[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 106 (Tuesday, June 27, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S9131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATURAL BORN KILLERS
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, today's Boston Herald contains a shocking
front-page story--a story that should send shivers down the spines of
all Americans, especially those who have criticized my call to the
entertainment industry to exercise good citizenship when it comes to
producing films that celebrate mindless violence.
That is the headline: ``We're `Natural Born Killers.''' There was a
movie called ``Natural Born Killers.'' This is a story, the prosecutor
says, where the suspects bragged about the slaying saying, ``We're
natural born killers.''
``We're `Natural Born Killers,''' the headline blares, referring to
the critically acclaimed Oliver Stone film.
This is what happened. The Boston Herald story begins, and I quote:
As they changed out of their bloody clothes, the men who
plunged a knife into an elderly Avon man 27 times bragged
they were ``natural born killers,'' a Norfolk County
prosecutor said yesterday.
``Haven't you ever seen `natural born killers' before?,''
18-year-old suspect Patrick T. Morse allegedly bragged to a
girl after the gruesome slaying.
According to the Norfolk County prosecutor, ``This is one of the most
vicious premeditated murders I have ever seen.'' And Massachusetts
State Police Trooper Brian Howe said ``My understanding was that they
were drawing a comparison between the characters in the movie and
themselves.''
Of course, no movie caused this brutal killing in Massachusetts. We
are all responsible for our own actions, period. But, at the same time,
those in the entertainment industry who deny that cultural messages can
bore deep into the hearts and minds of our young people are deceiving
themselves. If the Boston Herald story is true, and if these are the
kinds of role models that Hollywood is content to promote, then perhaps
some serious soul-searching is in order in the corporate suits of the
entertainment industry.
Let me just indicate again that is the headline. It is not Bob Dole's
headline. It is the headline this morning in the Boston Herald about
how these young murderers bragged about attacking an old man and
stabbing the person 27 times. In fact, it goes into graphic detail
about the knife that was so bloody that they had to ask for a new
knife.
Something is wrong in America with the entertainment industry, and
maybe it is high time they took a look at themselves and put profit
behind common decency.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the article from the
Boston Herald be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
We're ``Natural Born Killers''
As they changed out of their bloody clothes, the men who
plunged a knife into an elderly Avon man 27 times bragged
that they were ``Natural Born Killers,'' a Norfolk County
prosecutor said yesterday.
``Haven't you ever seen `Natural Born Killers' before?''
suspect Patrick T. Morse allegedly bragged to a girl after
the gruesome slaying of 65-year-old Philip Meskinis.
Chilling details of the trio's murderous attack and their
fascination with the murder spree depicted in the motion
picture ``Natural Born Killers'' were revealed yesterday when
Morse, 18, and Leonard Stanley, 20, were arraigned on murder
charges and held without bail.
Police are scouring the Brockton area for a third suspect,
Michael F. Freeman, a 20-year-old fugitive and former convict
who allegedly wielded the knife that slashed Meskinis' throat
early Friday morning and punctured his body with 27 stab
wounds.
``I've been doing violent felonies for 20 years,'' Norfolk
County prosecutor Gerald Pudolsky said after the arraignment.
``This is one of the most vicious, premeditated murders I've
seen.''
After an intensive investigation that led to Morse's arrest
about 36 hours after the grisly murder, and Stanley's
surrender shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday, police learned in
interviews with Morse and the trio's associates that the men
and their female friends ``on occasion'' watched ``Natural
Born Killers'' after one person bought the movie, said State
Police Trooper Brian L. Howe.
``My understanding was they were drawing a comparison
between the characters in the movie and themselves,'' Howe
said.
In Stoughton District Court yesterday, Morse and Stanley
sat expressionless as Pudolsky recited the threesome's
alleged vile deeds.
``I think the only thing they're sorry about is they got
caught,'' Howe said after the arraignment.
The trio allegedly started plotting the slaying at a
coffee-ship in Avon after Freeman--whose handicapped mother
once dated the disabled victim--told Morse and Stanley that
Meskinis had money and guns
stashed inside in his School Street home, Pudolsky said.
At 5 p.m. Thursday, the trio went to a girlfriend's house
in Avon where they discussed ``pulling an armed invasion at
Mr. Meskinis' house,'' Pudolsky said.
Armed with at least two, maybe three knives, the suspects
left the girl's house in Morse's Chevrolet Cavalier at about
1:30 a.m.
``Mr. Freeman knew he was going to kill the victim and the
other two went along 100 percent,'' Pudolsky said in an
interview.
As Meskinis lay asleep in his bed, the men invaded his home
and Freeman launched the bloody assault, jamming a knife
repeatedly into the helpless man's body.
``So much blood was coming from Mr. Meskinis' body that Mr.
Freeman actually lost the grip on the knife,'' Pudolsky said.
Freeman yelled to Morse for another knife and Morse
complied, passing a Buck knife, Pudolsky said. The blows were
so forceful that Freeman allegedly broke Meskinis' wrist and
clavicle during the relentless hacking.
Stanley was ``ready, willing and able'' to assist in the
bloody siege--although his attorney and relatives insisted
yesterday that he was not in the bedroom during the murder.
The suspects stole a shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle,
stashing them first in the woods, and later inside the
girlfriend's house.
Police recovered two knives, two victim's guns and bags of
bloodied clothing ditched in a dumpster behind a Brockton
convenience store.
The trio returned to the woman's home where three other
female friends were staying that night, police said. They
stripped their bloodied clothing, and worried that they had
left behind fingerprints, Morse and Freeman brazenly returned
to the murder scene at abut 5 a.m. to remove evidence from
ashtrays and door knobs, police said.
As Morse and Freeman sat down at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast,
Stanley said he was not hungry.
But Stanley, using a glass of water, gurgled the liquid in
his mouth to imitate ``the death chortle of Mr. Meskinis as
his throat was being slashed,'' Pudolsky said.
____________________