Boston Herald - July 17, 2009

The steadfast family of a Bay State teacher slain in cold blood by a career criminal a decade ago once again urged state legislators yesterday to pass a tough new three-strikes law they’ve championed in the years since her death.

At a press conference in the Garden of Peace, where a stone is laid in her memory, Melissa Gosule’s family called for the passage of “Melissa’s Bill” to assure harsher sentences for the most dangerous repeat offenders.

“She can continue to make a difference,” Heidi Gosule said of her eldest sister. “. . .She used to tell me, something good always follows something bad.”

Melissa Gosule was 27 in July 1999 when her car broke down on Cape Cod and she accepted a ride from a stranger - unaware he had served time in jail - less than two years - for 27 convictions.

Her body was found eight days later in a shallow grave.

Melissa’s vicious murderer, Michael Gentile, wouldn’t have been free at the time, her family said, had there been a law requiring the maximum sentence for either a third Superior Court felony conviction or a third conviction of a felony punishable by more than 10 years in prison.

In addition to that provision, “Melissa’s Bill,” filed by Rep. Bradford Hill and Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone, also would make such violent offenders ineligible for parole. It also would encompass federal as well as state convictions and require that sentences for new crimes committed while a case is pending run consecutively, rather than concurrently.

Previous versions of Melissa’s Bill called for a life sentence as punishment for such offenders, and included misdemeanors.

“For too long, this bill has sat in the Legislature,” said Hill (R-Ipswich), who testified yesterday before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. “It is time for the Legsilature to do its job.”