Braulio Castillo; murderer with veteran small business
Braulio Castillo was sentenced to life in prison last summer for the murder of his estranged wife, Michelle a few years ago. He broke into her home and strangled her while their children were asleep just down the hallway. Before that, he founded Signet Computers (renamed Strong Castle in 2013) doing so with his status as a service-disabled veteran. He became famous as the target of Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth’s ire in a House Committee investigation into his status as a service-connected disabled veteran.
See, while attending the US Military Academy Preparatory School, he injured his foot during orienteering training and left the program. If he hadn’t been injured, he wouldn’t have even been considered a veteran. Even though he played football at the University of San Diego the following year, he still had that status as an injured veteran 27 years later. It was more about the system that would allow it, than it was about Castillo, and I noticed that Duckworth didn’t do anything about the system while she was at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs or in Congress, so whose fault is it really?
I don’t think his records were ever called into question, but here they are anyway;
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
I can’t stand Duckworth, but to my knowledge she was never AT the federal VA, only the Illinois VA.
She was at the VA with Shinseki. She brought those ass-monkeys from VoteVets with her.
You probably didn’t notice her Federal work because she spent her tenure as an SES employee pursuing her graduate degree with the POST 9-11 GI Bill, you know, instead of working.
Cocksucker.
Him or her?
Hacks like Duckworth are why shitbags like him are allowed to claim vet status under what is at best dubious circumstances, and guys like me won’t go anywhere near a VA clinic or claim any benefits to which we might be entitled.
SEA – I read ex-OS2’s comment as a twofer. Seems like a reasonable interpretation.
Cocksuckers, both of them.
What an asshole. And life in prison for murder, especially under those circumstances? Why waste the taxpayers’ money to feed, clothe, house, and keep this douchebag in good physical health? String him up, shoot him, pump him full of potassium, or have him ride the lightning. He shouldn’t be alive.
Years ago, I worked at a station near a state prison (where I was thoroughly unimpressed with CDCR in general, but that’s another story), and we frequently responded to medical aids at the infirmary. Some were legit, but quite a few were clearly faking to game the system. But each time, the guards (COs, whatever) would go through a lengthy process of verifying the con’s identity, rap sheet, and sentence. The ones who had a release date, or at least a parole hearing in their future, I could see. But the occasions when the latter was “Life, No Parole,” I couldn’t help myself, and asked, “Then what the hell are we doing here? This asshole’s never gonna see the outside, no matter what. He dies in prison, his sentence is served. Why are we wasting the state’s money to prolong that?”
Yeah, I got yelled at a lot while I was there.
Something from a few years ago was when Susan Atkins, a follower of Charles Manson, got brain cancer. Although she was directly involved in the murder of Sharon Tate, among others, and had been originally sentenced to death, her sentence was commuted to life due to a California Supreme Court ruling.
When she got sick in 2008, she had already spent almost 40 years locked up. News reports at the time said her treatment cost an estimated $10,000 per day. This apparently went on for about a year until she died in 2009.
Ditto. If I had my way, they would all ride the lightning or pull rope. Getting put to sleep like a sick or seriously injured dog is too good for them. I used to know a Judge Hemp, who firmly believed some men deserve an end at the end of a good hemp rope. They say his motto was, “bailiff, get a rope for this dope.”
@ RGR769 :
Actually, of all the methods of execution here in the United States, I think dying in the gas chamber takes the longest amount of time, while being physically agonizing.
After all, during our military service, ALL of us had to annually go through the gas chamber, and we well remember what THAT was like!
In addition to the annual visit to the gas chamber, we would sometimes get gassed during fights with each other, and/or on field exercises.
Currently, Islamic Jihadists are carrying out their executions by sawing off the head with nothing but an ordinary kitchen knife.
Sometimes, the Moslems vary the executions with new and novel methods, such as drowning their prisoners or burning them alive.
Use of the guillotine during the French Revolution indicated that beheading did NOT result in instantaneous death, as the amount of blood remaining in the brain sometimes allowed consciousness for a minute or two, and I’m guessing it was also very painful, as those of us with spinal injuries can attest.
Also, even though it LOOKS gruesome, I don’t think the electric chair causes any pain or suffering.
As a teenager, when I was committed to the state mental hospital, I endured numerous electric shock treatments, and never felt anything, as I was instantly unconscious.
