NC - Campus Walk Apartment Fire - Greensboro 2002

So, I wanted to post about this some time ago, but it seemed a little outdated.

Now, the young lady who plead guilty at basically her first appearance to the four deaths that resulted from the Campus Walk Apartments fire is applying for clemency. It seems more relevant, so i thought I might start a discussion to work out some of the things going on for me and see what some of my sloofers and colleagues think.

First of all, a little on me: I'm a fierce victims' advocate and very anti-domestic violence. I am extremely critical as well of the flaws that keep from solving some of the larger issues in our justice system. I like to see people fairly convicted and cases that are free of appeal. I grew up fighting for the underdog and protecting those around me and will never lose that edge. I usually take a perspective opposite of the prosecution (even in threads here) and poke and prod until I am personally satisfied with the proceedings. Most of my fellow websleuthers know this and have willingly allowed me the latitude to do things my way as I respect their wishes as well. I would not be on this site if it were not for having googled some victim of some horrible crime at some point in time and landing here. And, as many of you would share, my primary motivating factor is the "Why?"

My high school years were very volatile. My father was sick much of the time with a cancer that had been deemed incurable and I was already an outside force in many of the campus groups, getting along with nearly everyone, but not really close to anyone. My younger brother and sister and I have always been close friends and I have a few cousins that were always around.

One of the people that was there in sports/music/drama/nerd-dom/loner-dom with me is the young lady who started this fire. She was a year behind me and her sister and i were in the same class. We were off-again/on-again close. I would say there was not enough distance to call us acquaintances nor enough proximity to consider us close friends. We ran in the same circles and would frequently be at the same gatherings or events well past the ending helping with clean-up and making sure that everyone involved was safe, happy and as healthy when they left as when they came. JD (initials for the young lady) was an inherently great person. Not just a good person, a great one. The only thing she didn't conquer wholeheartedly was boys (and the relationship with them). I don't know why that was. It was almost as if the phrase late bloomer was made for her.

Now, I'm having a torn heart over this whole clemency thing for a number of reasons, but here's the utmost one: This girl is a girl who would walk away from this and honor the memory of the dead every day. And, in NC, clemency has a number of interesting meanings. It could mean a conversion of sentence or any number of resolutions. But, what of the victims? That's the big thing for me.

Just to briefly outline what happened, basically, a very poor choice (no one knows what choice exactly, out of fun, or mean spiritedness) led three girls to set a futon on fire after a night of drinking (Valentine's in fact) at a friends house.

Two of the girls walked away and JD pled guilty to four counts of first degree murder (no plea deal, no trial, just walked in and did it in the early admin hearings).

I don't personally agree with every application of the "Felony Murder Law" which allows some accidents and deaths without intentions to be tried as First Degree (and even Capital) cases because of a felony being committed in the course of the death.

But, what are other people's thoughts on this? I'd be glad to post links to the case at large from MSM sources and some of both sides of the current case for and against clemency.

Has anyone else ever come up against anything like this personally?

I would love to read some articles explaining both sides of the story!

Here's a sampling of the local news from our area. I've tried to include a wide mix of opinions and many of these articles have links to previous articles if you'd like to dig in quite deep.

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article/237292/57/Bob-Harris-Shares-His-Journey-Of-Forgiveness

http://myfox8.com/2012/07/19/firefighters-family-reflect-on-campus-walk-apartment-fire/

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=20020221&id=vw1PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Uh8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3745,1263163

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=20020218&id=vQ1PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Uh8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5662,881226

http://www.ncfelonymurder.org/Janet%20Danahey/janet.html

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/07/19/article/danahey_victims_parents_say_clemency_petition_doesnt_tell_whole_story

http://www.news-record.com/content/2007/02/11/article/pain_remains_five_years_after_a_devastating_loss

Link to petition from supporters and their comments (notable because it has some of the victims families as supporters of clemency)

https://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-nc-grant-clemency-petition-for-janet-danahey?utm_campaign=share_button_mobile&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=24169757

Link to article with actual petition and some of the opposition:

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/07/18/article/clemency_petition_filed_on_behalf_of_janet_danahey

How tragic for all. From reading the links, it appears to be a prank gone horribly wrong. With the few facts given by msm, I would say she should be given clemency. Things that would change my mind would be if she had a tendency to start fires before or if she has been a problem inmate in jail. Every day, every hour, every minute, people do stupid things. 99.99% of us are fortunate enough that luck, angels, etc, were by our side when we did them. Jmo

my initial reaction after reading your post was that first-degree murder charges seemed too harsh but after reading a couple links, I think they were appropriate


