Kathy Pinna
Jason Monsell's statement
Jason Monsell was sentenced to 15 years in jail for his participation in his father's, James Francis Monsell's, death. The following article includes the full text of his handwritten statement:
"The following is the full text of Jason Monsell's handwritten statement on Somerset County Jail stationary. The statement was read in Superior Court, Somerville, on Friday by Monsell's attorney, James Wronko.
"I want to apologize for all the hurt and pain this tragedy has caused my entire family. I understand the hurt and pain because I feel it also. It is easy now to look back and see all the things that I should have done differently. I now know if I had said something to somebody, this could have all been different. I look back now with a clear head and can't believe I told my mother I could hire someone to kill my father. At the time this happened, I was very sick with my addiction to heroin and by lying to my mother, she gave me the one thing I cared about at that time - cash that I could buy heroin with. She only gave me cash because she thought I had hired somebody, which I did not do. This went on until the day of the murder, when she told me she could no longer wait and asked me if I would be able to kill my father, to which I said no. After I refused, she told me of her intentions to go through with it. I did not believe she would have been able to go through with it. Nobody in our whole family thought she could have done this, even after the killing with police suspicions, nobody believed she could have done this. I was one of them, and even though she told me she was going to do it, I didn't think she would have been able to do it. Anybody who knew her would say she was a great lady who would never hurt anything, let along anybody. But I was wrong. I believe the drugs played a huge part of the bad decisions I made through all of this. For that, there is nobody to blame but myself. Because of the choices I made and my clouded judgment, both my parents are gone. I can only pray that one day my family will completely recover from this tragedy. Even after I serve whatever prison term is imposed, I will continue to suffer from this tragedy. I can only ask my family's forgiveness for not doing more to have stopped this. I pray that one day all of them will be able to."
- The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey) Saturday, February 18, 2006.
"The following is the full text of Jason Monsell's handwritten statement on Somerset County Jail stationary. The statement was read in Superior Court, Somerville, on Friday by Monsell's attorney, James Wronko.
"I want to apologize for all the hurt and pain this tragedy has caused my entire family. I understand the hurt and pain because I feel it also. It is easy now to look back and see all the things that I should have done differently. I now know if I had said something to somebody, this could have all been different. I look back now with a clear head and can't believe I told my mother I could hire someone to kill my father. At the time this happened, I was very sick with my addiction to heroin and by lying to my mother, she gave me the one thing I cared about at that time - cash that I could buy heroin with. She only gave me cash because she thought I had hired somebody, which I did not do. This went on until the day of the murder, when she told me she could no longer wait and asked me if I would be able to kill my father, to which I said no. After I refused, she told me of her intentions to go through with it. I did not believe she would have been able to go through with it. Nobody in our whole family thought she could have done this, even after the killing with police suspicions, nobody believed she could have done this. I was one of them, and even though she told me she was going to do it, I didn't think she would have been able to do it. Anybody who knew her would say she was a great lady who would never hurt anything, let along anybody. But I was wrong. I believe the drugs played a huge part of the bad decisions I made through all of this. For that, there is nobody to blame but myself. Because of the choices I made and my clouded judgment, both my parents are gone. I can only pray that one day my family will completely recover from this tragedy. Even after I serve whatever prison term is imposed, I will continue to suffer from this tragedy. I can only ask my family's forgiveness for not doing more to have stopped this. I pray that one day all of them will be able to."
- The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey) Saturday, February 18, 2006.
