A for­mer Pennsylvania police chief was sen­tenced to life with­out parole on June 20, 2008, for the mur­der of his 31-year old ex-wife after the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly spoke against a death sen­tence at the penal­ty hear­ing. The dis­trict attor­ney had planned to seek the death penal­ty against Richard Curran, just as he had for every mur­der case in the last 13 years. However, Bonnie Smith, the victim’s moth­er, tes­ti­fied at the penal­ty phase that her fam­i­ly want­ed him to be giv­en life in prison. ​“Smith made the request to the court after read­ing a pre­pared state­ment on behalf of the victim’s fam­i­ly and an emo­tion­al let­ter from Tina Curran’s 10-year-old daugh­ter, Caitlyn.” After hear­ing the wish­es of the victim’s fam­i­ly, the Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini dropped his plan to seek the death penal­ty and request­ed that Curran receive life in prison. Rosini stat­ed he believes jus­tice was served in the case and the pun­ish­ment was appro­pri­ate for the crime. Richard Curran expressed remorse for his actions and thanked the fam­i­ly for help­ing spare his life.

A for­mer Pennsylvania police chief was sen­tenced to life with­out parole on June 20, 2008, for the mur­der of his 31-year old ex-wife after the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly spoke against a death sen­tence at the penal­ty hear­ing. The dis­trict attor­ney had planned to seek the death penal­ty against Richard Curran, just as he had for every mur­der case in the last 13 years. However, Bonnie Smith, the victim’s moth­er, tes­ti­fied at the penal­ty phase that her fam­i­ly want­ed him to be giv­en life in prison. ​“Smith made the request to the court after read­ing a pre­pared state­ment on behalf of the victim’s fam­i­ly and an emo­tion­al let­ter from Tina Curran’s 10-year-old daugh­ter, Caitlyn.” After hear­ing the wish­es of the victim’s fam­i­ly, the Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini dropped his plan to seek the death penal­ty and request­ed that Curran receive life in prison. Rosini stat­ed he believes jus­tice was served in the case and the pun­ish­ment was appro­pri­ate for the crime. Richard Curran expressed remorse for his actions and thanked the fam­i­ly for help­ing spare his life.
(M. Gilger, ​“Curran gets life; fam­i­ly wish­es lead D.A. to aban­don try for death sen­tence,” The News Item, June 21, 2008). See Victims and Arbitrariness.
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