I’m for whatever gets the job done quickly. A good hemp rope is somewhat elegant and efficient with a competent hangman. The ax or the guillotine are too bloody. It sort of ruins the corpse for the next of kin. Anyway, if they want to have a viewing.
Hold the phone. Stop the presses. Cancel my appointments. Are you saying that a 17 or 18-year whose military experience is West Point Prep School and who lasts less than a year in that school is a VETERAN!? Is that correct?
Dayammm…they sure are playing fast and loose with what constitutes a veteran. I had no idea.
You know, if some clown ever told me he was Veteran by virtue solely of his having attended West Point Prep School, I would extend my hand and thank him for his algebra. And if the same clown told me he was a disabled Veteran by sustaining an injury at West Point Prep School, I think I would polynomial his ass.
“Polynomial his ass”? Sounds pretty painful, 2/17… like prostate exam with the whole fist painful.
I think it’s a shame that Quackersworth was elected IL Senator. It just prolongs her uselessness to anyone but herself. I keep hoping that someone, some day, will see her as the leech she is.
Disclaimer: not knocking her military service, just her political quackery.
Ex-PH2, you’re too nice. I am loathe to question anyone’s honorable service, particularly when that service results in catastrophic injury sustained in action, but there is a character trait here that didn’t suddenly develop. Even saying this rankles, myself as well as others, but there it is.
I’ve heard it said by too many who served with her, if she hadn’t been so horrifically injured, no one would have a kind or supportive word to say about her. I despise those who use their injury knowing they will get a pass. It’s no different than saying, just because someone is a veteran who honorably served they are a good and honorable person.
As for her politics and political career, she is a shitbag of the first order. Her character? Hag is the nicest word I can come up with. She has never done anything, made a speech or appearance that is not completely self-serving, but she gets the sympathy vote, knows it and uses it and has made a career of it.
As for the topic of this thread, I’m with the majority. Save the tax payers a bunch. Bury him and plant a tree, it will be the most useful outcome of his otherwise waste of a life.
Then, reserve that tree for future use for toilet paper creation. Plant another tree on top of them and repeat the process in the future.
EX-PH2… maybe she and the (D) party felt that she “earned the seat” because she was one of the JEF’s minions.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some “quid-pro-quo” action going on there – Blago tried it after JEF was elected with his Senate seat, and look at what it got him.
Shitbag Deluxe!
What a sissy. He should man-up like John Kerry. Three Purple Hearts but you don’t hear him complaining, right? What a mensch!
To misquote Yakov Smirnoff—“What a system!”
Ol’Lurch was in the news today. He is in Communist Vietnam reliving his many days of daring-do in combat with the assistance of Communist party officials. They arranged for him to meet with some ex-VC who claims he served with the guy Kerry shot after he abandoned his duty station (his swift-boat) and chased the unarmed guy (his fired B-40 launcher was obviously empty) down and shot him on the river bank. The only thing the ex-VC said that is surely true is that they could hear a swift-boat coming up the river when it was several klicks away. Undoubtedly, this was arranged to reaffirm what a combat war hero Lurch was from his harrowing four months in country. The article from WaPo talked admiringly about his medals for valor and those three Purple Hearts. For some reason the media never talks to his cameraman from those days.
Several years ago, I received an e-mail from a prosecutor in Oregon.
A guy he was prosecuting for murder claimed to have served with me in Saigon at the Phu Lam Signal Battalion, and was saying that as a result, he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, causing him to commit the murders.
The prosecutor wanted verification of any incidents at the Phu Lam Signal Battalion that might have caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
So, I e-mailed the prosecutor, saying I couldn’t remember that guy, and I described my own experiences as a soldier stationed in Saigon.
The veteran was sentenced to death, and a few years later, became ill, and died in the prison infirmary.
Do people who get injured in basic training get the same benefits and become a veteran? I thought you need 6 months title 10 active service to become a veteran.
I have a cousin living off the gubmint teat after he was “injured” during title 10 train up for DS. He was certainly under 6 months.
I thought I just saw something where they changed the requirements for Vet that you don’t need a DD-214 any longer. I think all title 10 get one so that would tell me yes.
I remember seeing the video of Duckworth publicly flogging him for her own gain, but I didn’t know he went on to kill his wife.
The tone of her voice also made me think she must have been a great officer to work with or under. Do I need to put /sarc here?