# Alredy convicted of 1st degree murder, why bother with other crimes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748 "2015-06-05T23:00:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/1 "2015-06-05T23:00:42Z")
For example, Aaron Hernandez has been convicted of murder and will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He has been charged with the murder of two other men. Why do they spend the time/money for another conviction? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/2 "2015-06-05T23:08:55Z")
That conviction might be overturned or sentence reduced… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/3 "2015-06-06T00:18:53Z")
So he doesn’t pay for killing two other human beings? Their lives are meaningless? ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/4 "2015-06-06T00:24:27Z")
Conversely, prosecutors will sometimes file charges on only one or some of multiple murders, so that if the defendant is acquitted they can try again on another charge. I know there was discussion of something similar in another thread and I believe that this only works (for the prosecution) the crimes are indeed distinct, not in cases where multiple people were killed at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/5 "2015-06-06T00:57:05Z")
Rewording what \*\*silenus \*\*said, the state often feels it’s worth the cost, in order for the other victims’ families to get some sense of satisfaction too. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/6 "2015-06-06T01:07:35Z")
As PastTense said, if they only bother convicting and sentencing for one case and it gets reduced, the person gets out. If they give the person 5 life sentences, they still have to appeal, and win, the other 4 to get out. As other said, for the sake of the other victim’s families often times they’ll keep piling on, just to give them some closure even if it’s kinda pointless at that point. However I recall some case at some point where the prosecution or judge or the family’s lawyer or someone along the line suggested that the family not bother taking the person to court, explaining that the person already had multiple life sentences and was never going to get out of jail. Taking him to court would just be a waste of money. Yes, they’d win, yes, they’d get another life sentence (or whatever ever they were taking him to court for), but did they really want to spend the money on lawyer fees for, ultimately, nothing? ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/7 "2015-06-06T01:18:38Z")
In the case of multiple murders if for some reason a sentence got overturned or prole was granted couldn’t the criminal then be charged with one of the other murders? Murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations as far as I know, so try and convict him on one and if that later gets overturned them bring charges on the others. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/8 "2015-06-06T01:28:22Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > In the case of multiple murders if for some reason a sentence got overturned or prole was granted couldn’t the criminal then be charged with one of the other murders? Murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations as far as I know, so try and convict him on one and if that later gets overturned them bring charges on the others. What happens in the interim though? Does the person get released? If I kill three people, get charged with one, go to jail and in a few months get it over turned do I get out while they figure out what to do? Also, if I get out on parole, it’s likely to be 10 or 20 or 40 years later. It’s going to be hard to dig up the old witnesses and evidence and all the people the worked the case and hope everyone still has a working memory of the events. Again, another reason to just get it done all at once. Further more, don’t they just pile all the everything together and make one big case out it? ISTM, that you often hear things like ‘such and such a person is found guilty for 3 counts of 1st degree murder and 2 counts of 2 degree murder (or whatever’ and not that they find them guilty for one murder and then start up the second case. But I’m not totally sure how that all works. [Here’s something that I’ll probably always remember](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurKd569xRw). OJ being acquitted. He was being tried on _multiple counts_, but it was all part of one case. I’m not sure how it would have been different it the cases were unrelated. That is, if someone robbed a store and killed the clerk, then a few days later broke into a house and killed the homeowner. Would that still be one case with two counts of murder? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/9 "2015-06-06T01:29:55Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > In the case of multiple murders if for some reason a sentence got overturned or prole was granted couldn’t the criminal then be charged with one of the other murders? Murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations as far as I know, so try and convict him on one and if that later gets overturned them bring charges on the others. For one, prosecutors don’t like to delay trials. Witnesses forget details, evidence may get lost, etc. For another, why let a murderer out of prison if you’re just going to turn around and try him again? ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/10 "2015-06-06T01:31:17Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > In the case of multiple murders if for some reason a sentence got overturned or prole was granted couldn’t the criminal then be charged with one of the other murders? Murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations as far as I know, so try and convict him on one and if that later gets overturned them bring charges on the others. Ten or twenty years later, witnesses have disappeared (died, moved, changed their names, etc), memories fade, evidence gets lost or deteriorates. It’s hard enough to pick a 20-year old that you just saw momentarily out of a line up, it’s nearly impossible after he becomes a 40-year old. Prosecuting old crimes is not easy. Just like **kunilou** said! And **Joey P** , too! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/11 "2015-06-06T02:40:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > So he doesn’t pay for killing two other human beings? Their lives are meaningless? All lives are equal, but some lives aren’t quite as equal as others. Federal employees have extra-special protections against being murdered that the rest of us plebes don’t. Well, say rather, they’re just as vulnerable to being murdered, but it becomes a Federal capital case where it might or might not be a capital case in a State court. Kill a mixed bunch of Federal workers and not-Federal-workers, and the Fed gets first dibs on the perp. Then, if there’s anything left of him when they’re through, the state can have the remaining carrion to work on. This figured in, for example, the case of Timothy McVeigh. [Excerpt from Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_McVeigh#Arrest.2C_trial.2C_conviction_and_sentencing): > [@](#): > > On June 13, 1997, the jury recommended that McVeigh receive the death penalty.[67] The U.S. Department of Justice brought federal charges against McVeigh for causing the deaths of eight federal officers leading to a possible death penalty for McVeigh; they could not bring charges against McVeigh for the remaining 160 murders in federal court because those deaths fell under the jurisdiction of the State of Oklahoma. Because McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to death, the State of Oklahoma did not file murder charges against McVeigh for the other 160 deaths.[68] At the time, IIRC, the relatives of those other 160 victims were saying: What, our murdered loved ones don’t count too? There have been other cases like this. I vaguely remember (maybe someone can find the cites) of a Jew-hating bigot who shot up a Jewish nursery school, and then shot a Postal delivery carrier (Asian, also hated) a short distance away. The Feds got to have him for killing the postman, while the rest got to ask: What, our murdered babies don’t count? ETA: Okay, [here’s the Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Jewish_Community_Center_shooting#Reaction) about the guy who shot up the Jewish school and the postman. I’m re-reading it now to see what happened to him on the non-Federal charges. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/12 "2015-06-06T02:49:37Z")
