Jan 04 2010
North Charleston Man Dies Ten Years After Beating
Troy Knapp’s killing was 10 years in the making, a gradual death by inches and degrees.
His brutal beating at the hands of an angry mob sparked outrage and spurred marches a decade ago. But long after the headlines faded, Knapp soldiered on in a battered and broken body that no longer responded to his commands.
Bedridden, in chronic pain and saddled with seizures, Knapp hung on until Nov. 6, when his body finally gave out for good. At age 43, he became North Charleston’s 11th homicide of 2009, the victim of a slow-motion killing too old to carry the possibility of a murder charge.
Knapp died as a result of severe injuries he suffered in his October 1999 beating,
Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said. But there is nothing more police can do. South Carolina law won’t allow a murder prosecution in a case where the victim lives more than three years after his injuries were inflicted.
Six men were convicted of lynching in the attack on Knapp. Just two remain in prison, though they are expected to be released within the year.
This is another unfortunate example of how weak and useless our justice system is in this country. Why do we have so much violent crime here in the U.S. compared to other nations? In my opinion, it’s quite simple. Our laws protect the criminals more than the victims.
Only two of this man’s attackers still remain in prison over this incident and they are supposed to be released within a year. They will go on with their lives after crippling this man for ten years before he eventually died. If there was real justice in this country all of this man’s attackers would get a needle in the arm and be executed. These animals have demonstrated that they have no respect for human life and therefore they cannot be trusted to function in society. Like a malignant tumor they need to be excised and at the very least spend life in prison, but that won’t happen because we’re a nation of wimps. I guarantee more than one of them will end up back in jail at some point. We need more vigilante justice in this country if the proper authorities refuse to dispense it themselves.
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