Man who gunned down sex offenders gets life in prison
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PORT ANGELES, Wash. -- A man who gunned down two sex offenders on the Olympic Peninsula was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without possibility of parole, but a judge warned those sympathetic to his cause to back off.
Patrick Drum, 34, shot Gary Lee Blanton, 28, on June 2 at a home Drum was renting near Sequim. Blanton was renting a room in the home. Drum then drove to the home of Jerry Wayne Ray, 57, in the Agnew area near Port Angeles where Ray was killed the next morning.
Later that day, Drum abandoned a rental car he had been driving and was soon located after witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man in a remote area of the northern Olympic Peninsula.
Responding deputies found the car and a note inside that led to the victims and identified Drum as a suspect. Police said the note offered an apology for what he had done and that he took full responsibility for "taking care of some problems."
Dozens of officers responded to the area. Drum was tracked down by a dog team and flushed out of a wooded area following a three hour manhunt.
Investigators say Drum knew both men were sex offenders, and both victims were shot multiple times.
"There's no way to explain how horrible it is to see your children saying their last goodbyes," said Leslie Blanton, Gary's wife. "Shaking him... saying, 'daddy up. Daddy up.' "
During sentencing Tuesday, the judge made it clear there should be no kind of vigilantism and told Drum's supporters to back off from the attacks on the victims' families.
Leslie Blanton says people who support Drum and consider him a "hero" have stalked their house, thrown things at their car, spat on them and more.
"Just last night, I had carloads of people outside my house and I had to call the police to remove them," she said. "Who's there to protect my kids, Pat?"
Leslie Blanton says her husband is listed as a sex offender because he had consensual sex with a freshman when he was a senior in high school. The sheriff's office online record of sex offenders shows Blanton was convicted in November 2001 of third-degree rape.
Ray was convicted in August 2002 of child rape.
After he was caught, Drum admitted that he planned to continue killing sex-offenders until he was caught.
In court Tuesday, Drum was not very apologetic. "It was never my intent to hurt the families involved, that's like collateral damage that I feel bad about," he said. "If anybody is bothering folks, the families of my victims, I would ask that they not do that. As for the men themselves, actions speak louder than words."
Patrick Drum, 34, shot Gary Lee Blanton, 28, on June 2 at a home Drum was renting near Sequim. Blanton was renting a room in the home. Drum then drove to the home of Jerry Wayne Ray, 57, in the Agnew area near Port Angeles where Ray was killed the next morning.
Later that day, Drum abandoned a rental car he had been driving and was soon located after witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man in a remote area of the northern Olympic Peninsula.
Responding deputies found the car and a note inside that led to the victims and identified Drum as a suspect. Police said the note offered an apology for what he had done and that he took full responsibility for "taking care of some problems."
Dozens of officers responded to the area. Drum was tracked down by a dog team and flushed out of a wooded area following a three hour manhunt.
Investigators say Drum knew both men were sex offenders, and both victims were shot multiple times.
"There's no way to explain how horrible it is to see your children saying their last goodbyes," said Leslie Blanton, Gary's wife. "Shaking him... saying, 'daddy up. Daddy up.' "
During sentencing Tuesday, the judge made it clear there should be no kind of vigilantism and told Drum's supporters to back off from the attacks on the victims' families.
Leslie Blanton says people who support Drum and consider him a "hero" have stalked their house, thrown things at their car, spat on them and more.
"Just last night, I had carloads of people outside my house and I had to call the police to remove them," she said. "Who's there to protect my kids, Pat?"
Leslie Blanton says her husband is listed as a sex offender because he had consensual sex with a freshman when he was a senior in high school. The sheriff's office online record of sex offenders shows Blanton was convicted in November 2001 of third-degree rape.
Ray was convicted in August 2002 of child rape.
After he was caught, Drum admitted that he planned to continue killing sex-offenders until he was caught.
In court Tuesday, Drum was not very apologetic. "It was never my intent to hurt the families involved, that's like collateral damage that I feel bad about," he said. "If anybody is bothering folks, the families of my victims, I would ask that they not do that. As for the men themselves, actions speak louder than words."
Why the uproar? Hell, we have thousands of people killed every year while still in the womb purely as a matter of contraception and convenience. What's two more? And it's pretty clear that at least one of these guys deserved it.
Question: How do you tyake Responsibility for what you have done, if you're hiding in the woods?
There's no way to explain how horrible it is to see your children saying their last goodbyes," said Leslie Blanton, Gary's wife. "Shaking him... saying, 'daddy up. Daddy up.' "
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WHY WAS THE KIDS ALOWED TO BE LIVING WITH A CHILD MOLESTER??????
