…Michael Jackson? 
Arnold died in bed, I believe. As I pointed out above, though, Andre, who he gave the plans to, and who was executed, was middle class.
I’m quite sure you are correct–OJ’s “celebrity status” was ONE of the reasons the decision was no made to not even seek the death penalty against him. I’m quite sure, however, that if OJ had killed two highway patrol officers, or if he had chosen his victim in order to collect insurance proceeds, or if he had killed his victim in order to prevent him or her from testifying against him at an upcoming child molestation trial (instead of killing his ex-wife for some largely undeterminable reason and a friend whose presence at the scene was not likely anticipated), his celebrity status would have had zero effect on the charging decision. That’s all I meant when I said his crimes were not “classically capital.”
If we ever “catch” Osama Bin Laden and bring him to trial here on capital charges, he would be a good candidate for execution, and would then be the most wealthy person executed in the USA.
But I’d be satisfied if he was just shot to bits by some Spec Ops guys in some cave in Afganistan… Would that count?
Another way of looking at it:
-
There are more ‘poor’ than ‘rich’ people.
-
If the exact same same percentage, say .01%, of the ‘poor’ group and ‘rich’ group commit and are executed for capital crimes, then,
-
More of the ‘poor’ group numerically will be represented in the final sample, but the same percentage of each group will be present.
So:
- There are 1,000,000 people in our fictional group.
- 600,000 are poor
- 350,000 are middle-class
- 50,000 are wealthy
- .01% of the population commits and is executed for a capital crime,
We get:
60 poor executions, 35 middle class, 5 wealthy.
[sub]Which of course completely ignores that the rich guys can hire decent lawyers, or any societal pressures that influence crime in different groups.[/sub]
I have no idea if the affluent are proportionally represented as a group in capital cases versus thier population in society; it would be very interesting to hear if someone has looked into this.
I think if we’re discounting mobsters and the like, serial killer Gary Heidnik was put to death, and I believe he was worth at least a million or two.
Not true. Bundy’s family was dirt poor, and he was always incredibly ashamed of it.
Except that, I think you have your numbers wrong. I believe that it’s more like:
- 300,000 poor;
- 600,000 middle class;
- 100,000 wealthy;
These numbers subject to review by a demographer 
The point is that the middle class is the largest class in the USA. And the middle class is apparently not the highest number of executions.
Well, it wasn’t meant to be an accurate sample, just an example breakdown to argue a point.
Do you have a cite on executions (or capital crimes committed regardless of execution status) vs. poor/middleclass/rich? That would be quite interesting.
I think the one thing that made OJ possibly get the death penalty was the idea that he “laid in waiting” before the victims came home. This was mentioned as a “special circumstance” that is needed in CA for someone to get the death penalty. But I do remember people saying that it would be harder to convict him if he faced the death penalty.
It’s interesting that in the matter of the socioeconomic level of executed people the French, as usual, do things differently. The French, in years gone by, executed several fabulously wealthy people.
so is heidnik our boy?
Actually, one thing–perhaps the only thing–that would have made OJ eligible for the death penalty under CA law was the fact that he killed more than one person. Lying in wait is mostly certainly a special circumstance under CA law, but I see no legally sufficient evidence that he concealed himself and watchfully waited for his victims before attacking them. He might well have done so–by which I mean I can easily imagine that he did so. But that’s all it is. Speculation.
Bathsheba Spooner was one of my direct ancestors, and the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts. She was married to a very old, very very wealthy guy, who she and her young lover beat to death and then threw down the well.
She pleded that she was guilty and should not be executed so her child could inherit the family fortune. A midwife was called, who examined her and said she wasn’t pregnant. After she was hanged, a five month old male feture was found during the autopsy.
If he ever does actually get executed, I would guess Thomas Capano will be that person. But he still has appeals to exhaust before that happens.
I read the Ann Rule book about Capano - I forgot about him. He killed his ex-girlfriend and dumped her body in the ocean. The cops figured out he did it right away but did not have enough evidence to arrest him. They finally got his brother to talk and he admitted to helping him dispose of the body. He was a lawyer and a former prosecutor.