A funeral
May 6th, 2005 by Larry D. Burton
I’ve got to travel back home to Chattanooga after lunch today for a viewing at a funeral home this afternoon and to be a pallbearer in a funeral tomorrow. This is such a tragedy on more levels than I feel comfortable talking about on this weblog but I do want to address one thing, some people can’t be trusted to live in society.
Andrea Justice was the sister of my brother’s wife. She was a hard working single mother of Brianna. Brianna was a bright, inquisitive young girl who was a delight to know. Brianna loved animals and couldn’t bear to think of any animal going hungry or being abused. In all the time I was around Brianna I never saw here misbehave or act disrespectful to anyone.
A little over a year ago Andrea met and married Tony Pope. About two months ago Andrea gave birth to their son, Christian. Now Tony had been in jail for killing someone but he served a short sentence and was out on parole when he and Andrea married. Andrea’s family figured it must have been something like an accident with him serving such a short sentence. He seemed like a nice enough fellow to the family so I don’t think a whole lot was asked or thought about it at the time.
However, Tony had not been imprisoned for accidently killing someone. Tony had beat his girlfriend over the head with a frying pan. He claimed she came after him with a knife during his trial but he was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. He served five years and was paroled.
Monday night, May 2, 2005, Andrea informed Tony she and the children were moving out and that she wanted a divorce. Tony responded by beating Andrea over the head with a hammer, killing her, strangling Brianna and kicking her in the chest, killing her. He then got little Christian out of his crib and began battering him against the wall until he was dead.
Tony was picked up by the police as he went into work the following morning. His parole was immediately revoked and he will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. At least we can only hope that he never graces society with his presence again.
Anyone can be pushed to a breaking point to commit violence on another person. I’m a firm believer in that. I’m a firm believer in forgiveness, rehabilitation and second chances but when the person committing the violence is controlling or just downright mean I can’t accept the risk they pose to the public of allowing them any benefit of doubt. These people just don’t change often enough to think that any of them can change. None of them should ever be allowed back out into the general population after they have been convicted.
People like Tony are all around us. If you know of someone who is battering their loved ones you have two choices, wait until they kill or get them off the streets.
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Ow. I’ve been trying to assimilate this since you first posted it. Of course it’s impossible to tell now, but was this the first instance of abuse, or had there been a pattern? It seems like someone with his history might even lie dormant for a while.
It also seems another reason to encourage “trust but verify” in investigating the backgrounds of friends and potential lovers…
Dan, there was some old bruises found on both Andrea and Brianna during the autopsies. The family was unaware of any abuse going on until this happened.
We did find out that the reason he received only fifteen years on murdering his girlfriend was that there were witnesses testifying that the relationship was mutually abusive and that she had held him at knifepoint in the past.
He broke the cast iron skillet into nineteen pieces, though, when he fought off her knife attack. That’s much more than self defense or adrenaline, that’s rage.
The bruises on Andrea’s stomach were due to her being a diabetic and that is where she gave herself shots. That we know of he had never hit her before. (I am Andrea’s best friend.) As for old bruises on Brianna, this is the first I have heard of that.
He is an evil person that I don’t want to be labeled as crazy by anyone…I don’t want him to use that as a defense. He has no defense for what he has done to Susan, Andrea, Brianna, or Christian! His is a cold blooded killer that God will deal with after the courts get through.