I discovered that she was angry at her b/f because they had broken up and that she apparently disposed of fire-related items afterwards

this tells me that she had malicious intent when she set the fire - that it wasn't just an 'innocent prank gone wrong' (to me, pranks are mischievious but not malicious) and that she had consciousness of guilt after the fire

that not one of them called 911 is beyond me - the others should've been charged as well ...

as to whether she deserves clemency, I don't think I have enough information to form an opinion on that right now

I can see why you're conflicted though ... it's difficult to separate someone we think of as a good person with their bad deeds

Thanks for starting this thread, johnfear, I've never heard of this case. Here in NYS she probably would have gotten invol. manslaughter, and been out in 15 yrs.
I don't think she should be granted clemency; it sounds like she should have gotten the needle. One of the articles posted above states the Llewellen girls were thier parent's only children. I understand she did not intend to cause any real harm to anyone, and would probably be a good citizen if released, but her actions were very reckless, and 4 people burned to death because of it.
JMO

Whatever we do has consequences. We may not like them, but we have to abide by them...

On the other hand, maybe this case could be compared to a DWI/homocide. I know arson isn't the same, and there aren't ad campaigns and national organizations dedicated to stopping it, but setting a fire in a bldg you know is occupied, and driving drunk are both reckless actions that any reasonable person should know could kill someone.
But drunk drivers who kill people don't get LWOP, even if you killed four people and were sentenced consecutivley, you'd probably get 20 years or so.
I honestly don't know what to think about this case.
So how's that for a flip-flop? Maybe I should go into politics (call me Mitt!).

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't have considered lighting a futon on fire a prank. Maybe knock on their door and run away, or smear their doorknob with dog poo......A prank is supposed to leave the person being pranked looking foolish, and be harmless in the end I thought?

I think the description of the act that started the fire as a prank is incorrect. I also don't necessarily feel like it was arson.

I do feel like there was alcohol involved and I think the consequences of that behavior are evident. That's one of the things that conflicts me above and beyond the obvious.

In fact, the alcohol part is precisely what drives me a little nuts and I think the above posts reflecting on driving while intoxicated are right in line with my feelings here.

Compounding the loss of human life in the direct sense is the indirect sense. On both sides (the victim and the fire-lighter) you have families that are incomplete after the act in a very unnatural way.

Either way, thanks for weighing in.

I only know what I learned about this from the links provided so thank you for the links. This is how I feel about it. Moo.

During her trial all of the information about it being a prank was out there. No one accused her of targeting anyone who died. A jury of our peers did their job and convicted her and she was sentenced.

10 measly years after taking 4 lives, intentional or not, here we are talking about was it fair.

She took 4 lives. There are consequences to actions. I don't feel like it would be fair to grant clemency. I feel bad for her, don't get me wrong. It totally sucks to screw up big when you don't usually do that. But we teach our children that there are consequences to every action.

I think the only way I would be for the Clemency is if she had alerted the authorities and tried to wake the people in the building. She didn't do that. I understand a prank gone wrong. I don't understand letting others die.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

There was no trial, she plead guilty at her first opportunity, to get LWOP, as opposed to the death penalty. I'm actually surprised the prosecutors took the death penalty off the table.
If you google her name there's tons of talk about her on blogs, and in the comments sections of local news sites. The general consensus is that she should stay in prison, except for a few very vocal supporters. Some folks are saying she had a lousy defense; I don't see what any lawyer could have done for her.
Also in my previos post, I compared this to someone driving drunk and killing someone, and that drunk drivers who kill don't get LWOP. Afterwords, I found this case, also from NC, a woman killed 4 teenagers and was sentenced to 15 years per victim consecutivly, with no possibility of parole. She will be 90 by the time she gets out.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/decade-after-fatal-nc-crash-emotions-remain-strong

lynchmob67 said:

Woman convicted of killing 4 people in Greensboro apartment fire denied parole, source confirms

A woman who’s in prison convicted of killing four people more than 20 years ago in a Greensboro apartment fire was denied parole.

wxii12.com

Click to expand...

After reading 22 years worth of coverage on this, I’m a little surprised that no one has called her out on how many different versions of the story she and her family have disclosed to media. One thing that is tough to swallow - how it’s still being called a prank after all this time… so much effort to minimize her actions with all that time to consider them. The sister’s comments at the parole hearing about how this is an opportunity to help young people were upsetting and another attempt to invoke sympathy for a murderer. She wasn’t a kid- she was a 23 year old college grad that knew better and chose to act on selfish impulses. She was determined to upset and humiliate someone that she felt rejected her. That is not a prank, is it?