I need to make a clear comment of sex offenders related to the age of the offender and the situation...a particular case involving a 18 yr old boy making a very bad decision to have sexual relations with a under age girl is not a case that would be considered for castration. I want to make that point clear. Each case should be examined in depth before a extreme measure of castration is imposed. Young men are not always thinking with the right head and deserve a chance to prove they made a very bad decision. Not respecting the law in place for under age sex should be punished but when it is consensual with the under age individual it is NOT a case of sexual predator...it is a case of a young man not having control over himself and disregarding the consequences.
Personally I feel that convicted rapist and some sex offenders should be castrated..yes radical...their act of violation creates a LIFE TIME of problems on the victims years of counseling and forever having trouble with normal intimate relationships . A LIFETIME! The terror and pain that sexual predators cause can never be reversed the victim learns to live with it they NEVER GET OVER IT!. The offender should have the same and castration would do that without a doubt.
No I do not believe rapist and sex offenders can be rehabilitated. They were born with this and it will never just go away with counseling...like being born gay you cannot just counsel this out of their genetic make up...So I feel the rapist and sex offenders should experience the same and castration would give them something else to focus on, remind them of the pain unfairly inflicted on the innocent and keep them from repeat. If our government can put laws into place that restrict a woman's right to make decisions for her own body and impose invasive procedures if she decides what the extreme right wing nuts consider wrong...then why can't we have laws that impose castration of rapist and sex offenders? If this law were in place...there would be less of them in prison which cost less money in the long run...has to be less for a operation to remove what these mental imbalanced individuals seem to have No Control Over and no tracking system ...Extreme yes it is.
Putting them in jail for a few years and making them register, which most don't, is not working and radical measures must be made. Continuing to handle this problem in such a lame fashion is not justice it is lame. Then we end up with people in our society that take matters into their own hands and commit murder because the are over come with the anger and frustration of a very broken system NOT dealing affectively with these mentally sick persons that can never be helped. Make the punishment severe not a few years of discomfort and then a system that allows them to slip through and continue to prey on innocent people. Not all are men but the percentage is weighed heavy on the male side. I really do not know of one rape case brought against a woman....not one.
We have a system that will take a life when murder is committed so why not go a little further and castrate those that take sexual innocents away from their victim?Â
It must be different in Washington. Â In Oregon, if they don't feel like you will offend again and are not a predator, you will not be listed on the sex offender website. Â I think all sex offenders should be listed, especially if they abused children.
don't know where you studied law but your wrong.
Considered him a HERO?  That is madness.  Vigilantes are not heros.  People considered Hitler a hero.  The white man who massacred the Native Americans were considered heros.  The KKK  were considered heros.  The Puritans who buned witches were considered heros.  The Christians who rose up against the Muslims duirng the Crusades were considered heros.  More Christians who massacured during the Inquisistion were considered heros.  Osama bin Laden was considered a hero.  The Muslims are currently standing up for their beliefs against Americans right now and are considered heros.  I think not.  They were mad and anyone who supports them . . . .Â
I agree with what you're saying. Pretty amazing that the KKK were Dems.
"Leslie Blanton says her husband is listed as a sex offender because he had consensual sex with a freshman when he was a senior in high school."
I do not believe that ones like the above should have the label "sex offender."
 @UsaidWHAT Third degree rape means that there was not consent and that there were threats
 @Shannon K That depends entirely on the individual state. Third degree rape often means statutory rape. If you're referring to Washington it's without consent OR there were threats... and without consent can simply mean below the age of consent.Â
If senior in high school means he was 18 then that makes him a sex offender by law.
when the legal system fails us some times we the people just want to say enough.I would have voted not guilty period
 @Iam1woody It is possible Blanton got the sex offender tag for making out with a 9th grader while he was a 12th grader.  Do not have the same attitude for the kiddy fiddler. Long story short vigilante justice is similiar to blind justice, does not get it right all the time.
@drinkmorewater @Iam1woody he was 18 and had consenual sex with a freshman on school property she was 13 almost 14,while that is not ok at all your right he shouldnt have been killed for being fing stupid,but I still wouldnt want him near me or mine
 @Iam1woody There's a wonderful constitutional doctrine called jury nullification which allows jurors to declare someone technically guilty, but not deserving of punishment. Unfortunately, jurors are never told it is an option because judges would rather jurors only consider what the judge has allowed, including his/her instructing of the law. I feel it is one of the great tragedies of this nation that jurors do not know jury nullification is their right.Â