My name is Lucy. I am Torri's mother. I always will be.
By The Patriot Ledger
Next Monday, the day after Mother’s Day, Louise Wightman of Hull is slated to be sentenced after being found guilty of fraud and larceny for practicing psychology without a license. Two days later, whether she is in jail or at home, she will be mourning the one-year anniversary of her only child’s death in a car accident on a rain-soaked road in Plympton. The two are not related save for one aspect - common decency should prevail for prosecutors and the judge to delay the sentencing for a short period of time.
We’re not advocating that Wightman’s grief is a mitigating factor in either her crimes or her sentencing. A jury of her peers in Suffolk County found her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on 19 of 25 counts and for that, the judge has no option but to sentence her in accordance with the decision. But justice is not punishment by definition and a just society, and by extension its judicial proceedings, should be tempered with what is the most important aspect of justice, humanness.
Many know Wightman by her previous incarnation, Princess Cheyenne, perhaps the most famous stripper ever in the Northeast region. It was, after all, in every story printed or aired about her trial. While it’s unlikely that was in the minds of jurors during deliberations, there’s no doubt that’s why we in the media and you in the public paid attention to this trial. It also was one of the reasons the death of Victoria ‘‘Torri’’ Wightman received as much coverage as it did. Torri, a student at South Shore Charter School, was killed as she and three friends took the day off from school to go joyriding. Louise Wightman, from all pictures and stories, was inconsolable in her grief. Under indictment with these charges at the time, Wightman had to deal with what is perhaps the hardest and most hopeless of moments in life, the death of a child.
Through it all, Wightman’s past was continually dredged up, including here, compounding her grief and her legal defense. The charges were lodged after news reports surfaced that the former Combat Zone star was practicing psychology and billing as such when she was only qualified to represent herself as a psychotherapist. The reports came after anonymous e-mails were sent to several media outlets, messages that highlighted her past as a stripper.
But as we have been reminded by several writers and callers, Wightman was also a number of other things, including a mother. Go to http://lucywightman.squarespace.com or torri.squarespace.com. Click on some of the links and read the heartrending words of a grieving parent and if you aren’t moved to sympathy, let alone tears, yours is a cold heart.
Louise Wightman is not going anywhere; her passport was taken and she is out on bail. Whether she is sentenced on May 14 or June 14, the judge will have done her duty. But a just society has compassion and compassion dictates the court remember Torri Wightman’s death. Louise Wightman doesn’t need a second anniversary to remember in the middle of May.
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, May 08, 2007
my name was torri
6 Comments
drawing of mom
you knew me better than anyone ever will
What Will I Do Now Without You?
Torri was so deep and so strong.... she wrote these entries in a blog thread that I am embarassed to say was about me and some difficulties... I share this as a tribute to my daughter and her amazing love and care...
October 2005
I recently came across this blog, and I felt that I should share my thoughts.
I know Lucy personally, and there is no need to say if I am a patient or not.
I think that these charges are ridiculous. I bet that if the Fox 25 Episode didn’t air, none of this would be happening. Lucy would be continuing to help her patients as she helps me. Personally, I don’t give a shit if My therapist is licensed. I do care that she has some experience and knows what she is talking about. Lucy went to many years of school, studying Psychology and the way the mind works. She is always there for me, and she is one of the kindest and caring people I know.
It makes me cry, thinking of how all of this is affecting her. Not because of business, but emotionally as well. This is a human being we are dealing with. Who dedicated her life to helping the lives of others. Who spent hours and hours every single day, trying to figure out and help treat the issues that others were trying to overcome. It is truly amazing how she did all of that, while at the same time having a life and family of her own.
I understand, how people who do not know her can assume what they read is all there is to this story. But I ask you all, do you remember high school, and rumors and gossip. This is exactly like that. Hey, some of it may be true, but what about the other sides of the story. Give her a chance to speak her side. There are so many cases out there, that turn out to be false. And the suspects remain innocent. And even cases where the suspects are charged, convicted, and punished, for crimes that they did not do.
No matter what happens, I will stand by Lucy through all of this, because she stood by me when things weren’t going well for me. I know you can get through this Lucy. I know you can. You are such a good person and I want to thank you for still standing up for yourself. In the end, I hope everything turns out well. You don’t deserve this at all.
