THE CUTTING EDGE

How wonderful that a skilled writer can elicit sympathy for a pickax murderer who, tragically under the influence of drugs and depravity, “was looking for something to do” (“Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir,” Aug. 9). The author even sees fit to damn the sister whose testimony helped to convict the vicious murderer.

However, from the limited viewpoint of one who is not a brilliant writer, the true obscenity is that the pickax murderer is still alive and enjoying the luxury of “being reborn.” Her victims don’t have that opportunity.

JOHN DEGATINA, LOS ANGELES