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Lee's Summit mom petitions Missouri's parole board to keep her child's killer in prison

Posted at 11:51 AM, Feb 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-15 12:19:24-05

A Lee’s Summit mother wants her former next door neighbor to stay in prison for the 1974 stabbing deaths of her young son and babysitter.

“I would truly be afraid if he were released,” said Carol Berger.

Berger’s family started an online petition asking Missouri’s parole board to not let James A. Love out at his February 17 hearing. A similar petition also asks for his parole to be denied. 

300-year sentence

Police found Love’s bloody fingerprints at the crime scene. A jury convicted Love in 1975 for murdering 2-year-old Jeffery Berger and his 14-year-old babysitter Sheila Curtwright. Back then, Missouri didn’t have the death penalty or life without parole sentencing.

“We figured two counts at 150 years each would surely keep him prison for the rest of his life,” Berger told 41 Action News.

Despite his 300-year prison sentence for the murders, Love is going up for parole for the 10th time. His first parole hearing came in 1987, just 12 years after his conviction.

Surprising parole hearings

“We didn't think he’d ever come up for parole, we had no idea he’d come up that quickly,” Berger said. “Why do we keep giving him all these chances?”

Berger’s family not only has to relive all the details at each parole hearing, but also worries this time might be different.

“As he gets older and the prisons get overcrowded, I am always afraid that they’ll start letting people out to make room,” Berger said.

No clear answers

Plus, parole board members change every few years and Berger wants to know why they keep giving Love hearings.

“We get very vague answers from the parole board,” Berger said.

41 Action News also asked Missouri’s parole board. They pointed us to theDepartment of Corrections, which sent us to their website. It shows various formulas for determining hearings and parole.

Governor appoints parole board

“We must reform our corrections system,” Missouri Governor Eric Greitens said in January’s State of the State address. 

As governor, Greitens appoints the parole board.

“The last thing we want is somebody coming out of prison, and committing another crime, which hurts another family," Greitens also said in his State of the State.

41 Action News asked Greitens why the parole board keeps granting hearings to a murderer sentenced to 300 years. His office never responded to our requests.

With the governor’s new budget cuts, including to the Department of Corrections, Berger worries her son’s killer could walk free.

“I always say to the parole board members, ‘Do you have children, grandchildren? Do you want him to get out and move in next to you?’” Berger said.

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