What Murderers Should Have Been Executed But Weren't

[Cicero]

Inspired by numerous other threads, I was wondering who spent long times in prison when the world could have felt no loss for them not being alive.

I would offer two:

Richard Speck


Charles Manson.

[Max Torque]

Well, Henry Lee Lucas, for sure, but they needed to keep him around a while to clear up some of the murders he took credit for, but didn't actually commit.

Jeffrey Dahmer earned a needle too, by my reckoning. In the end, Dahmer probably got himself killed quicker than if he'd been sentenced to death, so I guess that one's a push.

[Anaamika]

Dahmer.

[aruvqan]

Inspired by numerous other threads, I was wondering who spent long times in prison when the world could have felt no loss for them not being alive.

I would offer two:

Richard Speck


Charles Manson.

Charles Manson didn't actually lift a knife in the Tate/LaBiancha murders. He did incite the killing, but he did not actually participate so theoretically he is only an accessory not a murderer. Small nitpick, but one nonetheless.

Speck was just bugfuck nuts and should have been executed.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Dick Cheney.

[Quartz]

Dick Cheney.

His target survived.

[Shodan]

Robert Stroud. Ed Kemp. OJ Simpson. Willie Horton. Ed Wein.

Hell, all of them.

Regards,
Shodan

[Procrustus]

I'm not in favor of the death penalty, but Sirhan Bishara Sirhan did a very bad thing.

[lieu]

Coral Eugene Watts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Eugene_Watts)

I'd have been more than happy to pull the switch. He was filth.

[Max Torque]

Oh yeah, two from outside the US: Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/index_1.html). Incredibly, her sentence expired in July, 2005, and she is now free.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Johnny Campbell was given a life sentence. If you're not familiar with him, look up "Lattie McGee." And keep a tissue nearby.

[imfloating]

Robert Wagner, For drowning Natalie Wood. I think there was some sort of cover up.

[Annie-Xmas]

Charles Rothenberg (http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.true-crime/2006-07/msg01495.html), except his son David didn't die when he gave him a sleeping pill, poured kerosene on him, set him on fire, and then drove away leaving him to die. It was only through the quickness and kindness of strangers that his son's life was saved.

But that bastard deserves to die or, at the very least, live in prison with no human contact until he is dead.

[Procrustus]

Gary Ridgway also comes to mind.

[madmonk28]

Lt. Calley

[Markxxx]

Charles Manson didn't actually lift a knife in the Tate/LaBiancha murders. He did incite the killing, but he did not actually participate so theoretically he is only an accessory not a murderer. Small nitpick, but one nonetheless.


When I tell this to people they are often quite shocked that he didn't actually kill anyone. He's got to be one, if not the most villified person who never took part in the actual killing.

I certainly do excuse him or lessen his guilt, but it makes for an interesting topic

[Larry Mudd]

Oh yeah, two from outside the US: Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/index_1.html). Incredibly, her sentence expired in July, 2005, and she is now free.She cut a pretty sweet deal when the assumption was that she was basically coerced/cowed into whatever role took, with the idea that her testimony would be vital to putting the real monster away.

As it turned out, there was plenty of evidence without her testimony, and by the time it became clear how pro-active she was, it was too late. Whoops.

[Jackmannii]

Executing Gary Tison and Randy Greenawalt (http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/012097/memberof.htm) would have saved at least six lives.

Tison was a crook who murdered a jail guard and got life in prison for it. Greenawalt was a serial killer (his specialty was shooting truckers sleeping at rest stops). Tison got his three sons to help him and Greenawalt break out of the Arizona State Prison in 1978. During their 12-day rampage they murdered a family of four and a honeymoon couple. Tison died of exposure in the desert. Greenawalt was finally executed after 19 years of stringing along the legal system with appeals.

The real star however is Texas serial killer Kenneth McDuff (http://www.geocities.com/verbal_plainfield/i-p/mcduff.html). He was on death row for murdering three teenagers when the Supreme Court abolished capital punishment in 1972. Paroled in 1989, he went on to murder at least four women (another believed to be his victim died only three days after he got out of prison). He was eventually executed, in 1998.

A bit too late.

[aruvqan]

When I tell this to people they are often quite shocked that he didn't actually kill anyone. He's got to be one, if not the most villified person who never took part in the actual killing.

I certainly do excuse him or lessen his guilt, but it makes for an interesting topic
Well, to be honest, he was also pretty fucking nuts also ... and supposedly there are several bodies buried on the Spahn Movie Ranch of family members that 'left suddenly in the night' or so I have heard... Crime Library (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/manson/murder_1.html) is an interesting read. Actually it is a fascinating way to kill a few weeks reading .... some seriously scary people listed on it. Albert Fish is amazingly scary.

