Petersen headed for death row

[lookout123]

no comment from Suge Knight.

ok, so scott P will spend the rest of his miserable life on death row. it is decided. wouldn't it be better to just spend the $.02 on lead now, rather than pay to keep him there for the next 30-40 years?

i understand he has the right to appeal, but if he doesn't file an appeal, what are we waiting for? inject him, gas him, hang him, shoot him, hell i don't care, club him with a blunt object - just don't leave him sitting on death row.

this rant isn't really about this particular case, but about all the folks sitting on death row. if they don't have an appeal in process, why are they still breathing?

[garnet]

I say cut his head off and throw him in the San Francisco Bay. And I'm not a violent person...really.

[lookout123]

i think he is a scumbag, but my rant really is more general. i've been listening to the talking heads go on and on about life on death row, and i have to say that maybe this should be in the "when you don't get it thread" because i really don't get it. they've been found guilty of their crime, the jury wen tback and decided they deserved the death penalty, so barring an appeal why is anyone sitting on death row.

my mental image of death row is 8 guys sitting around waiting for their appeal to be heard... oops, they heard Larry's appeal today, so there will only be 7 of us tomorrow.

then i heard someone say that death row is a horrible place to be (awww) because they are in complete isolation without any human contact. well, let's fix that. why are we paying for separate rooms? are we afraid that if we put them in one big room they might kill each other? if so, i don't see that as a problem. mo and curly get in a scrap on death row and mo doesn't live... i don't see a problem, i see an opportunity for savings.

let's throw them all in one room tell them that the last survivor gets some mysterious prize and they will get the chance to be on a reality tv show. i'm sure there is a market for dvd sales here.

CELL BLOCK 2005!! *announcer voice* who will live? who will die? who will collect the prize. welcome to Cell Block 2005 - this week we will watch 127 convicted felons compete for their lives AND a chance to win the grand prize - an evening with MICHAEL JACKSON!!! 127 men and women with the knowledge that there Can be only One! *cue the music, fade to an Isuzu commercial*

it is income for the state and it eliminates the cost of caring for the walking dead.

[Clodfobble]

I have to admit, from the very beginning of this debacle, a little voice in the back of my mind has been saying, "Dude, you never know, she could have been a total bitch."

Not that it would have been ok for him to murder her even if she had been... but I find that for some reason, in this particular case, I am completely unable to judge him--that part of me keeps picturing her throwing dishes and says, well, maybe he had a good reason to cut her head off and throw her body in the bay.

Maybe there's something about that one picture of her (the one all the news agencies are using) that sets off my bitch-alarm, or maybe she subconsciously reminds me of someone I hated as a child. Or maybe I'm just subtly misogynistic to begin with.

[lookout123]

well for me personally, i don't care how big of a wench she was, you always have the ability to walk away. you just don't murder the ones that you vowed to love, honor, and protect. and then when you add in the fact that, wench that she may be, you don't kill a woman preparing to give birth to your child. from my perspective, there is just something inhuman about the thought process needed for that process.

[Radar]

I lean toward thinking he did it, but I don't think he should have been convicted using the evidence they did. I'm amazed they found him guilty and very surprised they gave him the death penalty on such weak and circumstantial evidence.

Why is it you see women cheering when this guy gets the death penalty, yet making excuses for someone like Andrea Yates who makes Scott Peterson look like a boyscout? Why is it they think she needs help after murdering 5 of her children when Scott Peterson should be killed? One of her kids saw what she was did to the others and ran away. She chased him down and dragged him kicking and screaming to the bathtub where she drowned him in the same tub as his baby sister.

In her case the evidence was clear and indisputable. In his it was flimsy at best. It's ridiculous.

Also, the only person who was killed was the mother. A fetus is not a person and has no rights and can no more be murdered than you can murder a brick.

[garnet]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I
Maybe there's something about that one picture of her (the one all the news agencies are using) that sets off my bitch-alarm....

