# Death Row Inmate Released **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-row-inmate-released/661197 "2013-06-17T18:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-row-inmate-released/661197/1 "2013-06-17T18:06:57Z")
No, not some poor innocent shlub who had people lie in court to convict him. Not some mistaken identity cleared by this fancy new DNA thing they go goin’ around. Nope, just a selfish, drunk, high teenager who stabbed an elderly woman 33 times. For 10 bucks. > **[Woman sentenced to death walks free, thanks in part to victim's grandson | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/17/justice/death-row-freedom/index.html)** > > After 27 years behind bars, Paula Cooper left prison a free woman and will go shopping with her murder victim’s grandson So, let me get this straight: If I murder someone violently, all I have to do is find some idiot who believes in god and hope that they forgive me? What a plan. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-row-inmate-released/661197/2 "2013-06-17T18:11:24Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > So, let me get this straight: If I murder someone violently, all I have to do is find some idiot who believes in god and hope that they forgive me? What a plan. Well, that and serve a 27 year prison term. Plus the title is kinda misleading, the woman in question hasn’t been on death row since 1989. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-row-inmate-released/661197/3 "2013-06-17T18:17:06Z")
She was not a death row inmate at the time of her release. She was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986. The Indiana Supreme Court reversed the death sentence in 1989 to 60 years in prison, because [SCOTUS found](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_v._Oklahoma) condemning anyone to death under the age of 16 violates the Eighth Amendment. Indiana law at the time allow people as young as 10 years of age to be executed. She was released under current Indiana guidelines. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-row-inmate-released/661197/4 "2013-06-17T18:55:28Z")
And the victim’s grandson is going to take her out shopping. She’ll end up getting a lot more from the grandson than she got from her victim. StG ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-row-inmate-released/661197/5 "2013-06-17T19:08:04Z")
27 years is a long sentence for a juvenile. Not saying it wasn’t deserved, but I don’t really see how it’s relevant that she was on death row decades ago. Thankfully we no longer allow juveniles to get death sentences. Weird about the victim’s grandson.