# What Murderers Should Have Been Executed But Weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771 "2009-07-30T13:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/1 "2009-07-30T13:24:29Z")
Inspired by numerous other threads, I was wondering who spent long times in prison when the world could have felt no loss for them not being alive. I would offer two: Richard Speck Charles Manson. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/2 "2009-07-30T14:39:18Z")
Well, Henry Lee Lucas, for sure, but they needed to keep him around a while to clear up some of the murders he took credit for, but didn’t actually commit. Jeffrey Dahmer earned a needle too, by my reckoning. In the end, Dahmer probably got himself killed quicker than if he’d been sentenced to death, so I guess that one’s a push. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/3 "2009-07-30T14:57:16Z")
Dahmer. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/4 "2009-07-30T14:58:28Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Inspired by numerous other threads, I was wondering who spent long times in prison when the world could have felt no loss for them not being alive. > > I would offer two: > > Richard Speck > Charles Manson. Charles Manson didn’t actually lift a knife in the Tate/LaBiancha murders. He did incite the killing, but he did not actually participate so theoretically he is only an accessory not a murderer. Small nitpick, but one nonetheless. Speck was just bugfuck nuts and should have been executed. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/5 "2009-07-30T15:10:59Z")
Dick Cheney. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/6 "2009-07-30T16:02:19Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Dick Cheney. His target survived. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/7 "2009-07-30T17:09:32Z")
Robert Stroud. Ed Kemp. OJ Simpson. Willie Horton. Ed Wein. Hell, all of them. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/8 "2009-07-30T17:12:04Z")
I’m not in favor of the death penalty, but Sirhan Bishara Sirhan did a very bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/9 "2009-07-30T18:00:03Z")
[Coral Eugene Watts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Eugene_Watts) I’d have been more than happy to pull the switch. He was filth. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/10 "2009-07-30T18:25:57Z")
Oh yeah, two from outside the US: [Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/index_1.html). Incredibly, her sentence expired in July, 2005, and she is now free. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/11 "2009-07-30T18:28:59Z")
Johnny Campbell was given a life sentence. If you’re not familiar with him, look up “Lattie McGee.” And keep a tissue nearby. ---
**Author:** ![imfloating](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc79bd/32.png) [@imfloating](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imfloating)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/12 "2009-07-30T18:32:52Z")
Robert Wagner, For drowning Natalie Wood. I think there was some sort of cover up. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/13 "2009-07-30T18:43:57Z")
[Charles Rothenberg](http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.true-crime/2006-07/msg01495.html), except his son David didn’t die when he gave him a sleeping pill, poured kerosene on him, set him on fire, and then drove away leaving him to die. It was only through the quickness and kindness of strangers that his son’s life was saved. But that bastard deserves to die or, at the very least, live in prison with no human contact until he is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/14 "2009-07-30T18:44:55Z")
Gary Ridgway also comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/15 "2009-07-30T19:08:46Z")
Lt. Calley ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/16 "2009-07-30T19:39:05Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Charles Manson didn’t actually lift a knife in the Tate/LaBiancha murders. He did incite the killing, but he did not actually participate so theoretically he is only an accessory not a murderer. Small nitpick, but one nonetheless. When I tell this to people they are often quite shocked that he didn’t actually kill anyone. He’s got to be one, if not the most villified person who never took part in the actual killing. I certainly do excuse him or lessen his guilt, but it makes for an interesting topic ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/17 "2009-07-30T20:23:04Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Oh yeah, two from outside the US: [Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/bernardo/index_1.html). Incredibly, her sentence expired in July, 2005, and she is now free. She cut a pretty sweet deal when the assumption was that she was basically coerced/cowed into whatever role took, with the idea that her testimony would be vital to putting the real monster away. As it turned out, there was plenty of evidence without her testimony, and by the time it became clear how pro-active she was, it was too late. Whoops. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/18 "2009-07-30T20:29:52Z")
Executing [Gary Tison and Randy Greenawalt](http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/012097/memberof.htm) would have saved at least six lives. Tison was a crook who murdered a jail guard and got life in prison for it. Greenawalt was a serial killer (his specialty was shooting truckers sleeping at rest stops). Tison got his three sons to help him and Greenawalt break out of the Arizona State Prison in 1978. During their 12-day rampage they murdered a family of four and a honeymoon couple. Tison died of exposure in the desert. Greenawalt was finally executed after 19 years of stringing along the legal system with appeals. The real star however is Texas serial killer [Kenneth McDuff](http://www.geocities.com/verbal_plainfield/i-p/mcduff.html). He was on death row for murdering three teenagers when the Supreme Court abolished capital punishment in 1972. Paroled in 1989, he went on to murder at least four women (another believed to be his victim died only three days after he got out of prison). He was eventually executed, in 1998. A bit too late. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/19 "2009-07-30T20:53:26Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > When I tell this to people they are often quite shocked that he didn’t actually kill anyone. He’s got to be one, if not the most villified person who never took part in the actual killing. > > I certainly do excuse him or lessen his guilt, but it makes for an interesting topic Well, to be honest, he was also pretty fucking nuts also … and supposedly there are several bodies buried on the Spahn Movie Ranch of family members that ‘left suddenly in the night’ or so I have heard… [Crime Library](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/manson/murder_1.html) is an interesting read. Actually it is a fascinating way to kill a few weeks reading … some seriously scary people listed on it. Albert Fish is amazingly scary. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/20 "2009-07-30T22:20:14Z")
Seeing as he’s a local and I actually remember when this all happened, I’m going to have to go with [George Banks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Banks). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771.md?page=2)