My name is Sandra Friend. I am the mother of Michael Lyons.  Michael was brutally murdered in May 1996 in Yuba City, California. He was only 8 year old when he was kidnapped while he was walking home from school.  Michael never made it home that day, for there was a sexual predator stalking him.

This monster took Michael, tortured him for 10 hours, inflicting 70 to 80 non-lethal stab wounds to my little boy. Yet he was not finished; he continued to rape Michael the entire time.  He ultimately took his life the following morning.

The monster who took Michael is no stranger to the criminal justice system.  Robert Rhoades is a serial killer and a rapist who preys on the innocent.  In April, 1984, he kidnapped, raped and murdered Julie Connell in Alameda County while she studied at a Pleasanton Park.  Four days later, he robbed another woman in San Lorenzo, CA.

One year later, in April 1985, Rhoades kidnapped, robbed, sexually assaulted and tortured a woman at knifepoint in Yuba County.  Rhoades told the victim that he was taking her to the river bottoms in Marysville to kill her.   This victim jumped from a moving car to save her own life.  In 1993, Rhoades sexually assaulted a 4-year-old girl in Amador County.  A few years later, he murdered my little boy.

Rhoades rightfully received the death penalty in both Michael and Julie’s case. Our communities could see the pure evil monster that our children came across on those fateful days. Members of our communities delivered the only punishment deserving of his crimes-the Death Penalty.

Rhoades is the poster child for the death penalty. He is the reason we all need to stand up and be heard, because these monsters will never stop. Rhoades is a master manipulator, meticulous in each crime he does as he says, "the good ones never get caught." He is a monster who targets our children; he has no remorse for the crimes he has committed. He is pure evil.

Can you imagine the criminals he will be in contact with if left to live out his life in prison? He will breed a new type of criminals and killers. He has 725 equally sadistic evil monsters to spend his life with if we abolish the death penalty.

Rhoades was hiding amongst us year after year, destroying our communities and our lives by taking the things we cherish most- our loved ones. Rhoades may have thought he silenced Michael, but Michael will never be silenced. I will be Michael’s voice and I will continue to fight for Michael’s rights- for the Victims’ rights. I may have been a Victim but now I am a Survivor. Thank you for your time.

PLEASE BE THE VOICE OF THE VICTIMS WHO CAN'T SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. THESE MURDERERS SHOWED NO MERCY FOR THE LIVES THEY TOOK... VOTE TO KEEP THE DEATH PENALTY FOR THESE HEINOUS KILLERS. 

Visit www.waitingforjustice.net to see the truth about the ACLU's effort to abolish the death penalty.

Sandy Friend  
Michael’s Mother