You’re right, too! It skipped my mind. I would suspect they would only try him if they are very determined to get him death. It’s going to be a judgement call for the prosecutors in those jurisdictions. Death vs. another very expensive trial.
So the prosecutor here feels that justice would have best been served by executing Malvo. Does this make him evil? How evil, exactly, in comparison to the man he was prosecuting?
Yeah. And next time a Sharia court sentences a woman to be stoned to death for adultery, well, she should have known better.
We’re talking about America, dude, not some foreign country with their own rules. But nice attempt at a distraction, anyway.
Honestly, Miller? My first instinct is simply to state that planning to kill another human being in cold blood is enough to make someone evil. I have to admit that your second question wants to make me think. Not about the death penalty being wrong, but about why I had such feelings about a stranger when I have forgiven my father. I’ll have to get back to you.
And to all: I think I’ve done a good job so far of responding to reasonable posters. I’m done for tonight. Life is about to get busy.
I’ll echo Airman Doors, USAF on this one: I am astonished at this penalty verdict - I believe he fired the majority of the shots. His penalty should have been death, IMHO - but, then, I’m from Texas.
black455 - well, you’ve rendered me speechless (almost). How could this case be compared to a woman threatened, and then saved, from being stoned for adultery? If you’re alluding to a racial issue in this particular case, you’re ringing the wrong bell, my friend. The man picked off innocent people, and he’ll now (thanks to the ruling) meet his death a little later than I would have liked.
As an afterthought, I’d like to wish Miller a Merry Christmas!
Malvo may have been under 18 when he comitted the crimes he comitted, but he did adult crimes, was tried as an adult, convicted as an adult, and should be punished as an adult.
This isn’t some teenage hoodlum behavior of spraypainting an overpass. This is willing participation in serial murder.
If he was able to go out and murder like a grown man, then he should pay for it like a grown man.
Countries that have executed people for crimes committed as minors since 1993 (source: www.amnesty.org): China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the USA and Yemen. What a fine bunch of countries to be associated with. And the USA has executed more than all the others combined.
It’s not a case of “murder like a grown man”. Teenagers are not normal people - their brains and powers of reason are still developing. The vast majority of countries recognize that fact and set up their justice system accordingly.
And a question: do many other countries try juveniles “as adults”? I’m from the UK and have never heard of it happening there, but I don’t know for sure.
Malvo was one year away from being eligible to serve in the U.S. armed forces when he murdered innocent bystanders.
I’ll certainly agree with you that teenagers are not normal people, amarone! In my teenage experience, however - I don’t recall us saying, “Hey! Let’s go kill some folks!” We were fooling around and having fun.
(Unclviny stands and applauds Catsix for posting what I have thought all along), I am going to get flamed for this but “some people just need killing”. Malvo is a waste of oxygen and he is a blight on this planet, we should do the human race a favor and EXTERMINATE THIS POS!.
unclviny
I believe the other county in VA is Spotsylvania.
As well they both face Capital murder charges in Alabama.
I think this is only two of what may be a total of twelve trials (10 sniper killings plus the robbery/killings in Ala) that they may face. Plus others if they decide to tack on about 900 other felonies they committed during their crime spree.
As to the Jury, I’m not sure I agree with their decision. I believe that THEY believe, having seen more evidence than anyone here, that they were making the right decision. I think that they believe that Malvo was very much under the influence of John Muhammed to the point of NOT being the Mastermind behind the crimes but rather a heavily manipulated man/child who pulled the trigger. Responsible yes, but not culpable in the same manner as John Muhammed (if that makes sense).
You’ve got to understand that VA is a very conservative state. The number one and two Death Penalty states in the US are Texas and Virginia. For an average Jury here to impose life instead of the DP generally means there was (in their view) some compelling evidence for them to do so.
In any case, it appears that what really happened is that they “settled” for Life in Prison as a practical matter. Interesting article here with interviews with some of the Jurrors:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=63972&ran=210811
Regards,
-Bouncer-
As a Virginian from one of the sniper sites, I, too, am disappointed with this verdict. I’ll echo the comments about this being an adult crime committed by a person who the court recognized as an adult.
As someone who’s just spent the overwhelming majority of their life as a teenager, I’ll call bullshit on the claim that as teenagers, a person’s brain and powers of reasoning aren’t still developing – at least not in a case like this. I, and every single one of the young adults I’ve known throughout high school have been well aware since early childhood that murdering someone because you just want to is WRONG. No ifs ands or buts. And we all damn sure knew that if we committed such a heinous act, even at 13, we deserved to fry for it.
