What we are looking at is a case in which Meredith Emerson, the victim, went missing, and in less than a month her murderer had been identified, tracked down taken into custody, confessed his crime, revealed the location of Meredith’s remains, was taken to court, entered a plea of “guilty,” and sentenced to spend the remainder of his life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Less than a month.
That is astonishingly swift disposition of such a case.
For those who feel the life without parole sentence is inadequate, consider this.
Had prosecutors decided to pursue the death penalty for Gary Hilton, the trial of Meredith’s murderer still would be months from even getting started. The trial itself would be a protracted affair. Gary Hilton probably would have been convicted, and may well have been sentenced to death (but that is not certain).
Given a death sentence, the likelihood of Hilton actually being executed by the state, in the end, would be relatively small. (That's what death sentence v actual executions statistics tell us.) Hilton’s case automatically would go through an exhaustive appeals process spanning years, and years, and perhaps a decade or more. At each step of the process Meredith's family and friends would have to relive the horror of what happened to her and the suspense of wondering if her murderer ever would be brought finally to justice.
But as it has happened, the Meredith Emerson case has been concluded in less than a month.
Gary Hilton will die in prison. Prison is not a pleasant place, and Hilton’s is not a pleasant fate, by any means. But it has been determined. Decisively. He is permanently out of the picture now, in effect, for Meredith’s family and friends.
Meredith’s family and friends now are free to grieve, and heal, and concentrate on living their own lives, thereby putting the pain of their loss at rest and finding a measure of peace about it, as is so necessary for those left behind.
That is as good an outcome as anyone can wish for in cases like this. And that it has happened swiftly is something to appreciate and celebrate rather than bemoan.
G.
