UPDATED*APR 4, 2012 10:13 AM ET* * *
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The widow of an Atlanta Braves pitcher who was gunned down in a 1995 robbery is outraged that her husband's killer was released from prison 10 years early.
TRAGIC SPORTS DEATHS
Remembering the many athletes sports lost way too soon.
Relief pitcher Dave Shotkoski, 30, was fatally shot as he returned to his hotel while in spring training with the Braves in 1995 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Two years later, Neal Evans was charged with second-degree murder, thanks in part to a teammate who was determined to track down his killer. Evans, now 47, was released Tuesday from Florida's South Bay Correctional Facility.
"He should be sitting in jail for the rest of his life," Shotkoski's widow, Felicia, said. "And if not, he should at least serve out his entire sentence."
Florida Department of Corrections records indicate that Evans was jailed at least five times prior to the 1995 shooting, including for convictions of burglary, grand theft auto and cocaine possession. He is now on conditional release until 2022.
Evans was sentenced to 27 years in prison for Dave Shotkoski's murder but earned 20 days of time for good behavior during every month served, according to Felicia Shotkoski, who learned her husband's murderer would be released Sunday via an automated phone message.
"I feel cheated, but so should the people on the streets with him today," she continued. "And so should the people of Chicago and New York, with people just like him. I would like to take this felon and use him to open the eyes of the justice system."
Felicia Shotkoski, now living in Chicago, said a criminal justice system that allows Evans to become a free man — despite serving 17 years behind bars — seems to "favor the criminal's rights over the victim's," she said.
"It makes me upset that he's out," she said. "The choice was his — he made those choices. And now he still has his life ahead of him."
She added that the couple's 17-year-old daughter, Alexis, still "lives with [the murder] every day."
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The widow of an Atlanta Braves pitcher who was gunned down in a 1995 robbery is outraged that her husband's killer was released from prison 10 years early.
TRAGIC SPORTS DEATHS
Remembering the many athletes sports lost way too soon.
Relief pitcher Dave Shotkoski, 30, was fatally shot as he returned to his hotel while in spring training with the Braves in 1995 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Two years later, Neal Evans was charged with second-degree murder, thanks in part to a teammate who was determined to track down his killer. Evans, now 47, was released Tuesday from Florida's South Bay Correctional Facility.
"He should be sitting in jail for the rest of his life," Shotkoski's widow, Felicia, said. "And if not, he should at least serve out his entire sentence."
Florida Department of Corrections records indicate that Evans was jailed at least five times prior to the 1995 shooting, including for convictions of burglary, grand theft auto and cocaine possession. He is now on conditional release until 2022.
Evans was sentenced to 27 years in prison for Dave Shotkoski's murder but earned 20 days of time for good behavior during every month served, according to Felicia Shotkoski, who learned her husband's murderer would be released Sunday via an automated phone message.
"I feel cheated, but so should the people on the streets with him today," she continued. "And so should the people of Chicago and New York, with people just like him. I would like to take this felon and use him to open the eyes of the justice system."
Felicia Shotkoski, now living in Chicago, said a criminal justice system that allows Evans to become a free man — despite serving 17 years behind bars — seems to "favor the criminal's rights over the victim's," she said.
"It makes me upset that he's out," she said. "The choice was his — he made those choices. And now he still has his life ahead of him."
She added that the couple's 17-year-old daughter, Alexis, still "lives with [the murder] every day."