[Jadis]

Seeing as he's a local and I actually remember when this all happened, I'm going to have to go with George Banks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Banks).

[gwendee]

Oh yeah, two from outside the US: Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/index_1.html). Incredibly, her sentence expired in July, 2005, and she is now free.


In principle I am opposed to the death penalty. However, the first time I saw a Court TV show aobut that case I felt very strongly that she (moreso than her husband) really shouldn't be entitled to use oxygen that someone else might need. It troubled me. And hers was the name that sprang immediately to mind when I read the thread title.

[Sampiro]

Albert Speer. It was ridiculous he got 20 years when he not only worked so many Jews/Poles/Russians to death as slave labor but men under him who carried out his orders were executed.

[racer72]

Calvin Finley. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009570592_webwalmartplea31m.html) Shot an armored car guard point blank in the head in a crowded Walmart then walked out. Plea bargained for life without parole.

[Washoe]

This fucker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Bittaker). He got a lot of media attention here in SoCal, and was a common topic of conversation for a long time both after his capture and during his trial. He committed these crimes when I was a teenager and he’s still alive. It just boggles the mind.

[FriarTed]

Local crime: Laurie Tackett and Melissa Loveless, both teen girls who abducted & torture-killed a 12-year old girl who was involved with the latter's GF.

Seeing Henry Lee Lucas reminded me of Ottis Toole, his occasional killing partner & an even viler POS.

The UK's favorite couple- Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

[FriarTed]

Johnny Campbell was given a life sentence. If you're not familiar with him, look up "Lattie McGee." And keep a tissue nearby.

Any idea what became of Lattie's brother, Cornelius Abraham? I just read Bob Greene's 1999 column about being invited to his graduation.

[Malacandra]

Robert Wagner, For drowning Natalie Wood. I think there was some sort of cover up.

Excellent username/post combo. :cool:

[aruvqan]

Robert Wagner, For drowning Natalie Wood. I think there was some sort of cover up.

I have this little feeling that Christopher Walken [who was also on the boar, and was supposedly having an affair with Natalie Wood] and Robert Wagner got into a fight over the affair, and Natalie Wood got hit and killed, and they conspired to keep it under wraps.

[bibliophage]

If I were still in favor of the death penalty, I would say Leopold and Loeb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb).

[ryan]

Marybeth_Tinning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marybeth_Tinning)

Ted Kennedy

[Cicero]

Coral Eugene Watts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Eugene_Watts)

I'd have been more than happy to pull the switch. He was filth.

I'd never previously heard of him. I am grateful I hadn't.

[Cicero]

Valmae Beck and Barry Watts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sian_Kingi)

[Cicero]

This fucker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Bittaker). He got a lot of media attention here in SoCal, and was a common topic of conversation for a long time both after his capture and during his trial. He committed these crimes when I was a teenager and he’s still alive. It just boggles the mind.

That Wiki article is so difficult to follow. If you go to the para that says:

In 1976 Bittaker was hired as the manager for the Holiday Theater in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley. Bittaker had a rough demeanor, hot temper, and some employees, as it turns out, were right about being cautious of him.


You have him working. Next you have him being given an assessment and being released.

(Apart from that it is difficult to imagine why he was given a management job anyway).

[Malleus, Incus, Stapes!]

I feel dirty after reading those links. Excuse me while I scrub my brain.

[Elendil's Heir]

I'll go a bit further back. We captured this murderous war criminal during the Yorktown campaign at the end of the American Revolution, but he was paroled, returned to Britain, became an MP and campaigned for the retention of slavery. The bad guy in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot was based on him. A truly unpleasant bastard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banastre_Tarleton

[Sailboat]

Inspired by numerous other threads, I was wondering who spent long times in prison when the world could have felt no loss for them not being alive.

Not to rain on your righteous anger (no sarcasm -- you're right to be angry at these losers) but my understanding is that most people don't oppose the death penalty because they think convicted murderers would be a loos, but because the act of killing debases the state as surely as it debases an individual. If killing is wrong, it is wrong to kill in return.

I personally come down on the "don't kill them" side but only by a hair (and that's not the same thing as "let them go.")

[Sailboat]

I'll go a bit further back. We captured this murderous war criminal during the Yorktown campaign at the end of the American Revolution, but he was paroled, returned to Britain, became an MP and campaigned for the retention of slavery. The bad guy in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot was based on him. A truly unpleasant bastard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banastre_Tarleton

Heh, I referenced him here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11271295&postcount=34) in the thread about old battles people still carry grudges about.

