Miscellaneous Documents
Here
we have included random articles and items relating to Randy's
case...Unfortunately, it is Randy's personality that has seemed to be on
trial, instead of the focus being on the actual evidence that he was
NOT a shooter in the Oshman's robbery.
You
will also see here a letter from one of Randy's former attorneys, David
L. Richards, who at one time was a Judge, and is currently a prosecutor
in Tarrant County - he believes that Randy should NOT be on death row.
On the flip side of this opinion is an editorial piece written by one of
Randy's former teachers at the boarding school he attended in Kentucky,
and below these documents, you will see a counter-piece that Randy has
written in response to Michael Spencer's Editorial, which is a much more
balanced view.
Randy's Counter-Piece to Mr Michael Spencer's Editorial
When
I first read this editorial by Michael Spencer, the Chaplain and Bible
Studies teacher at Oneida Baptist Institute (the school I attended for
the majority of my teenage years) I was completely shocked. This piece
felt like yet another person's attempt to gain a little attention by
saying they 'knew' me, which seemed all too fashionable at the time of
the escape. In actual fact, Mr Spencer barely knew me - he was much
better acquainted with my brother, as he was his chess team coach, and I
knew Mr Spencer only in passing.
That
said, some of what he said in the article is true...I did spend a lot
of time with my girlfriend of the time, when we were both in the tenth
grade - not the ninth. And I did go through a confused religious stage
at one point, after being subjected to continuous proclamations that
because I was Jewish, I was “going to hell”. The confusion did not last
long though, and I quickly rejected the school's teaching of 'Christ'.
Mr
Spencer further says that I did not get involved in any activities or
sports, nor did I excel at anything. Again, this is incorrect. I played
soccer in the summer school period, I was on the middleschool track and
field team (where I threw the shot put), I won an award for the Most
Outstanding Pianist, and I also won numerous 'Best Worker' awards. As
well as all of that I was co-editor of my creative writing class
magazine, I was on the Honour Roll several times, I volunteered for
various functions, and occasionally helped out at the Guest House and
the 'Friendship House', a place that gave away clothes to low income
families who lived in the surrounding area. I was also training to be a
lifeguard at the time I was expelled, and I studied very hard to earn
the extra credits I needed to catch up with my class and ensure I would
graduate with them in 1996.
Yes,
I was a goofball, and I got into trouble several times for pranks; but I
was never the type of person who got into trouble for the sake of
getting into trouble. My problems began when I started to experiment
with drugs, and the lack of guidance from my parents when it came to my
impulsive behaviour.
Mr
Spencer mentions the carving in the school bench, but he fails to go
into any further detail...It was a poem I had written for my girlfriend
which was misinterpreted as a suicide note – it definitely wasn't! What
Mr Spencer also failed to mention was the disturbing fact that a
CHRISTIAN school said they couldn't deal with me being 'suicidal', which
resulted in my being expelled from the school.
What
hurts the most about this piece is on one hand, he says he believes I
was not a shooter, but because I was there at the scene, I'm just as
guilty and therefore should be executed. This is a very un-Christian and
judgemental attitude. On the other hand, he blames himself and the
school for not doing enough to save me...Well, I am not the only kid
from OBI that they threw to the wolves because the school couldn't deal
with their problems. Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry or bitter, but it
does make me shake my head in disbelief at their pseudo-piousness. I
can only hope that their attitude is different now.
Finally, the article closes with Mr Spencer saying that he was going to write to me and tell me all of this...He never did.
The
point of my response to this article is to show you, the reader, how
easily people misinterpret or misunderstand things about my life, and
the media just runs with it, verbatim, without conducting any actual
research. But as we all know, there are two sides to every story.
Thank you for taking the time to read and form your own opinion on this.
Randy E. Halprin