# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/21 "2009-07-30T22:28:23Z")
> [@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. In principle I am opposed to the death penalty. However, the first time I saw a Court TV show aobut that case I felt very strongly that she (moreso than her husband) really shouldn’t be entitled to use oxygen that someone else might need. It troubled me. And hers was the name that sprang immediately to mind when I read the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/22 "2009-07-30T23:11:02Z")
Albert Speer. It was ridiculous he got 20 years when he not only worked so many Jews/Poles/Russians to death as slave labor but men under him who carried out his orders were executed. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/23 "2009-07-30T23:19:09Z")
[Calvin Finley.](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009570592_webwalmartplea31m.html) Shot an armored car guard point blank in the head in a crowded Walmart then walked out. Plea bargained for life without parole. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/24 "2009-07-31T00:26:18Z")
[This fucker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Bittaker). He got a lot of media attention here in SoCal, and was a common topic of conversation for a long time both after his capture and during his trial. He committed these crimes when I was a teenager and _he’s still alive_. It just boggles the mind. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/25 "2009-07-31T07:25:32Z")
Local crime: Laurie Tackett and Melissa Loveless, both teen girls who abducted & torture-killed a 12-year old girl who was involved with the latter’s GF. Seeing Henry Lee Lucas reminded me of Ottis Toole, his occasional killing partner & an even viler POS. The UK’s favorite couple- Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/26 "2009-07-31T07:41:01Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Johnny Campbell was given a life sentence. If you’re not familiar with him, look up “Lattie McGee.” And keep a tissue nearby. Any idea what became of Lattie’s brother, Cornelius Abraham? I just read Bob Greene’s 1999 column about being invited to his graduation. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/27 "2009-07-31T08:32:39Z")
> [@imfloating](#): > > Robert Wagner, For drowning Natalie Wood. I think there was some sort of cover up. Excellent username/post combo. 🆒 ---
**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 31, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/28 "2009-07-31T10:30:14Z")
> [@imfloating](#): > > Robert Wagner, For drowning Natalie Wood. I think there was some sort of cover up. I have this little feeling that Christopher Walken [who was also on the boar, and was supposedly having an affair with Natalie Wood] and Robert Wagner got into a fight over the affair, and Natalie Wood got hit and killed, and they conspired to keep it under wraps. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/29 "2009-07-31T10:34:07Z")
If I were still in favor of the death penalty, I would say [Leopold and Loeb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb). ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/30 "2009-07-31T11:49:39Z")
[Marybeth\_Tinning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marybeth_Tinning) Ted Kennedy ---
**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 31, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/31 "2009-07-31T12:02:46Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > [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. I’d never previously heard of him. I am grateful I hadn’t. ---
**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 31, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/32 "2009-07-31T12:21:41Z")
[Valmae Beck and Barry Watts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sian_Kingi) ---
**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 31, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/33 "2009-07-31T12:38:28Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > [This fucker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Bittaker). He got a lot of media attention here in SoCal, and was a common topic of conversation for a long time both after his capture and during his trial. He committed these crimes when I was a teenager and _he’s still alive_. It just boggles the mind. That Wiki article is so difficult to follow. If you go to the para that says: In 1976 Bittaker was hired as the manager for the Holiday Theater in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley. Bittaker had a rough demeanor, hot temper, and some employees, as it turns out, were right about being cautious of him. You have him working. Next you have him being given an assessment and being released. (Apart from that it is difficult to imagine why he was given a management job anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/34 "2009-07-31T14:10:42Z")
I feel dirty after reading those links. Excuse me while I scrub my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/35 "2009-07-31T15:25:38Z")
I’ll go a bit further back. We captured this murderous war criminal during the Yorktown campaign at the end of the American Revolution, but he was paroled, returned to Britain, became an MP and campaigned for the _retention_ of slavery. The bad guy in the Mel Gibson movie _The Patriot_ was based on him. A truly unpleasant bastard: [Banastre Tarleton - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banastre_Tarleton) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/36 "2009-07-31T15:27:53Z")
> [@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. Not to rain on your righteous anger (no sarcasm – you’re right to be angry at these losers) but my understanding is that most people don’t oppose the death penalty because they think convicted murderers would be a loos, but because the act of killing debases the state as surely as it debases an individual. If killing is wrong, it is wrong to kill in return. I personally come down on the “don’t kill them” side but only by a hair (and that’s not the same thing as “let them go.”) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/37 "2009-07-31T15:30:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’ll go a bit further back. We captured this murderous war criminal during the Yorktown campaign at the end of the American Revolution, but he was paroled, returned to Britain, became an MP and campaigned for the _retention_ of slavery. The bad guy in the Mel Gibson movie _The Patriot_ was based on him. A truly unpleasant bastard: [Banastre Tarleton - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banastre_Tarleton) Heh, I referenced him [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11271295&postcount=34) in the thread about old battles people still carry grudges about. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/38 "2009-07-31T15:39:39Z")
> [@Jadis](#): > > 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). I live like 2 towns over from where Banks went on his killing spree. We’re neighbors! And I call George Banks a real like Michael Myers. He went nuts and killed his family, and then went outside and kept killing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/39 "2009-07-31T15:40:46Z")
> [@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 From what I hear, Hitler never actually killed anyone. I think he would take the cake. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/40 "2009-07-31T15:46:47Z")
Likewise Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. Sociopaths in charge of entire countries have other people to get their hands dirty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771.md?page=3)