Arguing that a 17 year old man who was less than ONE YEAR AWAY from legal adulthood has no sense of power of reasoning is bull-hockey. I say fry 'em. I think I’ll ask a friend of mine what his mother’s opinion on the trial was – my friend being the judge’s son. Not that she’s able to increase the sentence, but it’d be wonderful perspective.
Anyway, to wrap this up-- I was a normal American kid, and from and from an early age I could still tell between right and wrong – at the very least, in a case like this. I am disappointed by this verdict. Hopefully another jury will pick up the slack.
Actually, the otehr VA county is Hanover (Ashland).
I live 2 miles from the Home Depot in Falls Church where he killed the FBI employee. I was shopping there the day before the murder. It’s around the corner from a Michael’s (Some of the previous murders were in Michael’s parking lots, and I was always curious if he didn’t originally intend to shoot there instead).
So many of the murder sites were within blocks of old residences of mine, I was worried my name might turn up as a suspect.
He should’ve gotten the death penalty. Seventeen is old enough to know better than to kill a string of random strangers, and missing his daddy was no excuse.
When I was 17, I, and EVERYONE at my highschool, knew it is wrong and illegal to do what Malvo did, so don’t give bullshit that “teenagers aren’t normal, they are still developing!”. They’re not little kids. Why do so many people underestimate teenagers so much? Do you really think that teens are fucking incompetent and stupid until they reach the magic number of 18?
As it is, that murdering fucker Malvo DESERVES to be executed, he did every bit to earn it.
Hey, you can only kill the dude once. So he didn’t get the DP this time. There’s always next time.
(I happen to live around the corner from where a few of the shootings took place in Montco.)
I retract the word “evil”. It was too harsh.
Doesn’t mean I’m happy about Horan’s reaction, doesn’t mean I’m happy to see the flood of posters coming in here who think killing someone is just peachy. Saddened is perhaps a better description of how I feel about it.
I’m pleased with your retraction of the word ‘evil.’
I oppose the death penalty. I think Mr. Horan is an outstandingly capable - perhaps even legendary - prosecutor, but I believe he is sorely misguided in his support for the death penalty. BUT - he is acting within the law, and reasonable minds disagree. This may make him mistaken; it doesn’t make him evil.
I live in Falls Church, less than a mile from the Home Depot site. During the shootings, my mother was in a physical rehab facility in Arlington, having just had hip replacement surgery. Mrs. Bricker and I visited her every day, nervously parking the van as close to the entrance as we could. When we went grocery shopping, I would pull up to the entrance to drop her off, then park and go in; when we were done, I’d go get the car and pick her up at the entrance. At one point, during the day when I was at work, Mrs. Bricker needed to get gas and was so terrified that she drove off without putting the gas cap back on the car.
I say all this to show that, although, thank God, no one in my family was shot, we experienced the terror first-hand. I mourn the victims; I do not believe adding more blood to that already spilled is in any way justice.
- Rick
Motherfucker got life in prison, and he’s 18 years old. He’s going to be in prison for at least 50 years–probably more like 60. If it was me, I would prefer the death penalty. Motherfucker got what he deserved–worse than death.
I assume you’re talking about this article, which states that the US has executed 10 people under 18 since 1990. The way you phrased it makes it sound like the US has got slaughterhouses packed with teenagers, ready for the needle.
As you can see, the Amnesty.org article never went into detail about why Sean Sellers was executed. I guess they thought the facts would get in the way of their point. He shot and killed his parents as well as a convenience store clerk. It was hard to find an impartial account of the story, between all the ultraleft amnesty bleeding hearts and the ultrareligious sites that said he did it because he played D&D, but this one is fairly reliable. It pays to know all sides of the issue, you see.
Are you seriously saying a 17-year old can’t tell right from wrong, can’t understand that it’s wrong to kill people, because he’s not fully developed yet??? Try telling that to the families of the people he murdered. I’m sure they’ll understand it was all because of growing pains. Why should murder be any less of an offense when the killer isn’t a “grown man”? This is so incredibly naïve. You’re not registered to vote yet, I hope?
Jesus, you completely swallow anything Amnesty.org says unquestionably, don’t you? Even if the headlines on their own home page contradict that statement.