The underlying story is sad.  In fact, that’s an understatement. It’s a story of gut-wrenching violence and horror. The headline is a bit captivating – “Man Gets Death for Slaying” – but it is the tearful words of the victim’s son that make your heart crack.

Remember the name of Penny Keptra, who but for her own terrorism experience would be 58 years old today, enjoying her three children.

Penny was walking to the store Dec. 29, 1998, when three men across the street, described as “stupid drunk,” yelled, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”  Penny responded in like kind, probably feeling no fear at that specific moment.

The news article does not detail when the physical encounter actually occurred, but it ended with Penny’s murder and robbery of her $6 in food stamps.

A reader with any sense of decency cannot help but put him- or herself in Penny’s shoes for her fright and pain in her last, God-only-knows-how-many minutes or perhaps hours.  Her body wasn’t found for at least two days, and that was by Caltrans workers, in weeds near a freeway.

It is important to know a bit about the event again to punctuate our liberal and crazy criminal justice system – more accurately, our injustice system.

Penny was raped, sexually assaulted, badly beaten and tortured. She was stripped of her clothes, then body-stomped and thrown over an embankment. The medical examiner described her face as “totally unrecognizable” with an identified “114 distinct injuries” that included part of an ear missing, bite marks, and in addition to be raped the old-fashioned way, she was sexually assaulted with a wooden stick.

I’m trying to think of a stronger word than “violence,” but not one comes to mind. I would offer the same wonder for the word “fear” in what Penny must have felt, let alone the pain.  She may well have lived through all of the mayhem until the final stomping snuffed her out.

Now, the article I refer to is only about one of the murderers – is there a stronger word for “murderer,” as in this case? – and that is one Kevin Darnell Pearson, now 36 years old, which made him a mere 21 when this happened.

As usual, the unyielding, slow-grinding, liberal justice system has taken 15 years. Pearson’s first death sentence was overturned by the spectacular California Supreme Court because there was a finding that one juror was ambivalent about the death penalty, so a retrial took place on the penalty phase. No doubt, the defense attorney whined about some allegation so he or she could be a hero and save this animal while the rest of us got to pay for his antics.

Pearson was the last of the three to be sentenced to death.  Corene Locke-Noble, a 29-year veteran prosecutor of the D.A.’s office, said it was the worst case of her career.

The next sadness is thinking while reading the words of the son, Teddy Kerpta, now about 29, when he said, “Your death will be quick and painless, unlike what you did to my mother. … I can’t wait to have the satisfaction of sitting there and watching you die.”

While Teddy got the satisfaction of hearing the sentence and getting to speak his piece, reality is, he is likely to be over 60 years old before this crazy state called California puts those beasts to death. More likely, the convicts will die of old age on lenient death row.

Heck, many are still arguing over whether lethal injection is a painful cocktail.  We surely wouldn’t want a guy like Pearson to die with a little discomfort.

It isn’t about execution pain at all. It’s about bleeding-heart liberals. I’ve had to put down three beloved, innocent dogs, and they peacefully went to sleep in my arms. Yet we are to save ruthless, mindful, thinking beings like these three creeps.

Last but not least, Pearson “allegedly” (I detest that word) remarked the day after the murder, “We killed a white woman.” There is no mention of a hate crime added to the mix.  Was that just politics, or were there just so many other gruesome charges that hate didn’t count?

I surely don’t recall any of the civil-rights people marching in the street and destroying property over that one.  But I digress.

I’ve added Teddy and his siblings to my prayer list that he gets his wish, sooner than later, to witness the exorcism of evil from his life. In fact, Teddy is due three audiences.

May God bless you, Teddy, and literally, Godspeed.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.