The Hindu : Front Page : Online drive against parole for a killer

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Thursday, Mar 12, 2009
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Online drive against parole for a killer

CLEVELAND: A heavy-metal band has turned to an online audience to fight the parole of the man who killed one of its guitarists in 1988, the latest use of Internet petitions to attempt to influence parole boards.

The Ohio parole board said on Tuesday it would consider online petitions filed in the case of Robert Bedzyk, who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing Destructor guitarist Dave Iannicca. But one Internet expert said such drives can overstate the backing for an issue because of easy accessibility.

The number of people backing the online petition drive mounted by relatives and fellow band members of Iannicca grew by hundreds to more than 3,100 on Tuesday after his hometown newspaper, The Plain Dealer, highlighted the effort. Backers have come from Europe, Asia and South America since the band began promoting the online petition drive through its MySpace page two weeks ago.

Bedzyk’s hearing before the board in May will be his third try for parole.

Iannicca, 23, was stabbed early New Year’s Day 1988 during a private band party. Along with the holiday, Iannicca was celebrating a record deal and his engagement to be married. Bedzyk, who crashed the party, was asked to leave and stabbed the victim when Iannicca went outside to make sure Bedzyk was not vandalising anything.

The band manager, Bill Peters, who has been with the group since it started in 1983, said Iannicca was a quiet person and good friend. “He was real mellow, a kind of peacemaker kind of guy,” he said.

In addition to the online petition, the state parole board said it has received 10 letters and 42 signatures opposing parole for Bedzyk, now 43.

“Dave was an innocent person. It wasn’t like he was at the other end of some fight or something,” said a fellow band member, Dave Just, 44, who goes by the stage name ‘Overkill.’ — AP

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