Simon Rios gets four life terms for killing his family, and Prosecutor Karen Richards unloads:
Rios himself spoke at length Monday, sobbing through his stories, through his claims at finding God, his pleas for forgiveness and his desire to see his “princesses” someday again.
He could offer no reason why he did what he did. After Richards said he would never see his children in heaven but instead would join “the devil in hell,” that she wished he had been “man enough” to kill himself as he tried to do after calling 911 the night of his family's killings and that she hoped he sees his daughter's faces as he squeezed their throats shut every time he closes his eyes, Rios said, “God bless you.”
Richards was also angry that Rios was receiving medication to treat depression in jail, and likely would in prison, as well. According to his lawyer, public defender Michelle Kraus, Rios had been having nightmares and hearing his children's voices. She said for the first few months he spent in Allen County Jail, it was a challenge to keep up his will to live.
“That to me seems patently unfair,” Richards said during her news conference. “His depression is situational. He wouldn't be depressed if he hadn't killed his family.”
I have to admit the idea of Rios not getting his medication and being tormented by nightmares of his daughers for the rest of his days has its appeal. Even if we think there might be a forgiving God who will let Rios see "his princesses" again some day, it still seems perverse to do so much to make his remaining years on this plane as comfortable as possible. He should keep hearing his children's voices.
