DALTON, Ga. — Connie and Jeff Payne say they were shocked that the drunk driver convicted of killing their son had access to Facebook, a cell phone and was allowed to work at a fitness center.
The Paynes recently learned that Brent Gilbert, who was convicted of vehicular homicide in 2004 for a wreck that killed their son, James Bradley Payne, had spent much of his term in a halfway house-like transition center rather than prison.
“He’s just had it made,” said Connie Payne, a Floyd County resident. “That’s no way to be punished for killing somebody.”
Gilbert is coming up for parole this month and, on Tuesday, the Paynes were able to express their outrage during a listening session with the state Board of Pardons and Parole in Dalton.
“This was our last chance,” Connie Payne said.
Jeff Payne wore a button with his son’s photo on it as the couple let board members know they were unhappy and asked that the board deny any of Gilbert’s requests for early release, which could come in just a few weeks.
About 40 groups came to meet Tuesday with board members at the Whitfield County Courthouse during Victims Visitors’ Day, the 16th such day since the program began in 2006. Four of the five parole board members were present for the one-on-one meetings.
“We tell the offenders who are locked up behind bars that the victims have a vote in the process,” said James Donald, chairman of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles. “This is one way to get that vote.”
Many of the meetings included tearful appeals to keep the offender locked up.
“You can’t get that by simply reading a letter,” Donald said.
Whitfield County resident Carleen McAtee asked the board when the woman convicted of killing her son would be up for parole. Rhonda Sosebee was convicted earlier this summer of killing McAtee’s son Stephen Young, Sosebee’s ex-husband.
Staff members said Sosebee would be eligible in 2016.
“We want to make sure we’re on top of this every day for the rest of her life,” she said.
Some of the visitors wanted to ask specific questions about an inmate’s sentence or behavior, but others seemed to just want to talk, according to board member Gale Buckner.
One of the more common questions was whether the offenders have ever shown signs of regret, she said.
“For some people, it makes a big difference if they’ve shown any sort of sincere remorse,” Buckner said.
Andy began working at the Times Free Press in July 2008 as a general assignment reporter before focusing on Northwest Georgia and Georgia politics in May of 2009. Before coming to the Times Free Press, Andy worked for the Anniston Star, the Rome News Tribune and the Campus Carrier at Berry College, where he graduated with a communications degree in 2006. He is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Tennessee ...
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