Vt. Man Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping, Killing Niece:

Yesterday registered sex offender Michael Jacques pleaded guilty to the 2008 kidnapping, rape, and murder of his then 12-year-old niece Brooke Bennett and the subsequent cover-up. As I posted before, this was all done so Jacques could avoid a federal death sentence. That’s all this story has really been all about ever since Jacques’ anti-death penalty lawyers got involved. For years they delayed justice for Brooke all to prove a point about the death penalty. While this should feel like a victory, it doesn’t. Let’s hear from Jacques’ lawyer…

“We just think this was a fair and enlightened way to resolve this case,” his attorney, David Ruhnke, said afterward.

All this was to him was a challenge to see if he could get one of the most heinous criminals in the country out of a death sentence. In my opinion, he didn’t care about Jacques, and he sure as hell didn’t care about Brooke. All that Ruhnke cared about was a high-profile deal that made him look good.

He won. Justice didn’t.