, 0 DAYS
CASE NO: 198322
OFFENSE: MURDER
CONVICTION COUNTY: FULTON COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 07/05/1986
SENTENCE LENGTH: LIFE
STATE OF GEORGIA - PRIOR SENTENCES
STATE OF GEORGIA - INCARCERATION HISTORY
INCARCERATION BEGIN INCARCERATION END
10/09/1986 ACTIVE