Profile of Richard Wade Farley, Mass Murderer

Richard Wade Farley is a mass murderer responsible for the 1988 murders of seven co-workers at the Electromagnetic Systems Labs (ESL) in Sunnyvale, California. What sparked the murders was his relentless stalking of a co-worker. Richard Farley - Background Richard Wade Farley was born on July 25, 1948, at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. His father was an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force, and his mother was a homemaker. They had six children, of whom Richard was the eldest. The family frequently moved before settling in Petaluma, California, when Farley was eight years old. According to Farleys mother, there was much love in the house, but the family displayed little outward affection. During his childhood and teen years, Farley was a quiet, well-behaved boy who required little attention from his parents. In high school, he showed an interest in math and chemistry and took his studies seriously. He did not smoke, drink, or use drugs, and entertained himself with playing table tennis and chess, dabbling in photography, and baking. He graduated 61st out of 520 high school students. According to friends and neighbors, other than occasionally roughhousing with his brothers, he was a non-violent, well-mannered and helpful young man. Farley graduated from high school in 1966 and attended Santa Rosa Community College, but dropped out after one year and joined the US Navy where he stayed for ten years. Navy Career Farley graduated first in his class of six at Naval Submarine School but withdrew voluntarily. After finishing basic training, he was trained to be a cryptologic technician - a person who maintains electronic equipment. The information that he was exposed to was highly classified. He qualified for top-secret security clearance. The investigation into qualifying individuals for this level of security clearance was repeated every five years. Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory After his discharge in 1977, Farley purchased a home in San Jose and began working as a software technician at Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory (ESL), a defense contractor in Sunnyvale, California. ESL was involved in the development of strategic signal processing systems and was a major supplier of tactical reconnaissance systems to the US military. Much of the work that Farley was involved in at ESL was described as being vital to the national defense and highly sensitive. In included his work on equipment that enabled the military to determine the location and strength of enemy forces. Up until 1984, Farley received four ESL performance evaluations for this work. He scores were high - 99 percent, 96 percent, 96.5 percent, and 98 percent. Relationship With Fellow Employees Farley was friends with a few of his co-workers, but some found him to be arrogant, egotistical and boring. He liked to brag about his gun collection and his good marksmanship. But others who worked closely with Farley found him to be conscientious about his work and generally a nice guy. However, all of that changed, starting in 1984. Laura Black In the spring of 1984, Farley was introduced to ESL employee Laura Black. She was 22 years old and had been working as an electrical engineer for just under a year. For Farley, it was love at first sight. For Black, it was beginning of a four-year-long nightmare. For the next four years, Farleys attraction to Laura Black turned into a relentless obsession. At first Black would politely decline his invitations, but when he seemed unable to comprehend or accept her saying no to him, she stopped communicating with him as best she could. Farley began writing letters to her, averaging two a week. He left pastries on her desk. He stalked her and cruised by her home repeatedly. He joined an aerobics class on the same day that she joined. His calls became so annoying that Laura changed to an unlisted number. Because of his stalking, Laura moved three times between July 1985 and February 1988, but Farley found her new address each time and obtained a key to one of her homes after stealing it off of her desk at work. Between the fall of 1984 and February 1988, she received approximately 150 to 200 letters from him, including two letters he sent to her parents home in Virginia where she was visiting in December 1984. She had not provided him with her parents address. Some of Blacks coworkers tried to talk to Farley about his harassment of Black, but he reacted either defiantly or by threatening to commit violent acts. In October 1985, Black turned to the human resources department for help. During the first meeting with human resources, Farley agreed to stop sending letters and gifts to Black, following her home and using her work computer, but in December 1985, he was back to his old habits. Human Resources stepped in again in December 1985 and again in January 1986, each time issuing Farley a written warning. Nothing Else to Live For After the January 1986 meeting, Farley confronted Black at the parking lot outside of her apartment. During the conversation, Black said Farley mentioned guns, told her he no longer was going to ask her what to do, but rather tell her what to do. Over that weekend she received a letter from him, stating he would not kill her, but that he had a whole range of options, each getting worse and worse. He warned her that, I do own guns and Im good with them, and asked her not to push him. He continued on that if neither of them yielded, pretty soon I crack under the pressure and run amok destroying everything in my path until the police catch me and kill me. In mid-February 1986, Farley confronted one of the human resource managers and told her that ESL had no right