# Inhuman monster gets off light with life in prison **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 21, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929 "2005-01-21T16:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/1 "2005-01-21T16:34:45Z")
From the [Houston Chronicle](http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3002198), and not for the faint of heart. > [@](#): > > LEAGUE CITY - A couple of hours after taking his unconscious 2-year-old daughter to a hospital, Frank Padilla calmly and methodically demonstrated to a police detective how he hit the child in the stomach with a closed fist because she wet her pants. > > . . . . > > In the taped interview [with police], which was to be the focal point of Padilla’s capital murder trial next month, the man then admitted to punching his daughter in the stomach, slapping her on the face and head and sexually assaulting her. > > . . . . > > Padilla told Grant how he jabbed the girl after she urinated on herself the afternoon of Aug. 8. > > “I punched her a couple of times in the stomach,” he said. “But I didn’t think it would cause any problems. She’d been crying all day. She peed and didn’t tell us. I got mad.” > > Grant asked Padilla to demonstrate how hard he had hit his daughter. With a closed fist, Padilla slammed his fist on the conference room table, causing it to bounce. Throughout the interview, Grant asked Padilla to demonstrate how hard he hit the girl, and each time he slammed the table. Each time the table bounced. > > . . . . > > Padilla also divulged that he had slapped his daughter on the face and the side of the head after she wet her panties. > > With the same force he demonstrated with a closed fist, Padilla slammed his open hand on the table to show how hard he had slapped the girl about seven or eight times. The slapping gave the girl two black eyes, Grant said. Superlatives fail me. This man is simply a monster. He put his poor, innocent daughter through the agonies of hell over the course of her short, painful life. I don’t know how someone could do this to a baby. > [@Frank Padilla](#): > > “I’m not a child abuser or a child molester,” he said. “I was always trying to be a good father.” Of course you’re not a child abuser or molester, Mr. Padilla. Those are terms that apply to humans, and you are not one. You tore up your membership card to mankind when you beat, raped, and stomped your two year old daughter to death. You are only an animal, and I’m not sure why the state didn’t try to do to you what it does to all other animals that kill. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/2 "2005-01-21T16:43:11Z")
There are times when opposition to the death penalty is really pushed to the limit. This is one of those times. I still think, though, that he will be punished more by a life sentence than by death. Not the least because I suspect he will find himself to be very…popular among the prison population. I’ve often heard that child molesters and abusers are the lowest of the low in prison. Padilla did _not_ get off easy. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/3 "2005-01-21T17:42:52Z")
I honestly can’t even read stuff like this anymore. I have a 2 Y.O. daughter myself, and the thought, even for a second, of something like this happening to her is more than I can handle. Like photopat said, my anti-death penalty stance is pushed to the limit on this. If something happens to him in prison, I’ll lose not a wink of sleep over it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/4 "2005-01-21T17:52:59Z")
And another part of the story, from [this article](http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2997013), is pretty depressing: > [@](#): > > The death of Linda Padilla highlighted an ineffective state child-abuse hot line system. A pizza deliveryman called the hot line two months before Linda died to report that the child had a black eye. Frank Padilla, according to the pizza deliveryman, was shielding the girl from the door when he delivered the pizza. > > \ > > The hot line caseworker who took the call from the pizza deliveryman and dismissed the claim eventually was fired. > > A Chronicle investigation into the hot line resulted in workers being hired, installation of an upgraded computer system and other efforts to speed the answering of calls. > > The Chronicle found that callers to the hot line were being put on hold for hours because there wasn’t enough staff to answer the phones. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/5 "2005-01-21T18:01:40Z")
This is a eerie repeat of [Lisa Steinberg](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/lisa_steinberg/1.html). Has nothing changed since then? You sexually abuse your two year old daughter, then kill her for peeing her pants. But you didn’t mean to and that makes you a good father? :rolleyes: I’m glad I’m for the death penalty on this one. Joel Steinberg is now a free man, and Lisa is still dead. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/6 "2005-01-21T18:11:09Z")
