This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Friday December 12th, 2025.

A convicted murderer of a 6 year old boy in Kentucky was released after only serving 8 years of his sentence.  To be factual, Ronald Exantus was actually found not guilty of that murder by reason of insanity – but sentenced to 20 years for other crimes he committed when he invaded the home of his victim.

He is now back in prison for violating his parole – but will probably only have to spend a year behind bars before he is released again.

According to Fox News:

Exantus was able to shave five years off of his time for good behavior in addition to another two years for exceptional meritorious service and 10 months for completing educational programs…

Too bad his victim – 6 year old Logan Lipton – will never have the chance for good behavior, to go to school, or to participate in programs that shows off his excellence.  Because he is dead – stabbed to death by a then 42 year old man who will be able to walk freely again in a year.

The Death Penalty Information Center states that North Carolina has over 120 people on death row.  These are men and women convicted by a jury of their peers of murder.  Some of them have been behind bars since the 1980s.

At the same time, North Carolina has not executed anyone since 2006.  The state is tied up with legal challenges over lethal injections and other methods used to carry out the death penalty.  Additionally, the 2009 Racial Justice Act allows prisoners to constantly dispute their sentences based on allegations of racial discrimination.  All of this ends up giving years of life – at tax payers expense – to men and women who intentionally took those years of life away from others.

Thankfully House Bill 307 – also known as Iryna’s law – brings big changes to how North Carolina both prosecutes capital cases and carries out the punishments.  We will always need to go to extremes to prove the guilt of those convicted of these terrible crimes.  We need to be sure – beyond any reasonable doubt – that they are guilty.  But just as we need to be careful in our prosecution – so too should we not shy away from enacting the death penalty upon conviction.  It is not about revenge.  It is actually not even about punishment.

It is about justice.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample.  Thanks for listening.