[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3521]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           MURDER IN NEW YORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, Imette St. Guillen had everything going for 
her. She graduated with honors from George Washington University. Upon 
graduation, she moved to New York City to pursue her master's degree. 
She was an honors graduate student at John Jay University studying 
criminal justice. She had great grades, great friends, and she had her 
whole life ahead of her.
  But 5 days short of her 25th birthday, in the early morning hours of 
February 25, 2006, Imette went with her friends to a local Manhattan 
watering hole.

                              {time}  1945

  Around 3 a.m. one of her friends decided it was time to leave. But 
she stayed behind and later traveled to another bar down the street. It 
was called the Falls Bar. According to reports, St. Guillen remained at 
the Falls Bar until last call, where she was asked to leave.
  Witnesses say that she was last seen being walked out of the bar by 
one of the bouncers, his name Darryl Littlejohn. Seventeen hours later 
her abused body was found wrapped in a quilt and thrown in a marshy 
area in East Brooklyn. A white sock had been stuffed down her throat, 
her face had been sealed with duct tape, her ankles and wrists were 
bound with plastic ties. An autopsy showed that she had been sexually 
assaulted and strangled.
  DNA tests showed that Darryl Littlejohn's blood was found on plastic 
ties that were used to tie Imette's hands behind her. More 
circumstantial evidence links Littlejohn to this murder.
  So who is Darryl Littlejohn? He is a bouncer at a bar, but he is 
more. He is a bouncer who has been violating his parole because he 
stays out past 9 o'clock p.m. violating his curfew. He is also a career 
criminal. He grew up in Queens, amid drugs and gangs. He was first 
convicted of armored robbery at the age of 16, later served prison 
terms ranging from 2 to 4 years and then a 10-year term for armed bank 
robbery. His fifth stint in prison for a Long Island bank robbery was 
committed just after 3 months of being on parole from the previous trip 
to the penitentiary.
  His career criminal history includes seven felony convictions for 
armed robbery, assault, drug dealing, weapons possession and more. He 
was paroled in 2004 where he was sent to live with his mother. His 
neighbors described him as being intimidating and had a hot temper. If 
convicted in this case, he can add murder and rape to his long list of 
criminal conduct. But hopefully this time the judges will get his 
punishment right.
  Mr. Speaker, an innocent woman was brutally slain and the prime 
suspect that is linked to her by DNA is a former seven-time ex-convict. 
As a former criminal court judge in Texas, it is clear to me that the 
sentences were not harsh enough to begin with. Judges must understand 
their responsibility to punish those violent individuals that come to 
their courtrooms. We need to lock them up. That is why we build 
prisons.
  According to the New York Daily News, Littlejohn was formerly denied 
parole with the following statement by the Parole Board. It was said: 
``You are violent and out of control. Your behavior shows you are a 
menace to society. Your continued incarceration remains in the best 
interest of society.''
  Additionally, according to the Boston Herald, when Littlejohn was 
released on his latest parole, he was to be watched by parole officers 
until 2007. But last Friday, officials admitted they failed to monitor 
even a single day of the postprison wanderings due to some clerical 
error.
  Imette St. Guillen lost her life in a grisly and gruesome murder. 
This crime could have been avoided, but this catch-and-release policy 
puts dangerous criminals and demons back on the streets. How many 
crimes does a felon have to commit before we learn some folks need to 
be behind bars indefinitely?
  Judges have a moral and legal responsibility to punish violent 
criminals and make them our prisoners, rather than us continuing to be 
their prisoners. And when a criminal gets to the penitentiary, keep 
them there. Judges need to quit living in the land of excusable conduct 
and justifying the menacing misdeeds of malcontents. Criminals should 
pay for their crimes, not victims like Imette St. Guillen. Street 
terrorists like Littlejohn are just as much a threat as insurgents in 
Iraq. Both types of terrorists are a homeland security issue, and both 
should be brought to American justice.
  Mr. Speaker, that's just the way it is.

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