Thank you, Detective Grant, for being able to control yourself during the interview and for then having the strength to testify in court so this despicable man could be taken off the street. You have a horrible job and I appreciate your willingness to perform it so that we don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![SallyCan\_tDance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@SallyCan\_tDance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SallyCan_tDance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/7 "2005-01-22T00:54:00Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > Of course you’re not a child abuser or molester, Mr. Padilla. Those are terms that apply to humans, and you are not one. You tore up your membership card to mankind when you beat, raped, and stomped your two year old daughter to death. You are only an animal, and I’m not sure why the state didn’t try to do to you what it does to all other animals that kill. I’m afraid this revolting behaviour DOES make him a human. Human beings are the only species on Earth that can turn around and wilfully abuse and torture their own offspring. Not even chimpanzees, who are about 98% genetically identical to humans and who are known to murder to gain territory, would stoop this low. The word “inhumane” should be taken out of the dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/8 "2005-01-22T01:31:21Z")
One of the reasons I’m against the death penalty is that this creature that walks like a man does not deserve the peace of death. IMO, life imprisonment is a far worse and more appropriate penalty than a quick death and the rest of the grave. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/9 "2005-01-22T01:47:39Z")
> [@SallyCan'tDance](#): > > I’m afraid this revolting behaviour DOES make him a human. Human beings are the only species on Earth that can turn around and wilfully abuse and torture their own offspring. Not even chimpanzees, who are about 98% genetically identical to humans and who are known to murder to gain territory, would stoop this low. > The word “inhumane” should be taken out of the dictionary. Ever read Jane Goodall? Chimps do that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/10 "2005-01-22T02:10:57Z")
> [@SallyCan'tDance](#): > > I’m afraid this revolting behaviour DOES make him a human. Human beings are the only species on Earth that can turn around and wilfully abuse and torture their own offspring. Not even chimpanzees, who are about 98% genetically identical to humans and who are known to murder to gain territory, would stoop this low. > The word “inhumane” should be taken out of the dictionary. Lots of small animals will eat their babies if the mother isn’t getting adequate nutrition, is dehydrated, or she thinks there is something “wrong” with the baby. Getting eaten alive by your own mum is pretty gruesome, I’d wager. They’re also known to have babies and then just abandon them for no apparent reason, leaving them to starve to death. They will also freely engage in incest and will try to “mate” with non-sexually mature babies. I think that sort of thing goes on a lot in the animal kingdom. Now, what this guy did is totally fucked up, but I don’t think the ability to be cruel and torture one’s own offspring is particularly unique to humans. Rather, I would hope that since we have the ability to reason and are capable of doing things like caring for people that will never be able to care for themselves or couldn’t survive on their own, we have evolved past this sort of thing. Humans are the only species we know of capable of making decisions about those sorts of things. And this guy chose to be an inhuman monster when he decided to abuse and kill his little girl. I agree, he deserves to die. I’m anti-dp but these kinds of situations are hard to dispute. How he got away with a life sentence and not the death penalty here in TX is beyond me, though. And kudos to that pizza guy for bothering to notice something like that, and then caring enough to go to the trouble to report it. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/11 "2005-01-22T02:16:51Z")
> [@jinwicked](#): > > How he got away with a life sentence and not the death penalty here in TX is beyond me, though. My thought exactly. Texas is really slacking lately. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/12 "2005-01-22T02:19:26Z")
I went back and looked over the article again, I guess they got him on a plea bargain (?) and never bothered to go to court. If I were the DA I would have never let that one slide, but then again, 3 life sentences undisputed might seem better to them than risking a lesser sentence in a trial. At least they know he’ll be locked up for good. The mother should do jail time, too, IMO. It seems that the abuse was going on for a while before the girl died, and there’s no way the mom couldn’t have known about it. That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/13 "2005-01-22T02:26:14Z")
And this is exactly why I’m against the DP. Had this been a relative of mine, I wouldn’t hesitate a second in hunting down the scumbag and killing him. I think revcenge is as good a motive as anything. But I don’t thin it’s up to the state/country/government to dole out revenge. The state should provide a lot of things, but revenge is not one of them. This fucker deserves to die, but if I had a personal stake in it, I’d do it myself and face the consequences. Delegating it to the DA, county and state is wrong. The state doesn’t need to get revenge. Revenge is something personal. And revenge by proxy is just… wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/14 "2005-01-22T02:58:49Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > One of the reasons I’m against the death penalty is that this creature that walks like a man does not deserve the peace of death. IMO, life imprisonment is a far worse and more appropriate penalty than a quick death and the rest of the grave. Howsabout we let him decide. If he would rather death, we give him life in prison without parole. If he wants life without parole, we give him death. Seems like we should be considering what is worse for him than for you. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/15 "2005-01-22T06:12:31Z")
