Lockup is a fascinating series. Hopefully young teens are being exposed to this series to influence them that life 'on the street' and making bad decisions won't land you in any kind of paradise.

Admittedly, i was one of those people who used to inwardly sneer when i would hear the word "convict" or "inmate". But, after having had the chance to get to know Eric over the last few months, he has absolutely shown me a different view, to being a man on the inside looking out. What took place that night, was nothing short of horrific and devastating for all involved. And that includes this man, convicted of murder, who is scheduled to be executed on December 11, 2009. There isn't anything that can be done to bring back the family members whose lives were cut so short. All that will be attained through executing Eric, is that it would free up one more cell on Death Row. Ultimately it would take the life of a man who committed a bad act, but is not himself, a bad person.

One of the main reasons i started writing Eric is that he was so unlike all the other men who were featured on "LockUp". He didn't have the tattoos, the shaved head/wild hair or the demeanor i have seen displayed by others on the show. Also, the look in his eyes belied the sins he had committed. He was someone who was caught up in something that many, many people struggle with every day. Drugs and a history of violence can lead, all too often, to an end such as this. So to those people who will start slamming him after watching the show, please remember a few things. He was someone's son. (His mother passed away this last Saturday, November 7th, 2009) He is someone's brother. He is someone's father. And, not that it matters to anyone else, he is my friend.

In fact, when i first sent him a letter, he didn't have to take the time to write me back. I half expected he would write me off as someone who was only wanting a closer look into the fishbowl of his life. But the truth is, i wanted to get to know him, to know the person he is on the inside. Not only because my own marriage (which was filled with physical, mental and emotional abuse) could have possibly turned out the same way. (The only difference is there was no drug use. I was, however, threatened with death, i miscarried twice due to the stress and the anger inflicted towards me. And yet, my ex-husband is free to walk the streets, as though nothing happened.) I also needed Eric to know that not everyone considered him a person unworthy of living. People make mistakes. No one is infallible. Lack of judgement during a trying time in his life made all the difference in regards to his future. It serves to show you how one BAD, and i *DO *mean BAD decision... can forever change the course of your life and of the lives of those closest to you, for all eternity. He has had to live with that knowledge every single day of his life. Some would say that isn't punishment enough. But no one is going to offer to trade places with him to find out for themselves. To err is human, to forgive divine....

I do hope that people can be at least a little bit openminded when watching the show. And i also hope that it serves as a message to those who might be living their lives the same way Eric had been. It can happen to anyone, ESPECIALLY if drugs are involved. I pray for his family daily. I also pray for those who were left behind due to that fateful night back in 1994. I truly and deeply admire Mary Winnecke for her ability to forgive. She has shown so many of us how *The heart of a woman filled with forgiveness weighs far less than that of one filled with hatred. *I pray God's Blessings are bestowed on everyone affected by this tragedy. Thank you....

Many people do not want to understand that some thing like this could happen to them. When one grows up in a world of hate, anger and violence, that is all they know. LWOP should be the punishment. Not death. All executions do is create further victims.

I'm not here to play GOD. I do agree that people make mistakes and should be forgiven. In a case as Ericks, he was playing with fire. He took a chance. When he took this chance he knew of the consequences. Sure he is suffering, but so are each of all the victims. He has caused despair with all who has known him. What I am trying to say is, when he took the life of all these people, he made a choice to let someone else decide his fate. Erick can only blame himself for this. I do know that I would never want him around me, or anyone I know. If they were to let him live, I don't think that he should be out in society. He's very dangerous. He could also be dangerous to other inmates. Erick's crimes are horrific. Even if he has changed that is not something that can be overlooked.

While I see you side of this in knowing Eric threw letters and reading what kind of man he is to you I just want to voice something that has brought tears to my eyes countless times and made me not be able to see Eric the same way as you do. Her name is Kim Dillman, his neice, the one who lost her mother and father both at the hands of Eric, all threw highschool me and her we together 24/7, she was my bestfriend, she told me everything, told me about that night, and cried in my arms. When it came time to need mommy answers she had no mommy to go to, yeah grandma was there but take it from a person who saw it first hand, grandma was never the easiest to talk to. While she did a great job in raising Kim and Matt they both deserved their mom and dad, Matt deserved to have his dad take him fishing, teach him to shave, and to tell him about girls. But Eric took that. I will never see this man as a compasionate, caring, loving person. He is where he deserves to be, and I don't feel that putting him to death solves anything. Eric dying will never replace the fact that I had to meet my bestfriends parents in a grave yard for the first time, it will never change the fact that Kims first daughter is named after her mother not in honor of her mother but in memory of her, it will never change the fact that when she got married her dad never got to walk her down, and it will never change the fact that they are gone forever. Eric derserves his life taken by him in the form of eternal thought, he derserve to think about every single person he hurt that day everyday for the rest of his life. Putting him to death only means that he is put out of his earthly hell...and why should he have peace when so many people will never have peace because of his evil actions. I pray for Kim, Matt, Mary, Tracy, and any other person who's life was changed by that day that they may just have 1min, 1hour, 1day without the thought of that night haunting them, but for Eric, I pray that day never leaves his mind, I pray he falls to his knees and begs God for mercy, Because the biggest punishment one person can face is standing in front of God when you know you have done wrong and not asked for forgivness from our father. I also pray that everyone who was hurt by Eric that day does not let him go to the grave without forgiving him. So maybe they can have peace of mind that they did not let him die without out saying it all...humbly, forgive them for not only their destructive actions but also for their ignorance for they may not know the harm they have caused.... Weather Eric really realizes or not the harm he has caused to his family and everyone around them I just hope he seeks forgiveness.

