CRIME VICTIM'S STATEMENT--JACK T. RODDEY

This is the last thing left I can do for my beloved precious grandson, Jack Roddey in this courtroom. I come here to celebrate his life and all his lost potential. Jack’s life was full of family and friends who loved him dearly and his potential was unlimited.

He was consistently on the honor roll and made the distinguished honor roll his last school marking period. And he won a citizenship award for his winning essay at Sacred Heart elementary school.

Jack was a brave little boy. I remember once when he was 6 or so I took him to the doctors and he had to have four shots at once. Four shots! He didn’t complain or cry. He just sat there on my lap biting his lip and braced himself for his shots.

Jack always stood up for the handicapped, starting with his handicapped step brother, Mikey. If someone was making fun of a disabled child, Jack quickly told them off. He wouldn’t put up with bulying anyone.

Jack was also my audience for me being silly or telling silly jokes. Sometimes it seemed like he was the adult and I was the kid.

I’m here seeking justice for Jack. Justice for Jack, because he can’t speak for himself. His neighbor Josh ended Jack’s short life with a single simple pull of a trigger. That's all, to end such a special loving and beloved life. Josh continues to enjoy the love and support of his family and all that life has to offer a 13–year–old boy.
Josh moves on, leaving Jack behind FOREVER FOURTEEN.

My grandson Jack was the future I'd never see. Now he's the past I see over and over and over again in my mind. That past started horrifically on 1/16/09 about 1:15 pm with a split second shot that took away his life and everything he'd ever be. Jack made our world so much brighter with his presence, but so much bleaker with his passing.

His school friends wrote Rest in Peace, Jack T. Roddey. Rest in peace should NEVER have to be said to a 14-year-old boy! Ever! Jack, you should be running and jumping, laughing and playing, flirting and hugging, joking and helping others long after I'm gone. Instead, you're still and silent in your dark dank grave.

Oh Jackie, my heart is shattered and scattered to the ends of the earth and I see you everywhere; wherever there's video games, Dr. Pepper, popcorn chicken, a playground, sour candy, birthday cards, a backyard trampoline, kids and a boy's mischievous grin. Fun followed you around like a circus. Now that circus has left town, leaving behind misery and bittersweet memories.

In dreams Jack, I see you behind me stuck at that terrible January day waving and shouting at me, "Granddad stop! Wait Granddad! Don't leave me here! Please, Granddad! Please!" But I can't stop. I try to turn around. I try hard to go back and get you, but the present is too powerful and it pushes me forward, hurtling me thru life weeping without you, as you recede and get smaller in the distance.

You're like a beautiful book I reread in my mind every day till I reach the same tragic ending. Goodbye my darling grandson, I cherish every moment we had together. It went by in the wink of an eye and I'll never REALLY see you again.

Even if I could search the seas and wander the world endlessly and fly from planet to planet in every galaxy in the entire universe, I'd never find you and see your beautiful smile and your boyish face again. Or hear you laugh, tease you, joke with you or ruffle your curly blond hair ever again. You are gone forever and the enormity and weight of that crushes me.
I love you and miss you so so much, my sweet sweet goofy barefoot boy.
Granddad