"What Do They Do With Judges Who Do Things Like This?"

Actually, the killing occurred in the late afternoon, hours before that court-imposed curfew.

Two days after Mary Jo's death, Taylor Pile--the court officer who wrote the report on which Judge Sargeant had based Vanorsby's release--penned a new missive.

"Mitchell Vanorsby is unsuccessfully terminated from Supervised Release," Pile wrote. "Mr. Vanorsby's termination from Supervised Release is the result ofhis rearrest on 12/9/95. Mr. Vanorsby is currently in custody with a$1.5 million bond. Mr.Vanorsby is charged with one count of second-degree murder."

That later was changed to first-degree murder.
More than 300 people attended a memorial service for Mary Jo. Her Aunt Diane hopes someday to buy a headstone for her grave.

Deputy county attorney Lou Stalzer has requested a change of judge in Vanorsby's murder case. The armed-robbery case against Vanorsby and Oda Mason is still before Bill Sargeant.

AndCR> even though witnesses say Vanorsby killed Mary Jo Lane as a lark, Sargeant still feels sympathy for him.

"I just saw Mr. Vanorsby in my courtroom today," the judge said last week. "He looks like a little kid to me, like one of those singing Jackson brothers when they were first starting out. It's a shame."

Perry Mitchell of pretrial services says his agency has instituted a new policy. From now on, Mitchell says, his officers will not complete a report without first obtaining a defendant's relevant juvenile history.

"But it still comes down to what ajudge thinks is best," Mitchell adds.
Larry Stam took a moment between customers at his Circle K the other night to sum up what he calls "the disaster."

"Judge Sargeant is our representative, and he let all of us down," Stam says. "And you know what's pathetic: When it comes to election time, people will just pull the lever and put him back up there. That little girl didn't have to die, man.