Reps. Lombardo, Lyons Call for Fair and Just Legal Benefits

 

 

State Representative Jim Lyons
State Representative Jim Lyons

BOSTON – “Should every innocent, law-abiding, taxpaying citizen of Massachusetts receive legal benefits similar to those being bestowed on a vicious wife killer?” That is precisely the question being raised by Representatives Jim Lyons of Andover and Marc Lombardo of Billerica.

According to news reports, a convicted wife murderer is on track to receive a taxpayer-funded endowment of more than $700,000.00 to pay for his legal fees, as an incarcerated prisoner in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Make no mistake: these generous legal fees do not concern the question of guilt or innocence. Instead, these expenses result from the murderer’s desire for a sex change operation, and his insistence that the innocent, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of Massachusetts pay for such an operation.

Today, this wife killer expects the innocent taxpayers to pay both for his sex change operation and for his legal fees incurred, while he was demanding that those law-abiding citizens pay for such a procedure.

Responding to that line of argument, Representatives Jim Lyons and Marc Lombardo will file legislation guaranteeing each and every innocent, law-abiding, taxpaying citizen of Massachusetts legal fee benefits that are equal to the amount they are obliged to pay on behalf of this vicious criminal who murdered his spouse, Cheryl Kosilek.

“If innocent taxpayers are forced to fund the unlimited expenses of wife murderers – even when those bills are unrelated to a trial ascertaining criminal guilt or innocence – then shouldn’t those law-abiding citizens have access to the same benefits,” asked Lyons. “It’s the height of absurdity to mandate that taxpayers have an obligation to pay the massive bills of vicious murderers, but those same law-abiding citizens have no right to equal legal benefits.

“This is an issue of fundamental fairness,” Lyons emphasized. “The hard working citizens who follow the rules and pay their taxes do not qualify for benefits like this. If we provide extravagant benefits like this to a vicious murderer, then why deny them to the law abiding citizenry? It’s a simple matter of fairness and justice.”

“It seems that every day that passes with this case, a new absurd ruling is made that costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars,” added Representative Marc Lombardo. “I’m outraged that any taxpayer dollars are being spent on heinous convicted murderers, never mind that those dollars are being used to pay legal fees for efforts to have a taxpayer funded sex change. The taxpayers continue to get a raw deal with this case. We need some reassignment of priorities in our state government.”

Lyons and Lombardo agreed that they will continue to speak on behalf of those who follow the rules, because in this case it is the innocent who are being punished.