Thursday, January 26, 2012

Anger Management Gone Wrong in Florida

View Julie Christiansen's profile on LinkedInSo here's what came across the Anger Solutions news desk this morning, and I had to share... anger management only gets a small honorable mention in this story; however, it is notable to see that the events of this story played out immediately following an anger management class. To be fair, people who go to anger management classes with no intention to learn or change, will do neither. They will only get their certificate to prove to the judge that they attended and that seems to be enough.

Sadly, for the victim of this crime, the perpetrator's attendance to anger management was not enough in this case. Here's the story - the original version of which can be found at this link: http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/012412fowler
Fowler gets 30 years
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
LEESBURG
MILLARD K. IVES Staff Writer
millardives@dailycommercial.com
A man who killed his friend in anger, less than a day after leaving an anger management class, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Jimmie Nathan Fowler, 29, apparently believed his estranged wife, Ruth Brown, was cheating with his friend, Willi Culpepper, when he shot him to death last year in Fowler's Montclaire Road home in Leesburg, according to Lake County sheriff's officials and prosecutors.
"He just wouldn't believe there wasn't anything going on between them," prosecutor Bill Gross said of Fowler.
A plea deal made this month calls for Fowler to serve at least 29 years of the sentence. He could have received life if convicted in a jury trial.
Fowler allegedly told his estranged wife afterwards that he had shot someone. He also told deputies where they could find the murder weapon.
According to Gross, the shooting occurred the early morning of June 19, 2011, apparently after Fowler, Culpepper and the latter's "almost" fiancee, Marry Kollydas, and others spent the wee hours of the morning drinking and doing drugs at Fowler's home.
Gross said Fowler was convinced that his wife, who had just moved out their home, and Culpepper were sleeping together, "maybe because they were seen at a bar at the same time."
Culpepper and Kollydas went to Fowler's home on June 18 in an attempt to convince Fowler he wasn't cheating with his estranged wife.
Gross added Fowler had just got home from an anger management meeting.
Culpepper thought he had convinced Fowler there was nothing going on between him and Brown, and even invited him to his home for dinner.
Afterward, the three went back to Fowler's home with at least one other person where a night of partying spilled into the next morning.
Gross said Culpepper was about to leave the home shortly before 6 a.m. when Fowler pulled out a .357-caliber handgun
According to an arrest affidavit, Kollydas told deputies that Fowler, went to a bedroom, grabbed a handgun out of a black bag under the bed, came back to the living room, and shot Culpepper in the arm and abdomen.
"Are you kidding me?" Culpepper allegedly said.
When Culpepper asked Fowler why he shot him, he responded, "Because you've been (messing) with my girl."
Fowler fled before being captured by deputies, the affidavit added. Culpepper was later pronounced dead at Leesburg Regional Medical Center.
Want to know about a viable alternative to anger management classes? Visit www.angersolution.com