You may remember this from American Justice: Michael Alig, the leader of Club Kids who was found guilty of murdering his drug dealer, dismembering his corpse and dumping it into the Atlantic Ocean, was just released from prison after over a decade behind bars. Alig had stated he was high on drugs at the time and didn't recall murdering Angel (Alig was known for heavy drug use)

http://thump.vice.com/words/hey-mom-michael-aligs-mother-talks

I saw that on a news site sometime last week. Although I don't at all doubt Alig probably felt like a fish out of water at best growing up, especially in South Bend, IN (my husband also hails from that city), I've never known what to think about him. I can't decide if he was completely overcome by his drug use or if he's actually a sociopath.

But I do know one thing: Angel Melendez's murder was handled shamefully by the police in the beginning. Regardless of who he was or what he was involved in, that should have never happened.

yeah, the news wasn't as recent as I once thought.

I never thought Alig was as evil as some portrayed him out to be. Accounts say that Angel began physically assaulting and threatening Alig, and one of Alig's accomplices ("Freeze") started striking Angel with a hammer. So I guess I really don't understand how he got locked up for 15+ years from that. (especially since Freeze got a more lenient sentence.) I can believe Alig was drugged out and didn't realize what was happening or remember much about it: he was known to get so wasted that he routinely didn't wake up until sometime in the afternoon. I listened to his interviews on the AJ program and he didn't strike me as mean-spirited at all. Granted, I found some of his party behavior, as well as his cover-up of the crime to be rather odious, but it didn't strike me as a premeditated murder at all.

And yes, the police handling of this case was awful in the beginning.

yeah, the news wasn't as recent as I once thought.

I never thought Alig was as evil as some portrayed him out to be. Accounts say that Angel began physically assaulting and threatening Alig, and one of Alig's accomplices ("Freeze") started striking Angel with a hammer. So I guess I really don't understand how he got locked up for 15+ years from that. (especially since Freeze got a more lenient sentence.) I can believe Alig was drugged out and didn't realize what was happening or remember much about it: he was known to get so wasted that he routinely didn't wake up until sometime in the afternoon. I listened to his interviews on the AJ program and he didn't strike me as mean-spirited at all. Granted, I found some of his party behavior, as well as his cover-up of the crime to be rather odious, but it didn't strike me as a premeditated murder at all.

And yes, the police handling of this case was awful in the beginning.

I think my problem is that I have an admittedly difficult time separating Alig's party persona and behaviors from his general character. I too find it odious, but it doesn't necessarily follow that he's then a sociopathic killer. I have to keep that in mind. I also need to keep in mind that both Alig and Freeze were by all accounts frightened of Melendez. That fear combined with heavy drug use? Not a good combo at all.

I think the manslaughter conviction was appropriate, but I've never understood two things: A) why Alig served a harsher sentence than the person who dealt the hammer blows, and B) why on earth Drano was poured down Melendez's throat. I've always been particularly disturbed by that part of the story.