In 1983, my friends and I were excited to see summer come as we left 6th grade at Dowling Elementary School in Odessa, Texas. The first night of our "release" I attended a slumber party at a friend's house. Of course, we snuck out in the middle of night to do what 12 year olds do: toilet paper houses. Along the way, we unexpectedly met up with two of our friends, Sergio and Keith, who went along with us. After toilet papering a house, we began running and I tripped on the sidewalk, catching myself with my left arm. Keith picked me up and we continued running. I didn't know that night that I had broken my arm and I certainly didn't know that I would never see my friend, Keith Fieseler, again.

On July 13, 1983, Keith, his older brother, Paul and his mother, Ruby, were found dead in their home. They had been bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat while sleeping in their beds. The next day, Kenneth Allen Venne, Keith and Paul's brother-in-law, in turn, Ruby's son-in-law, confessed to the murders and to stealing Mrs. Fieseler's vehicle. 

The District Attorney at the time, Mike Holmes, allowed Venne to plea to three counts of murder with 55 years each to run concurrently, without consulting with the family. In the beginning, the family and the media were told that the death sentence would be sought for the crimes committed. The family and the friends of the victims were devastated, to say the least.

While in prison, Venne committed two more crimes. In 2012, he was denied parole by the parole board, citing, "The record indicates that the inmate committed one or more violent criminal acts indicating a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others; or the instant offense or pattern of criminal activity has elements of brutality, violence, or conscious selection of victim's vulnerability such that the inmate poses a continuing threat to public safety; or the record indicates use of a weapon."

Despite all of this, Venne's Projected Release Date has slowly been moving up. His Maximum Sentence Date is 07/12/2038. In 2015, his Projected Release Date was 01/23/2024. Today, his Projected Release Date is now 10/26/2023. I find this both sickening and frightening that this monster could be walking the streets in less than 4 years. First of all, he should have received a needle in his arm, but that will never happen. Mike Holmes made sure of that. Second of all, why is he even being granted one year of early release, much less 15 years?

I would like to see that Kenneth Allen Venne serve his maximum sentence and not a day earlier. Not only has he ruined the lives of Ruby, Paul and Keith's family, but it has affected their friends, as well. 

I believe it would be a great miscarriage of justice, again, to release Venne back into the community before his maximum sentence. The family had to suffer back in the 1980's when the justice system let them down and I do not want them to suffer again at the hands of the justice system.