Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Inmate with medical history needs a fair hearing

Add the members of the state's clemency review board to the ignoble list of authority figures who have turned a blind eye toward justice in the Adam Bollenback case.

In a terse message last week, the board announced it was not going to intervene in the case of the Citrus County teenager who was sent to adult prison for 10 years for stealing a six-pack of beer and then slipping away from arresting deputies.

Bollenback went behind bars in 2002 with the vindictive words of Circuit Judge Ric Howard ringing in his ears: "This sentence is going to break your spirit."

Howard has stood behind his work, rejecting at least two separate pleas from Adam's allies that he receive a new trial.

An appellate court has ruled that Howard was within his rights when he sentenced the 17-year-old as an adult. On the question of whether the sentence met society's standards of fairness and justice, the panel was silent.

Bollenback's family and supporters, including advocates for improved mental health treatment in Citrus County, took their pleas to Tallahassee last month. They spoke, in five-minute bursts, to the clemency review committee, which provides information for the Board of Executive Clemency.

They tried to convey to the committee that Bollenback, who has been diagnosed with both bipolar and attention-deficit disorders, was not taking his prescribed medications when the incidents occurred.

If the court is going to take into account that Bollenback has a police record as a juvenile, why, then, does his medical history not matter equally?

The supporters carried 300 letters to the panel that they describe as the written will of the people, urging mercy for Bollenback and saying the punishment clearly does not fit the crimes.

The advocates left Tallahassee dismayed, a feeling that was confirmed last week when they received this response: "This is to advise you that your request for a waiver of the Rules of Executive Clemency has been denied."

No further explanation was offered, leading one of the speakers, Ron Lundberg of the Citrus chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness, to note, "I'm John Q. Public. I pay you. You owe us something more."

Bollenback's supporters are considering their options now, which appear to be limited.

Under the clemency rules, Bollenback is not eligible to have his case reviewed again until 2009, at which time he will have served the lion's share of his sentence.

Adam's advocates intend to continue pressing state officials for justice, hoping to find someone who will listen to reason.

Those in a position to right this wrong, the members of the Board of Executive Clemency, owe it to Bollenback and to the people of Citrus County to find a way to give this case a thorough and fair hearing.

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:55:16]