to control his relationships with other individuals. The manager warned Farley that sexual harassment was illegal and that if he did not leave Black alone, his conduct would lead to his termination. Farley told her that if he were terminated from ESL, he would have nothing else to live for, that he had guns and was not afraid to use them, and that he would take people with him. The manager asked him directly if he was saying that he would kill her, to which Farley answered yes, but he would take others, too. Farley continued to stalk Black, and in May 1986, after nine years with ESL, he was fired. Growing Anger and Aggression Being fired seemed to fuel Farleys obsession. For the next 18 months, he continued to stalk Black, and his communications with her became more aggressive and threatening. He also spent time lurking around the ESL parking lot. In the summer of 1986, Farley began dating a woman named Mei Chang, but he continued to harass Black. He was also having financial problems. He lost his home, his car, and his computer and he owed over $20,000 in back taxes. None of this deterred his harassment of Black, and in July 1987, he wrote to her, warning her not to get a restraining order. He wrote, It might not really occur to you how far Im willing to go to upset you if I decide thats what Im forced to do. Letters along this same line continued over the next several months. In November 1987 Farley wrote, You cost me a job, forty thousand dollars in equity taxes I cant pay, and a foreclosure. Yet I still like you. Why do you want to find out how far Ill go? He ended the letter with, I absolutely will not be pushed around, and Im beginning to get tired of being nice. In another letter, he told her that he did not want to kill her because he wanted her to have to live to regret the consequences of not responding to his romantic gestures. In January, Laura found a note from him on her car, with a copy of her apartment key attached. Frightened and fully aware of her vulnerability she decided to seek the help of an attorney. On February 8, 1988, she was granted a temporary restraining order against Richard Farley, which included that he stay 300 yards away from her and not contact her in any way. Revenge The day after Farley received the restraining order he began to plan his revenge. He bought over $2,000 in guns and ammunition. He contacted his lawyer to have Laura removed from his will. He also sent a package to Lauras attorney claiming that he had proof that he and Laura had a secret relationship. The court date for the restraining order was February 17, 1988. On February 16, Farley drove to ESL in a rented motor home. He was dressed in military fatigues with a loaded bandoleer  slung over his shoulders, black leather gloves, and a scarf around his head and earplugs. Before leaving the motor home, he armed himself with a 12-gauge Benelli Riot semi-automatic shotgun, a Ruger M-77 .22-250 rifle with a scope, a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun, a Sentinel .22 WMR revolver, a Smith Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, a Browning .380 ACP pistol and a Smith Wesson 9mm pistol. He also tucked a knife in his belt, grabbed a smoke bomb and a gasoline container, and then headed to the entrance of ESL. As Farley made his way across the ESL parking lot, he shot and killed his first victim Larry Kane and continued shooting at others who ducked for cover. He entered the building by blasting through the security glass and kept on shooting at the workers and the equipment. He made his way to Laura Blacks office. She attempted to protect herself by locking the door to her office, but he shot through it. He then shot directly at Black. One bullet missed and the other shattered her shoulder, and she fell unconscious. He left her and moved on through the building, going room to room, shooting at those he found hidden under desks or barricaded behind office doors. When the SWAT team arrived, Farley managed to avoid their snipers by staying on the move inside the building. A hostage negotiator was able to make contact with Farley, and the two talked on and off during a five-hour siege. Farley told the negotiator that he had gone to ESL to shoot up equipment and that there were specific people he had in mind. This later contradicted Farleys lawyer who used the defense that Farley had gone there to kill himself in front of Laura Black, not shoot at people. During his conversations with the negotiator, Farley never expressed any remorse for the seven individuals killed and admitted that he did not know any of the victims except for Laura Black. Hunger is what finally ended the mayhem. Farley was hungry and asked for a sandwich. He surrendered in exchange for the sandwich. Seven people were dead and four injured, including Laura Black. Victims Killed: Lawrence J. Kane, 46Wayne Buddy Williams Jr., 23Donald G. Doney, 36Joseph Lawrence Silva, 43Glenda Moritz, 27Ronald Steven Reed, 26Helen Lamparter, 49 Wounded were Laura Black, Gregory Scott, Richard Townsley, and Patty Marcott. Death Penalty Farley was charged with seven counts of capital murder, assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree burglary, and vandalism. During the trial, it became evident that Farley was still in denial about his non-relationship with Black. He also seemed to lack an understanding of the depth of his crime. He told another prisoner, I think they should be lenient since its my first offense. He added that if he did it again, then they should throw the book at him. A jury found him guilty of all charges, and on January 17, 1992, Farley was sentenced to death. On July 2, 2009, the California Supreme Court denied his death penalty appeal. As of 2013, Farley is on death row in San Quentin Prison.

