I don’t understand this pleaat all - wouldn’t he be better pleading guilty and taking a deal? The death penalty is on the table!
Was there a deal being offered? I don’t really see why the prosecutor would want to offer him one. It’s a guaranteed conviction in a high visibility case. And if you’re a capital punishment proponent, Ariel Castro is pretty much the poster boy for people who deserve to be put to death.
Plea deals are almost never worked out at the time of the initial appearance. In our jurisdiction, you couldn’t plead guilty at arraignment if you wanted to.
Wasn’t his claim that he was messed up due to abuse from when he was a kid? Maybe they’re going with some kind of insanity defence. At any rate, he can change his plea to “guilty” later on, right?
EDIT: Procrustus answered my question.
That’s interesting, I didn’t know that! Ignorance fought.
Wouldn’t you want to have a lot to bargain with if you’re planning to negotiate a plea deal later? I assumed this way they’ve got the most to give up in exchange.
Update:He now faces an additional 977 charges on top of the 329 filed a while back.
The DA’s office has (so far) filed a total of 1,306 charges against this man. That has ***got ***to be a record.
I read about this case in the paper most every day.
I don’t want the victims dragged through a trial.
I would normally wish the death penalty, if he is found guilty, but in this case the thought of him spending the rest of his life in a little cement room would be fitting.
So, if he’s convicted on all of them, and he gets a whopping ONE MONTH in jail on each charge, that should keep him off the streets for long enough!
Yeah, he should make a plea deal. Agree to plead guilty to all charges, in return for a very lenient sentence of one month on each charge. NOT to be served concurrently, of course. And no parole.
Whichever option will keep his victims safe, happy, wealthy, and out of the public eye is the one that works for me.
Death penalty sounds great. Tailor made for this scum. Guaranteed life term in a cement box? Sounds great as well. Dose of his own medicine.
I would love to be the prosecutor in the plea negotiations:
Mr. Castro, if you take this to trial, you are looking at 4 death sentences and 14,500 years in prison. Here’s my generous deal: You plead guilty now, you only get 1 death sentence and 6,000 years in prison. You have 10 seconds to decide.
If he pulled that shit in Texas, he’d probably be dead already!
I’m not understanding why the death penalty is even a possibility since none of the women were killed. Would causing miscarriages even count?
Under Ohio law, yes.
It’s also ridiculous. Pick a handful of the easiest to prove charges that will guarantee a life sentence…maybe roll the dice on including the death penalty charge…and leave it at that. Filing this many charges is a waste of resources.
Was he standing his ground against those women?
That’s what the law says, but nobody has ever been sentenced to death for killing a fetus in the US, and it could end up in a big fight over whether a fetus qualifies as a death penalty-enabling murder victim after Kennedy v. Louisiana.
I believe kidnapping is a capital offense under some circumstances and in some states, although a quick Google indicates this is not the case in Ohio.
Then throw him in General Population with a “kick me” sign and see how long he lasts.
A guy I work call him Fred with was his Teamster union representative at a hearing where he “…went home for 4 hours…”, leaving a school bus parked on the street.
Castro changed his story to “…I shit myself…” to explain the incident.