Justice Denied
Almost always, I’m against the death penalty. However, when the evidence is overwhelming and the crimes so unforgivable, I think an exception is in order. With that said, can’t believe that the Green River Killer isn’t going to the electric chair. Where is the justice for the 40+ women he murdered? Here is someone who clearly didn’t value the lives of these women, but yet his own life is spared. Personally, I think the prosecutor who agreed to this deal should be fired. In that they had DNA evidence linking him to many of these murders, I just don’t understand the decision not to seek the death penalty.
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November 8, 2003 at 1:31 am
andrew
Life in prison with the daily threat of being raped by your fellow inmates is far worse than death. And don’t think for a second that this guy who spent most of his adult life killing prostitutes is going to be looked kindly upon by his cellmates. His life will be a living hell, and deservedly so. Don’t feel so bad.
Personally, I think they should do away with the death penalty. It clearly doesn’t work as a deterant and too many times innocent people are convicted and sentenced in America, as the Innocence Project at the Cardoza Shool of Law has demonstrated time and again.
What we should do is move all our “death row” prisoners to a new jail in some shithole Alaskan town where it’s 50 below in the winter and mosquito ridden in the summer and make them really suffer for their crimes. Get rid of the cable TV. Get rid of the heaters. Get rid of the gyms. Get rid of all amenities. Then broadcast the goingson in the prison on one of those cable channels that isn’t being used and see if that doesn’t deter some of these psychos and miscreants.
November 7, 2003 at 11:40 pm
serenity
Having lived in that area for 13 years just recently, I can tell you that making this deal was the only way we were going to be able to nail this guy, get him to admit to these crimes and ENSURE that he went to jail. He has alluded the police for far, far too long and brought fear into people’s lives for far too long as well. I’m pissed as hell he isn’t going to fry because he isn’t sorry for what he did. But, he is caught, he admitted to the crimes BECAUSE of this deal and he is off the streets to never do this again. And if you read what he said, he started with prostitutes but his goal was to rid the world of every female. Dangerous person and they did what they had to do to get him behind bars. It doesn’t seem fair but in the end, it’s just going to have to be.
November 6, 2003 at 5:48 pm
TsuKata
I listened to the broadcast of the trial on NPR, with commentary. The reason that the prosecutor went after life was because it was part of the plea bargain that the killer agreed to. Before the bargain, the DA only had information about 8 women killed. The offer was for information about all of the murders including locations of the bodies. That’s the only way that they have all of the DNA evidence…because the killer agreed to lead them to the remaining bodies. It allowed the DA’s office to close more cases and provide the remains to the families to allow them to bury their loved ones and obtain closure. The prosecutor was quoted as saying that this deal was “not mercy for the murderer but mercy for the families. If I had my way, he would be executed.” The prosecutor is, btw, well known for being pro-death penalty.
November 6, 2003 at 9:12 am
Brian
I agree with you on this one. Sometimes, there really are monsters in the world who just seem to exude pure evil. Though I don’t always agree that the death penalty is the answer, there are times when it is justified. You would destroy a rabid animal that caused wanton mayhem and destruction if it meant the greater safety of the whole. We are ultimately animals too, lest anyone forget, albeit at the top of the food chain. If destroying one of our own protects the rest of us, then so be it. And I for one do not want to reward a person like this with free room and board and educational opportunities that could be going to victims families just to salve my conscience about putting him down. It wouldn’t be putting him out of his misery, it would be putting him out of ours…