[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 120 (Thursday, September 22, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10380-S10381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MIKULSKI:
  S. 1751. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand the 
State sentences for which burial in National Cemeteries and Arlington 
National Cemetery are prohibited to include any sentence of life 
imprisonment for a State capital crime; to the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation to close 
a loophole in current law that allows convicted murderers to be honored 
at our national cemeteries. I believe we must preserve our national 
cemeteries as places of honor for our veterans. Arlington National 
Cemetery--and all our national cemeteries--are hallowed ground. They 
should not be polluted by the remains of convicted murderers.
  In August, I learned of a tragic and troubling circumstance regarding 
our national cemeteries. The remains of a convicted cold-blooded 
murderer sentenced to two life sentences for his crimes were buried at 
Arlington National Cemetery on July 27, 2005. This man, Russell Wagner, 
was convicted of stabbing to death two elderly residents of Hagerstown, 
MD--Daniel Davis, 84 and his wife, Wilda Davis, 80. He was sentenced in 
State court to two life sentences for these unspeakable crimes. While 
serving his sentence in prison, Wagner died from a heroin overdose. 
Because he served honorably in Vietnam, his remains were allowed to be 
placed in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, even 
though he committed this terrible crime.
  This episode has been terribly painful for the Davis family, 
understandably: they have had to relive the horror of their parents' 
brutal murder, while seeing the man who took away their loved ones 
being honored as a hero in our Nation's most sacred burial ground. 
There has been community outrage--which I share. The law that allows 
this disgrace must be changed.
  Arlington is for heroes. So many Marylanders who served with honor 
were laid to rest in Arlington, the heroes from every war: men like 
Navy Diver Michael Steadam, who was brutally murdered by terrorists 
simply because he was a member of our military. In the Iraqi conflict, 
37 Marylanders have died, including two from the same high school who 
died within weeks of each other. These are the heroes who deserve 
burial at our national cemeteries.
  In my 18 years as the head of the VA-HUD subcommittee, I was proud to 
work closely with our Veterans' Service Organizations. They are 
tireless advocates for America's veterans. I so respect and admire 
them. I know many in these groups are uncomfortable with the idea of 
Congress tinkering with the benefits our veterans have earned. I can 
understand their yellow flashing lights. Promises made to our veterans

[[Page S10381]]

must be promises kept. For 18 years, I fought every day to safeguard 
these benefits--and continue to do so, because they represent America's 
payment of a debt we owe our brave veterans for their service--a debt 
that can never be fully repaid. But this is murder.
  Federal law already prohibits murderers from being honored at 
Arlington and our national cemeteries. In 1997, Congress passed a law 
to restrict burial eligibility, to prevent convicted Oklahoma City 
bomber Timothy McVeigh from being buried in a national cemetery 
following his execution. Under current law, if a veteran is convicted 
of a capital crime in a Federal court, he or she cannot be placed in a 
national cemetery. Yet, if someone is convicted of the same crime in a 
State court, they retain their eligibility to be placed in a national 
cemetery if they are eligible for parole. This loophole enabled the man 
who murdered Mr. and Mrs. Davis to be placed alongside the heroes at 
Arlington.
  Why did Congress pass what is known as the McVeigh law? Not to 
further punish the guilty, but to preserve our national cemeteries as 
places of honor for our veterans. So I was shocked to learn that the 
law we passed in 1997 does not apply in the case of the man who 
murdered Daniel and Wilda Davis. He was convicted of two life 
sentences, but because he was convicted in State court, he remained 
eligible for interment with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. This 
doesn't make any sense. The purpose of the 1997 law was to protect the 
standards our military men and women live by: to protect the values 
they fight and die for. The cold-blooded murder of an elderly couple is 
certainly contrary to those values.
  I am introducing this bill on behalf of the Davis family. But I am 
also introducing it on behalf of a Nation at war. Every day across this 
country, brave young soldiers are being honored and laid to rest in our 
national cemeteries. We have precious little to offer in comfort for 
their grieving loved ones, who have made the ultimate sacrifice a 
Nation can ask. But we can insist that these sacred resting places and 
the honors our Nation rightfully bestowed on those who have died in its 
service are preserved as sanctuaries and monuments to the values they 
died protecting. Placing the remains of a cold-blooded murderer in this 
hallowed ground makes a mockery of that service. And it is wrong.
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