Okay, I just read the Furrow case (guy who shot up the Jewish center). It’s not quite as I remembered it, and not quite clearly on-topic to this thread. He wounded several Jewish kids and a receptionist, all of whom recovered. He murdered the postman. The case was messy, and he eventually plea-bargained to multiple charges of various sorts and got two life terms. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/13 "2015-06-06T04:20:56Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m not sure how it would have been different it the cases were unrelated. That is, if someone robbed a store and killed the clerk, then a few days later broke into a house and killed the homeowner. Would that still be one case with two counts of murder? The Boston Marathon bomber’s case included all the counts from the bombing, and the day of the manhunt. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/14 "2015-06-06T04:29:20Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > The Boston Marathon bomber’s case included all the counts from the bombing, and the day of the manhunt. So that’s a good example. If today, one of his victims died as a result of the bombing (infection that they never got rid of, shrapnel that moved into an organ, thrown clot etc). They could probably pin it on him (let’s say they could, sure thing) and add another life sentence. The question is, would it even be worth all the money it would take to drag him through court again? It might make the family feel better\*, but it would cost a lot and do exactly zero good. Even if he appeals the death sentence, he’s not getting out of jail and one more guilty verdict won’t change that. \*OTOH, it might not make the family feel better to have to relive the entire thing (especially since there would be a small media hoopla around it). ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/15 "2015-06-06T13:11:23Z")
The purpose of criminal trials isn’t to make people “feel better”, that’s what civil law is for. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/16 "2015-06-06T13:56:19Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > So he doesn’t pay for killing two other human beings? Their lives are meaningless? What do you mean by “pay” in this context? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/17 "2015-06-06T14:19:22Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The purpose of criminal trials isn’t to make people “feel better”, that’s what civil law is for. It is certainly one of several purposes of criminal law to reassert the general public’s confidence in the enforcement of the law and the punishment of wrongdoers. The purpose of civil law, on the other hand, is to remedy wrongs between private parties. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/18 "2015-06-06T14:46:26Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The purpose of criminal trials isn’t to make people “feel better”, that’s what civil law is for. Might not be the purpose, but it can still be an end result. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/19 "2015-06-06T14:59:16Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > In the case of multiple murders if for some reason a sentence got overturned or prole was granted couldn’t the criminal then be charged with one of the other murders? Murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations as far as I know, so try and convict him on one and if that later gets overturned them bring charges on the others. There’s no statute of limitations for first degree murder, but some states have statutes of limitations of other types of homicide, so if the prosecutor wants to charge second degree, or manslaughter, there might, in fact, be a statute of limitations. Also, life doesn’t always mean life, even life without parole, because elderly prisoners are sometimes released due to overcrowding, or for “compassionate release”; “compassionate release” is usually granted to allow people to die at home, but sometimes it’s done to allow people to undergo certain types of medical treatments. The more sentences a person is serving, the less likely he (or she) is to be granted compassionate release. In regard to parole, most parole laws require that a certain portion of a sentence be served before a person can apply for parole. If a sentence is “25 years to life,” that means that the person must serve 25 years before applying for parole. Most states also have “good time” rules, where you get extra credit for good time served. In Indiana, every day you serve where you don’t cause any trouble, you get credit for two days. If you are serving one sentence where you must serve 25 years before you can apply for parole, it could be actually 12 1/2 years if you serve perfect time. Now, if you are serving two simultaneous “25 years to life” sentences, you get actual credit of a day on each sentence, but the extra credit for good time goes only to one sentence, so you have to serve 18 3/4 years of perfect time before you can apply for parole. If someone gets a life sentence with parole eligibility for first degree murder, and then gets sentenced for a couple of counts of manslaughter or attempted murder, the sentences might seem anemic next to the life sentence, but what they may do is assure that the convict serves the full 25 years before being able to apply for parole. Or, if a person gets convicted of several counts of murder, and racks up, say, 250 years of prison time, and the judge decides that the sentences must be served _consecutively_, not simultaneously, even with good time credit and parole eligibility, it might be impossible for the person ever to get out, given the typical lifespan. And everything I just listed is in addition to the possibility of one or more convictions being thrown out due to a procedural error that may have nothing to do with a finding of innocence. If someone has committed a number of terrible crimes, the prosecutor may want to make sure that person is put away forever. Now, sometimes if there is a possibility of charging someone with several major counts, for which the case is very strong, as well as several other counts for which the case is not as strong, the prosecutor may forgo the weaker after racking up six convictions, two life sentences, and another 90 years. That has nothing to do with the other victims being “worth less,” or their families being less deserving. If there is a good chance of losing, that is what would be a waste of taxpayer money. Families wouldn’t be happy if the prosecutor lost, and may just have to learn to live with the fact that the evidence in their loved ones case wasn’t as good as the evidence in another case. The criminal is just as much in prison. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748/20 "2015-06-06T16:50:27Z")
if a guy commits murder in \> 1 state, they often will try him first in a state with death penalty. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alredy-convicted-of-1st-degree-murder-why-bother-with-other-crimes/721748.md?page=2)