By Andrew Scott
Pocono Record Writer
September 25, 2011
Dressed in his light-colored, loose-fitting inmate outfit and with his hands cuffed in front of him, Michael Parrish sat on the inmates' side of the glass at Monroe County Correctional Facility.
Gone were any traces of the uncontrollable rage that Parrish says fueled him to kill his 21-year-old girlfriend and their 18-month-old son two years ago. Instead, Parrish picked up the phone on his side of the glass and spoke serenely.
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Pocono Crime Files: Victoria Adams Murder
ABOUT THE PARRISH CASE
Michael John Parrish will learn his fate Monday.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled before Monroe County President Judge Ronald Vican.
Parrish has pleaded guilty in the July 6, 2009, shooting deaths of his girlfriend, Victoria Marie Adams, 21, and their 18-month-old son, Sidney Michael Parrish, in their Effort home.
Parrish, 25, has pleaded guilty to two first-degree murder counts, one for each victim. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty because the case involves a double-murder with one of the victims being under the age of 12.
A death penalty case involves two phases. The first phase involves the defendant pleading guilty or being convicted by a jury.
In the second or "penalty" phase, the prosecution argues for execution while the defense argues for life in prison. If the defendant has been convicted by a jury, the jury decides the penalty. If the defendant has pleaded guilty, the judge decides.
Parrish has pleaded guilty, so the judge will decide the penalty.
The sentencing hearing was originally scheduled for April 2010, after Parrish entered the guilty plea. But because Parrish, at his attorney's request, revealed certain details about his state of mind and the circumstances surrounding the murders, Vican rejected the guilty plea.
Parrish said he shot Adams in a blinding, jealous rage because he suspected she had been cheating on him. Feeling his "life was over" at that point, he said he then shot Sidney.
On July 19, 2011, Parrish successfully entered a guilty plea. Through public defender Wes Niemoczynski, Parrish said he had enough time between the onset of his rage and the killings to form the intent to kill Adams and their son.
Parrish, 25, is scheduled to stand before county President Judge Ronald Vican on Monday to learn if he will spend the rest of his life in prison or be executed by lethal injection.
Parrish so far has given no indication of wanting to withdraw his guilty pleas and said he knows nothing about anyone advocating for him to be spared from execution should that be the penalty.
"I've pleaded guilty, but I've been misconstrued as saying I want to be executed," he said. "I'm not asking to be executed, but I won't contest execution if that's to be the decision. I'm at peace with whatever happens. I accept it."
'Ashamed' of tattoos
Parrish said an uncontrollable fit of jealous rage, fueled by the suspicion that Adams was cheating on him, led him to kill both victims.
He keeps his head bald and his beard long in the tradition of the Islamic faith he said he converted to three years ago — prior to killing Victoria Marie Adams and their son, Sidney Michael Parrish.
This contradicts reports at the time of the murders that he was a white supremacist. Police said Nazi memorabilia was found in his home.
His body tattoos still include a swastika on his left arm and Confederate flag on his right arm.
"I'm ashamed of them," he said. "Maybe one day, Allah will erase them."
Remorseful but stoic
Since murder under Pennsylvania law is a charge on which no bail is allowed while defendants await the dispositions of their cases, Parrish has spent more than two years and two months in county jail since his arrest. Prior to Thursday's interview with the Pocono Record, Parrish's only visitor had been his father, who had come to see him four times.
Parrish said he has spent his time in jail praying, studying the teachings of his faith and trying to be a model inmate.
"Yes, I do accept responsibility for what I've done, and I do wish more than anything that I could bring back Victoria and Sidney," Parrish said. "I think about them every day, and it doesn't get any easier.
"Yes, I am remorseful, but I don't believe I have to show that remorse," said Parrish, who in 2009 wrote a guilt-ridden letter from jail asking Adams' family to forgive him. "I don't believe I have to break down in tears before the public. I know how I feel, regardless of whether anyone else does."
Turning to Islam
Parrish's reportedly attempted suicide in October 2009 in the Carbon County Jail, where he was being held at the time. Rather than talking about this attempt, he instead said his strengthened religious faith has given him the courage to continue facing his current situation and use it to help others.
"I first became interested in Islam because I wanted to know more about the religion, partly because of the stigma that's been attached to it since 9/11," he said. "As I learned more, I came to see that truth is a major component of Islam. No matter what else you are, you must be truthful, and that's something I've always strived to be."
Islam's teachings have replaced the white supremacist ideals that attracted a younger, more impressionable Parrish seeking a sense of belonging in his native Brooklyn, N.Y. It was during that period in his life, in 2006, when he met fellow native New Yorker Adams, with whom he had their son in November 2007.
Remembered as a monster
By the time Sidney was born, Parrish was working as a corrections officer in the very jail where he is now an inmate.
He had cleared a background check and been hired by the jail despite his tattoos, which officials said did not appear offensive during the interview process.
Adams' family has said Parrish was jealous and controlling to the point where she feared leaving the house to be with other family members or friends, especially men.
Her family believes this jealousy is what led him to finally go too far that fateful night.
"My actions that night were so out of character for me," Parrish said. "I normally take a step back and think things through. That night into the following day, for whatever reason, I didn't."
As he now lives with the consequences while awaiting his own fate, Parrish said he now focuses on making whatever time he has left on this earth count for something.
"People will remember me as a monster, the guy who killed his girlfriend and baby, the supremacist," he said.
"I accept that because I don't deny being all those things, which I regret. Knowing I can never undo what I've done, I'm going to try to live by my faith and be an example to other inmates if I can, so I can also be remembered in that way."
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