Oprah, I can't believe you gave this guy a full hour of your show today. He didn't deserve the final glory.

Unless you have ever experienced the horror of losing a loved one in this way you cannot fully understand. I do believe in forgivness because it is what God tells us we "must" do but it isn't an easy thing to do. Without God's help it is impossible. People can say I would do this, or I don't think he meant what he did, or he isn't the same person he was then, and I wouldn't think he would be the same person after spending all this time in jail but the bottom line is he did what he did. These family members have to live with the pain of wondering what their loved one was feeling, thinking, ect. at the time of this brutal murder and they live with the emptiness that the loss of someone you love leaves in your heart forever.

I lossed my one and only sister to a brutal murder 21 years ago. At first I truly wanted to kill the man who killed her. I wanted to just be given 5 minutes with him alone but of course that wasn't possible. I was plagued with dreams for over a year after she died. I would lay there and try and imagine what she was feeling and thinking as this man stabbed her repeatedly as she screamed and fought for her life. Was she thinking about her 2 beautiful children she would never see again? or maybe her mother and father? Believe me it is torture for those of us who are left behind.

The man who killed my sister spent 2 1/2 years in a Florida prison. That never made sense to me and created a lot of anger in my heart but with God's help I have been able to overcome it. I still think about her and the horror she endured. I will never know why he killed her and I will never know what happened to him after prison. But I do know that we will all stand before God and that gives me peace.

I can understand how this mother can't forgive. I can understand how these children feel because my niece and nephew have lived with it their whole lives. Can you understand any of this? I don't think you can. So even though he may be your friend and you may believe he is truly sorry for what he did, and maybe he is, his sorry doesn't erase their pain. I just hope that your friend ask God for forgivness and truly means it with all of his heart. Because He is the only one we cannot fool and he is Eric's final judge. I pray for Mae's ability to forgive one day because she must for herself and I pray for the Lord to comfort this family.

I can only imagine how hard this is for the family, however forcing Matthew to speak to Eric when he didn't want to and having him cry on TV was despicable. Why did he have to speak to Eric, so you could have your little show where everyone forgives him? Maybe Matthew doesn't want to forgive him, maybe he's forgiving him because the rest of the family tells him that he should. Someone doesn't cry like that, if their feelings are resolved.

As far as God saying you should forgive, well I don't know what to say about that. I find it rather ignorant and immature to forgive someone who robbed a family of their parents. I also don't see how forgiving him and keeping him alive will resolve anything, he couldn't even apologize before one of the family members asked him to, like asking a small child to apologize. He's a sociopath, he did not show any real emotion during the conversation. You want him to live, fine, then don't whine or complain if he should get parole and show up to Thanksgiving dinner.

There's wanting to forgive out of the goodness of your heart and doing so cause God tells you to. It seems like you're forgiving him, because God has replaced your father as a father figure. I'm tired of seeing Christians talking about God, like they have to do what daddy in the sky says or they'll be punished. You can believe in God, as much as I can believe in a unicorn named Pretty Pink Pony Glitter. Fine if it helps you out, but don't fool yourself into believing your obeying anyone except a fantasy figure.

I mean if God existed, people couldn't decide whether he was blessing them or cursing them, they would know. It wouldn't be a matter of interpretation. Why did God create the situation where your parents were killed, "Oh God didn't do that" so now you can choose what God has a hand in and what he or she doesn't? If you were respecting and obeying a real figure, rather than a fantasy one, there would be a clear message. Rather than associating God with whatever you want to, like a child associating their imaginary friend with knocking over the vase.

Eric does not have a conscience, he did a unforgivable thing. You want to go on TV and tell the world God says you should forgive him, if he was worth forgiving you wouldn't need daddy in the sky to hold your hand through it.

I would think since the victims are adults they can decide if they would want to go on tv and talk about what happened. Matthew had a choice on if he should speak to Erick. I seem to think these people deserve to have some kind of peace. Forgiving would ease the burden on the victims. I really don't understand why you would want to express your views on something that you don't believe in. This really isn't about religion, this is about the victims having some kind of peace in their lives.

I'm not a violent person, but if someone killed anyone in my family; I would never forgive them & would want them to die also.

Shame on you, Oprah for featuring this horrible killer on your show and giving him an hour of your time. You can clearly see the pain on the faces of the family members. Why you allowed a show like this I will not understand. As someone who has lost a family member to a brutal killing, there is nothing that a convicted killer can say to any victim that makes things better. To feature this person on your show is disgraceful. Let him rot in his cell and dwell on his upcoming deserved execution alone in his cell.

I do not agree with using prime time for this case. What can we possibly learn from this?

Obviously I'm inexperienced, but I didn't think Death Row inmates were allowed to receive visitors, let alone have them in the same room sitting side-by-side with them like his son was. Which by the way, if my father killed my mother... I would not be wanting to visit and/or have a relationship with him.

I couldn't forgive any one if they hurt my family like that. He is where he should be in life.

i would like to start off by saying that forgiveness is not for the offender but for ones self... secondly he was judged by a jury of his peers and i feel that him sitting in prison getting 3 meals a day better than some of those in america today who didn't chose to take 3 lives get. i feel that due to the crimes he committed he will get what he deserves. i feel bad not only for the 3 children who were on the show but as well for his 2 children who essentially lost both of their parents that night as well. let me say that i am a survivor of crime and i know that coming to term with the unjust and or just punishments of the courts isn't easy for anyone but we need to send a clear message that there should be no tolerance for crime...