Arkansas State Parole Board Members:
Allen “Tig” and I met in kindergarten when we were 5 years old and became best friends. From that day on we were pretty much inseparable. That is until the tragic night in May of 2004 when Chad Hamilton’s careless actions changed our lives forever. Having your best friend of more than 15 years take his last breath in your arms is the most devastating and most painful situation I could have ever imagined being in. I would not wish that on anybody.
There is not a day or night that goes by that I don’t think of Allen. For so many years, Allen was always the first person to know when something new or exciting happened in my life. So much has happened since he’s been gone and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve picked up my phone to call him only to remember that he is no longer there. I can’t count the nights I have dreamt of Allen. Dreams so real that when I wake up, I think he is only a phone call away… only to make myself realize that he is not there and will never be again because of Chad Hamilton.
Allen and I grew up talking about the future. Things like being each other’s best man in our weddings, marrying and living beside each other, and raising our kids together. When I proposed to my now wife, I wanted so badly for Allen to be the first one to know. On our wedding day, he was supposed to be standing beside me as my best man, but because of Chad Hamilton, Allen was nowhere in sight. Now my wife and I have had our first child, whom we named Keaton Allen in memory of my best friend. Keaton will never have the chance to meet his “Uncle Allen”. All of the plans that Allen and I had made throughout the years were shattered the night Chad Hamilton walked into our lives and took one of the most caring, loving, and kind men from this earth.
Allen did not deserve to die; he had his whole life ahead of him. Allen will never get to have a wedding; he will never get the chance to start a family of his own. Chad Hamilton still has his whole life ahead of him. He will still have the chance to marry; he still has the chance to start a family of his own if he chooses too. Allen didn’t have a choice. Allen did not choose to die. Chad made that decision for Allen.
Spending a couple of years of a ten year sentence in jail for taking someone’s life is not near enough of a punishment as Chad Hamilton deserves. Chad’s family will see him out in the “real world” again. Allen is not coming back. We won’t get the chance to see Allen again.
Please take all I have said into consideration as you make the decision on whether Chad, Allen’s murderer, deserves to walk the streets again or to sit in jail for a little longer as we hope he will someday feel even a little remorse for the devastation he has caused the Fortune family, me, and everyone else that was in Allen’s life.
Thank you,
Zachary C. Byers
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