No Parole for Convicted Murder Thomas David Cress

To: Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909


We, the family of Patricia Rosansky and the signers of this petition, respectively request that you do not commute the sentence of convicted murderer Thomas Cress.

On Feb. 3rd 1983 seventeen year old Patricia Patty Rosansky was on her way to Battle Creek H. S. when she was abducted, brutally raped, beaten, killed and left in a ravine. Her body was not found until April 6th 1983, in Bedford Township near Battle Creek MI. Forensic pathologists testified that Pattys death was violent, aggressive and physical. She had defensive wounds indicating that she tried to fight back. I can only imagine the terror she must have felt when she realized what was happening.

Thomas Cress was arrested and convicted of her murder. Numerous witnesses testified that Cress made statements to them on separate occasions over several months that he had sexually assaulted and killed Patty. He told one witness he wanted to have sex; and when Patty refused he raped her, killed her and dumped her body in a wooded area. He also took several friends to a wooded area and pointed out where Pattys body lay, one of these individuals notified the police of the incident which eventually helped to convict him.

Thomas Cress was given a fair trial, a jury of his peers, consisting of 12 individual members of the community heard the FACTS presented by the state. Without prejudice or a grand conspiracy he was found guilty (beyond a reasonable doubt) of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole. To commute his sentence would undermine our judicial system. There are those who feel he is innocent..yet the fact remains that the courts investigated all disputes none of which were found to have had merit,,,,nothing new introduced was deemed credible, while admittedly new evidence, is not such that on retrial a different result is probable. The courts decisions are based on an analysis of the FACTS surrounding the case and it is the analysis that is the basis of their decisions. All of Cresss legal avenues have been exhausted and his sentence remains the same. The sentence issued should be UPHELD AND RESPECTED.

Patty was denied the opportunity to live her life because of the actions of convicted murderer Thomas Cress. There are so many lives that have been turned upside down by her tragic death. Three generations of her family have been directly affected by this cruel, heinous crime. As victims our lives will never be the same, we have been denied the chance to watch Patty grow into a young women and adult. Instead we are left with the daily reminders of our heartbreaking loss. Thankfully there is some comfort in knowing the man responsible and convicted for her death is in jail and cannot commit another hideous violent crime and tear apart another family. We believe that imprisonment has not change him and that society would be at great risk if he were to be released.