by Jim Henshaw

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

Everybody has a sore spot. An old sports injury that flares at an inopportune moment; the bad back that tightens without warming; a something or someone that pops up from time to time to remind you life can be incredibly unfair and unjust.

For me the wound that just won't heal is Karla Homolka.

Karly Curls. Schoolgirl Killer. Serial Rape Enabler. Paul Bernardo's "Better" Half. She came into my life uninvited and thanks to a Justice system that refuses to admit it made a mistake and allows ever greater injustices to be perpetrated, she just won't go away.

For those who don't know the story, there are a ton of books on the subject and endless web sources. In brief, Karla and her husband Paul, the perfect suburban couple, were responsible for the deaths of three teenage girls, Leslie Mahaffey, Kristen French and Karla's kid sister Tammy. They also drugged and sexually abused other women. Many believe they were responsible for other deaths. They videotaped their crimes.

When the police finally arrested Paul, Karla offered to testify against him in return for lesser sentences, claiming to be a battered wife and unwilling participant in what had gone on. Shortly after the deal was done, the incriminating videotapes were discovered. But, according to authorities, nothing could be done to undo what became known in the Canadian press as "the deal with the devil". Karla served 12 years for Manslaughter and is now a free woman, living under a new identity in Quebec.

She popped into the news this week with rumors that she has had a child.

I'm not a believer in Capital Punishment. But I do believe that someone who kills should not be given the opportunity to do it again.

Part of the process I used in writing and producing "Top Cops" was spending time on the job with cops. That included being present at a number of homicide scenes. Some were mundane, some appalling. My first was a decapitation, my last made Hannibal Lechter seem like a Vegan.

But all of them had the same emotional impact. Being in the presence of someone who has died violently hits you with an enormity you're never quite prepared for. The whole scene roils with the both the echoes of the savage, uncontrolled emotions that caused it as well as the unfathomable dimensions of what's been taken away.

Trust me it's not at all like "CSI: Miami".

Oh, sure, there are cops who go for the gallows humor or play the tough guy role. Everybody grieves differently and everybody deals with horror in their own way. And no matter

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