I am pro death penalty, as in this case when it is a clear-cut, unambiguous, totally unrepentant action. (Sure, I’m against it when guilt is not as clear cut (Sacco & Venzetti), you have rotten legal counsel (the infamous sleeping lawyer) and so on). Here’s the main reason I am _for_ the death penalty though. When someone is sentenced to “life in prison without parole”, how long do they _actually_ serve? Just thinking of a quick example here - remember Leopold and Loeb who killed a young boy back in the 1920’s? They were each sentenced to _life in prison_ for the murder _AND 99 years_ for kidnapping. Loeb was killed in prison in 1936. However, Leopold was paroled in 1958 after 33 years in prison. (Does 33 years = life PLUS 99 years ???) Another reason for my pro death penalty stance is that quite often these vermin still make the news. A few weeks ago, weren’t the murderers of Matthew Shepard on “20/20” to tell their story? Remember the infamous videotape of Richard Speck & his cellmate that was made _by_ them and eventually made it to the national news? And of course Charles Manson _still_ gets the occassional interview. Want to make a bet that this alleged human being, Frank Padilla, gets interviewed, gets the occassional mention in the news and even worse - gets paroled? ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/16 "2005-01-22T07:46:58Z")
OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS IS INHUMANE! This man is sick… twisted… disturbed… fuck… .he’s not human. that is beyond… I don’t think that memory will ever be gone from my mind… its burned itself in there… this guy is sick. I just hope he makes it out of prison somehow, just somehow, so he can really get what he deserves from whoever the fuck realizes who he is. Not death from old age or a heart attack… death from a fucking sharp, rusty, metal object shoved up his ass and twisted sideways. I’m sorry… this is just the most fucked up thing I’ve read in a VERY long time. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/17 "2005-01-22T11:11:00Z")
I am not a death penalty opponent, although I do think there are problems when it comes to applying it even-handedly. (But that’s true of other sanctions as well). If I thought we could fix this person so he really isn’t like this any more, genuine rehabilitation, I would favor that. In cases like this, I don’t think we can, so I would, with some sorrow and with great gravity put him down in the most humane way possible, for the safety of the rest of us. Mind you, if I’d known the little girl personally, I’d want to saute him live in frying-hot grapeseed oil until his skin fell off, but I don’t advocate that as justice. It’s not, it’s fury. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/18 "2005-01-22T12:12:52Z")
I’m sure I’ll get roasted for this, but it doesn’t sound like the guy is really evil, just totally delusional. Why would he be so eager to demonstrate what he did to his child? Any truly evil person would try to pass it off as an accident. A truly evil person would definitely not have taken his daughter to the hospital. Perhaps he really didn’t think he was hurting his child all that much? Perhaps his sense of reality is just really fucked up in this regard? Perhaps he thought he was really just punishing her? I’m not trying to let the guy off the hook here, and he’s obviously committed a monstrous act and deserves to spend all or most of the rest of his life in prison. But this guy is not nearly in the same league as someone like John Wayne Gacy… The death penalty should not even be an issue here, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/19 "2005-01-22T16:47:24Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > And this is exactly why I’m against the DP. > > Had this been a relative of mine, I wouldn’t hesitate a second in hunting down the scumbag and killing him. I think revcenge is as good a motive as anything. > > But I don’t thin it’s up to the state/country/government to dole out revenge. The state should provide a lot of things, but revenge is not one of them. This fucker deserves to die, but if I had a personal stake in it, I’d do it myself and face the consequences. > Delegating it to the DA, county and state is wrong. The state doesn’t need to get revenge. Revenge is something personal. And revenge by proxy is just… wrong. I agree. I’m very much anti-death penalty for a whole host of reasons. And while I would prefer our citizenry not to dole out their personal justice, I cannot say that I wouldn’t seek revenge if someone killed a loved one and I knew with absolute certainty who it was. But don’t kid yourselves. If you’ve ever been to a state or county prison, you’d know that “life in jail” isn’t exactly getting off easy. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929/20 "2005-01-22T17:04:08Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > I am pro death penalty, as in this case when it is a clear-cut, unambiguous, totally unrepentant action. Repentance is an act that can take place any time after the act has been committed. Just because he hasn’t repented now doesn’t mean he won’t do so in the future. That’s why I’m against the death penalty, even for this guy: salvation of some sort is still possible, however unlikely. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inhuman-monster-gets-off-light-with-life-in-prison/285929.md?page=2)