Monahan owed us all, well, something

David Brooks insists that GOP actions are a return to old ways

Kevin Monahan cheated us one final time Friday.

Judge Adam Michelini, who showed a quiet even-handed demeanor throughout the murder trial, asked Monahan if he would like to address the court before his sentencing for the driveway murder of Kaylin Gillis.

"No thank you your honor," Monahan said evenly.

Maybe even defiantly.

Those five words put an exclamation point on any possibility of understanding why the events of last April 15 happened, why Monahan felt so threatened that he unleashed two shots at a motorcycle and two SUVs filled with young people searching for a friend's party in rural Hebron.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Morris said people still ask him "why" Monahan did what he did. "What was the reason?"

Instead we heard Monahan say, "No thank you your honor."

Then the judge delivered his ruling, perhaps showing emotion for the first time during the trial.

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"In killing Kaylin Gillis you took away a friend, you took away a girlfriend, you took away a daughter, a granddaughter and a sibling. You took away so much unrealized potential," the judge said.

That was the obvious part about this senseless killing, so the judge made sure to address the collateral damage as well.

"You also traumatized the young men and women who mistakenly drove up your driveway that night. This will scar them and traumatize them for the rest of their lives," Michelini said. "Any remorse you have isn't for the harm you caused. The only regret you have is that you're finally facing the consequences for your actions. You murdered Kaylin Gillis. You shot at a car full of people and you didn't care what would happen."

Then, with the judge's voice rising, hardening, he said "You deserve to spend the maximum time in prison allowable under our law."

The gasps were audible throughout the courtroom as Gillis' family members and friends tried to check their approval at the 26 1/3 to life sentence.  Several briefly clapped, then stopped.

The judge did not admonish them for their outburst.

Michelini listened to victim impact statements from Kaylin Gillis' father Andrew Gillis, her boyfriend Blake Walsh and her best friend Alexandra Whiting.

It was Whiting, this waif of a young girl speaking in a barely audible tone, who brought home the long-range ramifications of Monahan's actions.

She was sitting in the backseat of the SUV when Kaylin Gillis was shot in the front seat.

"I wish I could remember the last conversation we had," Whiting said. "I wish I had told her she was my best friend. I wish I had been a better friend."

But more importantly, Whiting talked about her fear, about the worry of losing someone else close to her, about getting into an argument that might lead to her own death.

"I live in fear every day,” she said.

Arguing for the maximum sentence, Morris argued that Monahan had never accepted responsibility for his actions.

"On the stand, he said he had a hole in his soul," Morris said, recounting Monahan's testimony. "That fell so flat. You know who has a hole in her soul, Kathleen Rondeau (who was driving the other car) because she led them to the wrong house."

But there may be a broader application to the events of last April 15. How many others were affected by it in local communities that are mostly rural?

The damage is multi-faceted and the sentencing of Monahan will not end the suffering of those left to live their lives.

"Hate and anger are the only things that I can think of that can explain a mindset that is murderous in nature,” Morris said about Monahan's action while Monahan looked away. “To the person who is merciless, no mercy should be shown."

And there wasn't any.

"Your first instinct was to lie about what happened. And you repeatedly lied in such a cold and calculating manner - and the jury saw right through your lies," the judge said.

He said he believed Monahan's actions will affect the lives of the people involved for generations.

Then there is this from the judge.

"Every person out there needs to know that you can't murder someone because they accidentally pulled into your driveway," Michelini said.

That a judge has to tell us this is perhaps the greater tragedy.

Greater than the loss of a young girl with a bright future, more than the trauma that this group of young people will have to deal with for the rest of their lives and even more than Kevin Monahan's imprisonment.

What we are left to grapple with is there are still those within our midst who have to be told you can't shoot someone for pulling into your driveway. Others in our community might defend that right.

That should frighten us all.

Why did Kevin Monahan shoot that night?

If there was any humanity left in his soul, if there was any remorse or belief he needed to explain the reason for a fear, an anxiety, an anger no matter how irrational, then Kevin Monahan took a pass on it Friday morning.

"No thank you your honor," he said.

Leaving us with nothing.

No reason to understand his fear.

No reason why he slept with a shotgun by his bed.

No reason why he easily pulled the trigger.

What's worse, it makes you wonder how many more there are just like him.

As he was led out of the courtroom, several yelled sarcastically, "Bye Kevin, bye Kevin" and then someone loudly screamed "Coward!"

He should have said something.

Just a GOP trend

David Brooks, the conservative columnist for the New York Times, wrote in his latest column that the MAGA-dominated Republican world is just an ongoing trend for Republicans.

It is more than just Donald Trump.

I'm not sure I agree, but it's an instructive look at where the Republicans have been and where they seem to be returning.

Check out "The GOP returns to its bad, old self."