Ian Manuel – sentenced to die in prison for an offense in a robbery and non-homicidal case
Ian Manuel is one of only two 13-year-olds in the United States of America to be sentenced to die in prison for an offense in a non-homicidal case. Both boys are African-American. The other is Joe Sullivan, who is in prison for a 1989 robbery and raping a 72-year-old white woman.
The victim, beautiful Debbie Baigrie was shot in the face on the night of July 27, 1990. Her face had a bullet hole in it. Four days later, the attacker, 13-year-old Ian Manuel was arrested. Today, Baigrie, 39, has to point to the wound on her lower left cheek for it to be noticed. As Baigrie endured painful reconstructive surgery to rebuild her gums and teeth obliterated in the shooting, she decided to rebuild herself in other ways.
She became a competitive bodybuilder, Ms. Tampa 1992 and the American Natural Bodybuilding Council person of the year in 1995. She also built a bridge to an unlikely person: Ian Manuel.
Not long after he was sentenced to life without parole, Manuel began writing Baigrie. Shocked at first, she eventually wrote him back, and forgave him. "My heart went out to him," Baigrie said. "He was a child. He had a bum rap from the time he was born."
Their correspondence eventually stopped. "Everybody told me he’s a sociopath," she said. "And I had to come to that realization on my own."
Now Baigrie publishes the free monthly Natural Muscle Magazine, is married to Steve, a vice president at a flight simulator company, and is full-time mom to her daughters Dana 14, and Laura, 12. In 1998, her daughter, Dana was diagnosed with histiocytosis, a rare blood disease. Baigrie says her daughter is the reason her life was spared: "She needed me."
Sound Off – Does the punishment fit the crime?
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What happened to Ian’s victim was tragic yet fortunately she has been able to recover and make a better life for herself. But what happened to 13-year-old Ian is tragic as well…this black child was cruelly tricked by a racist lawyer into receiving a sentence of life in prison without parole, based on a non-lethal attack. A typical example of old-Florida racism providing a minor child who is a negro, a cruel and unusual sentence that would never be given a person of majority race. It is time that Florida stopped its ugly and cruel racism and freed this young man from decades of solitary imprisonment. You can help Ian if you will write to the newly elected Florida Governor in November 2010 and ask for clemency to Ian…he’s definitely done his time. Your caring will make the difference, and may God Bless you!