The Spice Of Life Differing Perspectives Essay - 1499 Words

The Spice of Life: Differing Perspectives A lucid definition is necessary to establish a basis for understanding. When a person recognizes their lack of understanding of a word or phrase, the common solution is to consult a dictionary. A proper definition is defined as â€Å"the condition of being definite, distinct, or clearly outlined.† In order for a definition to be relevant, it must also be universal. This means â€Å"of, affecting or done by all people or things in the world or in a particular group; applicable to all cases.† Universal definitions for good and bad cannot be sustained due to differing perspectives. Many instances arise where an exact person, event, or situation can be defined as good or bad depending on perspective. These perspectives are easily distinguished in theatrical scripts and performances; therefore, I will examine instances in Hearts Like Fists, The Nether, and Universal Robots. Historically, there have been various attempts to justify the killing of human beings. Doctor X, in A dam Szymkowicz’s Hearts Like Fists, symbolizes all the poor justifications for killing. â€Å"Shh. You won’t feel a thing. You would thank me if you could. [†¦] ‘Thank you,’ you would say, ‘for killing me now while I’m happy.’ ‘Later,’ you will tell me, ‘ Later my lover will disappoint me. Will leave me or trap me or make me wish I were dead, so thank you for killing me now and making permanent this moment of perfection,’† (Szymkowicz p. 400). Doctor X experiences heartbreak, andShow MoreRelatedMao Zedong s Leadership Style And Policies1485 Words   |  6 Pagesprogress. This paper would like to examine how Mao Zedong’s leadership failed by investigating his leadership style and policies and how it impacted China as a whole. 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Thalasemia Free Essays

CSP Signs Symptoms Carriers of Thalasemia generally do not have any sign and symptoms which makes to realize that they are suffering from it. It can be only analyzed by the blood test in form anemia. Symptoms of thalasemia are fatigue, pale skin, protruding abdomen, dark urine, and abnormal facial bones. We will write a custom essay sample on Thalasemia or any similar topic only for you Order Now The symptoms depend on the type and severity of the disease. These kinds of symptoms typically occur when oxygen is not able to pass in various parts of the body due to low hemoglobin and a shortage of red blood cells in the blood. People with alpha thalassemia trait or beta thalassemia trait usually have no symptoms. But people with alpha or beta thalassemia trait often have mild anemia that may be found by a blood test. Severe Symptoms, in more severe types of thalassemia, such as Cooley’s anemia, symptoms may include fatigue and weakness, pale skin or jaundice, protruding abdomen with enlarged spleen and liver, dark urine and abnormal facial bones and poor growth. Infants who have the most severe type of alpha thalassemia which is called hydrops fetalis generally die either before or soon after birth. What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Thalassemias? When oxygen is insufficient in the bloodstream then it causes thalassemias. The lack of oxygen occurs because the body is not able to make enough healthy red blood cells and hemoglobin. The severity of symptoms depends on the severity of the disorder. No Symptoms Carriers of Alpha thalassemia generally do not have any signs or symptoms of the disorder. The lack of alpha globin protein is so minor that the body’s hemoglobin works normally. Mild Anemia People who are suffering from alpha or beta thalassemia trait can have ild anemia. But mostly people who have these types of thalassemia have no signs or symptoms to be recognized. Mild anemia can make to fee tired. It is caused by alpha thalassemia trait might be mistaken for iron-deficiency anemia. Mild to Moderate Anemia and Other Signs and Symptoms People who have beta thalassemia intermedia have mild to moderate anemia. They also may have other health problems, such as: †¢ Slowed growth and delayed puberty. Anemia can slow down a child’s growth and development. †¢ Thalassemia may cause bone marrow to expand. Bone marrow is the spongy substance inside bones that makes blood cells. When bone marrow expands, the bones become wider than normal. They may become brittle and break easily. †¢ An enlarged spleen. The spleen is an organ that helps your body fight infection and removes unwanted material. When a person has thalassemia, the spleen has to work very hard. As a result, the spleen becomes larger than normal. This makes anemia worse. If the spleen becomes too large, it must be removed. Severe Anemia and Other Signs and Symptoms People who have hemoglobin H disease or beta thalassemia major (also called Cooley’s anemia) have severe thalassemia. Signs and symptoms usually occur within the first 2  years of life. They may include severe anemia and other health problems, such as: †¢ A pale and listless appearance †¢ Poor appetite †¢ Dark urine (a sign that red blood cells are breaking down) †¢ Slowed growth and delayed puberty †¢ Jaundice (a yellowish color of the skin or whites of the eyes) †¢ An enlarged spleen, liver, or heart †¢ Bone problems (especially with bones in the face) Complications of Thalassemias Better treatments allow people who have moderate and severe thalassemias to live much longer. As a result, these people must cope with complications of these disorders that occur over time. Heart and Liver Diseases Regular blood transfusions are a standard treatment for thalassemias which have to be on timely basis failing to which leads to death. Transfusions can cause iron to build up in the blood. This can damage organs and tissues, especially the heart and liver. Heart disease caused by iron overload this is the main cause of death in people who have thalassemias. Heart disease includes heart failure, arrhythmias i. e. irregular heartbeats, and heart attack. Infection People who have thalassemias affected by infections which cause illness and this is the second most common cause of death. People who have had their spleens removed are at even higher risk because they no longer have this infection-fighting organ. Osteoporosis Mostly people suffering from thalassemias also have bone problems, including osteoporosis (OS-te-o-po-RO-sis). In this condition bones which are weak and brittle can easily be broken even from small injury. How to cite Thalasemia, Papers