Stay strong and don’t give up.
All I really have left to say is, Imagine being in Lucy’s position right now. All the stuff she is having to deal with. It is amazing how she keeps it all together. In my opinion, if this was all a lie, she wouldn’t be fighting this hard to gain her respect back. It makes me happy to see that some of the people in here are supporting her 100 %.
Carole must be a pretty heartless bitch to write something so terrible. If she even knew how much time and money Lucy put into helping other people, it would be a smack in her face.
Sure, she made a small mistake in naming her company. BIG DEAL. And who are you to say that she is a heartless criminal?
You have no idea lady. NO idea. I know her enough to say that she has put everything into her work. And it wasn’t even all for the money either. She enjoyed making other people happy. She spent her own money buying games, testing materials, furniture, and unnescessary materials that added to the joy in being in her building.
It wasn’t a scam. At all. She took a lot of time out of her life to study and get her phd. Whether some of you believe that it is real or not, she has it. I can’t believe you (Carole) could say such mean words.
Grow up! Oh my god she was a stripper!! Wow let’s make a huge deal out of it. She had a nice body & pretty face. Just because you might not doesn’t mean you have to make fun of her for it. It has NO relation to this case. It’s history. past. We shouldn’t be living in the past.
If you saw Lucy, and didn’t recieve the help you needed, you should’ve left. And what kind of pain did she cause people huh? I understand a small amount from people seeing the news story and hearing about her past and that she is not licensed. Not, as you put it “terrible pain and torture.” But she didn’t tell people she was licensed. How could you say that she deserves jail time for that? She has a family and life too. You are acting like the victim Carole, but your cruelty is just sickening.
How do you think her daughter and rest of her family feels about all of this. And if her daughter ever came across this blog, which im not doubting she has, I’m sure it made her feel even better. Lucy has been through enough already. And if you knew her as well as I did, you would understand that.
And lastly, I can’t believe you called HER mean. Read over what you wrote and tell me who is the mean one.
Lucy, Stay strong in this you have my support
I just watched the news and Lucy, you’re suit looked very nice!
You looked so sad though. I hate that you have to go through this.
Well, I love how you are comparing her to a terrorist. That is very classy, shows how intelligent you are.
And No, she did not pay me. Apparently we differ in our opinions of the word “friend”. I am her friend, but she doesn’t pay me for it.
And you shouldn’t be so sure that her PhD isn’t accepted until the trial.
I’m not blaming her “victims”. I am saying that no one seemed to have a problem with her until money was involved. And if they didn’t like her treatments then they shouldn’t of continued with her. It seems that More patients are with her than against her. If the media wasn’t involved, I’m sure things would be different. If she was never a stripper, there would’ve never even been a story. Every headline says something involving that.
How is spending 7 years or more in college studying Psychology not real school? She did the work. And she has proof. You just wait and see.
And also, I understand the legal portion of this. The trial will determine the verdict of that. In my opinion, she has plenty of proof of her education and she will be just fine in the end.
And this isn’t a support group. Ken posted the story, it wasn’t a very opinionated story either. It was basically what was on the news. And now people are sharing their comments.
Well lets see, if she was a con artist and supposedly stealing peoples money, then why would she be a person with “little money”. That doesn’t seem to fit very well. Oh hey, maybe it’s because she wasn’t conning anybody and she spent a lot of her profit on things for her office. Who would go through all those years of school and all that money renting out an office and buying things for it in order to scam people? That seems pretty pointless.
As for misrepresentation, From the years I have known her, she has told me she was not licensed. And that there was not that much of a point in doing that. As long as her patients knew she had completed her education and obtained a phD, they would know she was as educated as they expected.
I saw Lucy and her daughter recently and she is behind her mom the whole way. So don’t even try and call her a bad mother. Why don’t you figure out your own life before you critcize someone elses. You obviously need something fixed because you are COLD
High Ropes
One of the years we went to family camp at Wyonegonic where I went as a girl... we completed the high ropes course together and laughed a lot...
We stayed in an open cabin on the same old cots outfitted with plastic mattresses on top of short rusty springs and metal frames. There were spiders the size of our hands and pine needles everywhere.
Torri darted from Junior, to Intermediate to Senior and back several times each day. And the second year she passed her swimming test!