Ya know, I agree with you there. I've always had the feeling that she wasn't quite as likable as everyone said. But Scott Petersen is still a major sleazeball.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I have to admit, from the very beginning of this debacle, a little voice in the back of my mind has been saying, "Dude, you never know, she could have been a total bitch."

That was part of the defense in the Robert Blake murder case.

As far as appeals go, one reason is that since the state intends to deliberately take a human life, the process has to be as fair and above board as possible.

Just looking at some of the death row exonerations , I am glad that the state took its time. Statistically speaking, considering the number of exonerations of death row inmates, the odds are that innocent people have been executed.

The Innocence Project has claimed 153 exonerations. Many of the people on death row are guilty, just not of murder. Vagrancy, drug possesion, and any number of lesser crimes can make a person the target of police and prosecutors trying to close a case.

In some cases the defense was inadequate. In others, the defendent was too mentally handicapped to effectively participate in his defense or pass interrogation.

So I am very happy that there is a cooling off period, expecially in cases relying on circumstantial or even single eyewitness testimony.

[Clodfobble]

Meh--California's executed a mere ten people since 1978. Currently there are 650 people awaiting executions in that state. Scott Peterson will die of old age on death row.

[plthijinx]

i agree clod. however, radar has a significant point. andrea is allowed her life while scott will, like you say, die of old age on death row. my answer is plain and simple. give one appeal, you loose? you loose. end of chapter, end of book. so long fair well, yadayada. i'll betcha i could save the state a BUNCH of money. hell, i'm all for public execution. hang'em all! (after their appeal of course)

[404Error]

Clod, If California is anything like Connecticut you're probably right. Michael Ross has been on CT's death row for nearly 20 years now, he's been through all the appeals processes, his execution date has come and gone several times and now he's telling the state he wants to die for his crimes and they still wont fry his ass. In this case there is no question of his guilt or innocence, he freely confessed to the murders and rapes, found guilty and sentenced to death. He's in no way mentally impaired yet because he wants to die, the state's contention is that he must be crazy.

I like Lookout's idea but we all know it'll never happen.

Michael Ross tells judge he wants to die

[Radar]

Is wanting to die, but not being allowed to die worse than wanting to live but not being allowed to live? I guess as long as you're alive there's hope. But hope can hurt you every bit as much as it can help you. I'd never die of old age in prison. I'd kill myself.

[Cyber Wolf]

I wonder if they have Ross on suicide watch for that very reason...he's likely figured he'll die in prison waiting to be killed before he actually gets his turn. And if the people in charge of keeping death row inmates alive long enough are bright enough, they'll figure that would be his next move.

Unless Ross has personal opposition to doing himself in...

[404Error]

Originally Posted by Cyber Wolf

I wonder if they have Ross on suicide watch for that very reason...he's likely figured he'll die in prison waiting to be killed before he actually gets his turn. And if the people in charge of keeping death row inmates alive long enough are bright enough, they'll figure that would be his next move.

Unless Ross has personal opposition to doing himself in...

Actually, he's not on a watch right now but he did try to do himself in a few years ago. Saved up his daily restricted medications and overdosed. After that they made him promise to be a good boy and wait for the state to get their collective shit together to do it the right way. Obviously he's still waiting.

When Ross was first sentenced and put on death row back in 1985, we had no 'death row' per se, he was the first since the 1960's. They put him in the cell reserved for the next *dead man* and set up a desk in front of it so we could have a guard posted there 24/7. I spent many a long, boring 2nd shift nights watching Ross sleep, eat, taking a crap, and even talking to him on occasion. It was well over a year before a CC tv was put in place so we could watch him from the officer's desk at the front of the cell block.

[cjjulie]

i understand due process and all but the fact that it takes sooooooo long is absolutely mind boggling. The fact that there are 650 in front of Peterson is also mid boggling...what's the point. He will just end up dying in prison anyway - he should be shot. Just end it.