Cody Merritt should serve every day of his five-year sentence – not get paroled – for helping his predatory father decapitate 14-year-old Carissa Benway four years ago. If justice were truly being served in this case, this splinter off the old block would be working off a much longer sentence for luring the girl to a forest campground near Coeur d’Alene, knowing his father planned to murder her.

In denying Merritt parole recently, the Idaho Commission for Probation and Parole wisely recognized the seriousness of the accomplice’s crime, his lack of repentance, his failure to seek counseling and the danger he still poses to society. As a result, the menacing young man will remain in prison until 2007. That’s not long from now. Before we know it, Merritt will be back on the streets, after learning new criminal tricks in prison, a walking time bomb with a possible inclination to commit another outrageous crime.

The Merritt case poses a dilemma for society.

On one hand, few want to see a young life, dominated by a ruthless ex-con father, thrown away without an effort to redeem it. A good argument can be made that Merritt’s father, David, was a Svengali of sorts who used threats and charm to mesmerize his son into becoming a willing aider and abettor for a heinous act. On the other hand, it’s hard to feel too sorry for Cody Merritt, who celebrated his complicity in Benway’s murder by obtaining a black rose tattoo – a symbol that he belonged to a brotherhood of killers. Unless the young Merritt has a complete change of heart before his release, he could pick up where his ruthless father left off.

David “Coon” Merritt entered an Alford plea in the Benway murder, meaning he didn’t plead guilty but realized that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him of the crime, and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Much of the prosecutor’s case hinged on Cody Merritt’s willingness to testify against his father in exchange for a lighter sentence. Before David Merritt murdered Benway, he had violently raped children, 5 and 9. Another son was convicted of raping a 3-year-old girl. Like father, like sons.

Sadly, Cody Merritt has failed to grasp the depth of his depraved crime. The parole commissioners were particularly concerned he had done little to seek counseling while imprisoned. Even with considerable counseling, Merritt will be a risk to society when he leaves prison in three years. Unless he receives intensive counseling, Merritt’s chances to reoffend in some way go through the roof.

“My biggest fear is he is going to come out of prison without any help after participating in a gruesome and nasty criminal act,” said Sgt. Brad Maskell, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department detective who helped solve Benway’s murder. “And that he could act out aggressively. I fear he doesn’t grasp the weight of the crime.”

The Probation and Parole Board did its job by rejecting Merritt’s parole request. If society is fortunate, he will seek the counseling he needs to live a decent life after he’s released at age 21. But we’re not holding our breath.