[The Man In Black]

Seeing as he's a local and I actually remember when this all happened, I'm going to have to go with George Banks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Banks).

I live like 2 towns over from where Banks went on his killing spree. We're neighbors!

And I call George Banks a real like Michael Myers. He went nuts and killed his family, and then went outside and kept killing.

[The Man In Black]

When I tell this to people they are often quite shocked that he didn't actually kill anyone. He's got to be one, if not the most villified person who never took part in the actual killing.

I certainly do excuse him or lessen his guilt, but it makes for an interesting topic

From what I hear, Hitler never actually killed anyone. I think he would take the cake.

[Elendil's Heir]

Likewise Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. Sociopaths in charge of entire countries have other people to get their hands dirty.

[aruvqan]

Likewise Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. Sociopaths in charge of entire countries have other people to get their hands dirty.

?

Pol Pot served in the anti french resistance under Ho Chi Minh .... I really don't think they were knitting and playing chess.

Mao lead the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants, and I don't thing they were playing chess and knitting afghans ...

and in 1906 Stalin engineered and participated in a bank heist that killed 40 people to help finance the revolution ...

granted, after they got into power they had henchmen, but they got their hands dirty back before they were in charge.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Hitler also fought in WW1. He fought literally in the trenches, saw quite a bit of fire. was twice wounded, and won an Iron Cross, so it's likely that he personally killed people then, though I guess it wouldn't have technically been murder.

[Shodan]

Two Iron Crosses, actually. Cite. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Cross)

But he was a messenger, so it was mostly people shooting at him rather than vice versa.

Regards,
Shodan

[bleach]

Ali Hassan al-Majid, or better known as "Chemical Ali". Sentenced to death three times, earning each one of his convictions. Still vertical.

[DocCathode]

He killed a cop. His defense? 'I am the victim of a conspiracy to make it look I killed a cop'

'It was self defense'

'It was some other mysterious dude'

The bastard will die of old age.

[Jackmannii]

This fucker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Bittaker). He got a lot of media attention here in SoCal, and was a common topic of conversation for a long time both after his capture and during his trial. He committed these crimes when I was a teenager and he’s still alive. It just boggles the mind.According to your link Bittaker's partner in the murders, Roy Norris, is up for parole next year.

He's probably harmless by now.

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Re Manson: If I remember Helter Skelter correctly, he did tie up the LaBiancas, so he did participate in two murders. I also believe he helped murder Shorty Shea, and it wouldn't surprise me if there were others. In my book, if you order your brain-dead zombies to commit murder, you are just as morally culpaple.

I would also say the Green River Killer. I once read a comment by someone that went something like this: "If you're not going to kill someone for murdering 45 women, why bother to have the death penalty?"

[tesseract]

Re Manson: If I remember Helter Skelter correctly, he did tie up the LaBiancas, so he did participate in two murders. I also believe he helped murder Shorty Shea, and it wouldn't surprise me if there were others. Yeah, I was coming in to say this. I thought there was one guy he killed when he was thought to have been completely alone. Can't remember who. If Helter Skelter is correct, one of the great misconceptions about Charles Manson is that he didn't actually kill anyone with his own hands.

[Annie-Xmas]

If you don't think the monsters that tortured 4 year old Lattie McGee (http://crime.about.com/od/v_childabuse/a/uc_lettie.htm) to death don't deserve to be dead, I question your humanity.

[Guinastasia]

IIRC, wasn't Manson originally sentenced to death, but that sentence was changed to life in prison when California abolished the death penalty?

[jakesteele]

Charles Ng - really nasty bad psychopath

http://www.allserialkillers.com/charles_ng.htm

[BiblioCat]

Mumia Abu Jamal
He killed a cop. His defense? 'I am the victim of a conspiracy to make it look I killed a cop'

'It was self defense'

'It was some other mysterious dude'

The bastard will die of old age.This is who I was going to say. The celebrity status he has attained sickens me.

[ThirdOne]

Yes, Manson was originally sentenced to death, until the death penalty was reversed. He now comes up for parole once in a while. He still looks crazy as can be. And he is believed to have killed people, but their bodies weren't found, nor the evidence to prove it.

He may not have used the knife, but directing his "family" to do so was just about the same thing. They did whatever he told them to, without question. The world is a much better place with Manson behind bars, at the very least.

[lavenderviolet]

Oh yeah, two from outside the US: Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/index_1.html). Incredibly, her sentence expired in July, 2005, and she is now free.

And don't forget that when she had a child after getting released from prison (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/02/08/3558711-sun.html), she went into the hospital under the false last name that she and Bernardo had used before - which he had gotten from the name of a fictional serial killer.
I'm sure she has learned her lesson. Totally.