# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**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, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/41 "2009-07-31T16:29:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Likewise Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. Sociopaths in charge of entire countries have other people to get their hands dirty. ? Pol Pot served in the anti french resistance under Ho Chi Minh … I really don’t think they were knitting and playing chess. Mao lead the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants, and I don’t thing they were playing chess and knitting afghans … and in 1906 Stalin engineered and participated in a bank heist that killed 40 people to help finance the revolution … granted, after they got into power they had henchmen, but they got their hands dirty back before they were in charge. ---
**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 31, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/42 "2009-07-31T16:42:09Z")
Hitler also fought in WW1. He fought literally in the trenches, saw quite a bit of fire. was twice wounded, and won an Iron Cross, so it’s likely that he personally killed people then, though I guess it wouldn’t have technically been murder. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/43 "2009-07-31T18:10:55Z")
Two Iron Crosses, actually. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Cross) But he was a messenger, so it was mostly people shooting at him rather than vice versa. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/44 "2009-07-31T19:11:44Z")
Ali Hassan al-Majid, or better known as “Chemical Ali”. Sentenced to death three times, earning each one of his convictions. Still vertical. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/45 "2009-08-01T01:46:48Z")
He killed a cop. His defense? ‘I am the victim of a conspiracy to make it look I killed a cop’ ‘It was self defense’ ‘It was some other mysterious dude’ The bastard will die of old age. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/46 "2009-08-02T04:21:25Z")
> [@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. According to your link Bittaker’s partner in the murders, Roy Norris, is up for parole next year. He’s probably harmless by now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/47 "2009-08-02T21:24:08Z")
Re Manson: If I remember \*Helter Skelter \*correctly, he did tie up the LaBiancas, so he did participate in two murders. I also believe he helped murder Shorty Shea, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were others. In my book, if you order your brain-dead zombies to commit murder, you are just as morally culpaple. I would also say the Green River Killer. I once read a comment by someone that went something like this: “If you’re not going to kill someone for murdering 45 women, why bother to have the death penalty?” ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/48 "2009-08-04T05:08:41Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > Re Manson: If I remember \*Helter Skelter \*correctly, he did tie up the LaBiancas, so he did participate in two murders. I also believe he helped murder Shorty Shea, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were others. Yeah, I was coming in to say this. I thought there was one guy he killed when he was thought to have been completely alone. Can’t remember who. If \*Helter Skelter \*is correct, one of the great misconceptions about Charles Manson is that he didn’t actually kill anyone with his own hands. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/49 "2009-08-13T13:13:56Z")
If you don’t think the monsters that tortured 4 year old [Lattie McGee](http://crime.about.com/od/v_childabuse/a/uc_lettie.htm) to death don’t deserve to be dead, I question your humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/50 "2009-08-13T19:00:28Z")
IIRC, wasn’t Manson originally sentenced to death, but that sentence was changed to life in prison when California abolished the death penalty? ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/51 "2009-08-13T21:46:33Z")
Charles Ng - really nasty bad psychopath > **[allserialkillers.com](http://ww38.allserialkillers.com/charles_ng.htm)** > > This domain may be for sale! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/52 "2009-08-13T22:27:39Z")
Mumia Abu Jamal > [@DocCathode](#): > > He killed a cop. His defense? ‘I am the victim of a conspiracy to make it look I killed a cop’ > > ‘It was self defense’ > > ‘It was some other mysterious dude’ > > The bastard will die of old age. This is who I was going to say. The celebrity status he has attained sickens me. ---
**Author:** ![ThirdOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@ThirdOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThirdOne)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/53 "2009-08-13T23:55:51Z")
Yes, Manson was originally sentenced to death, until the death penalty was reversed. He now comes up for parole once in a while. He still looks crazy as can be. And he is believed to have killed people, but their bodies weren’t found, nor the evidence to prove it. He may not have used the knife, but directing his “family” to do so was just about the same thing. They did whatever he told them to, without question. The world is a much better place with Manson behind bars, at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771/54 "2009-08-14T00:10:55Z")
> [@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. And don’t forget that [when she had a child after getting released from prison](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/02/08/3558711-sun.html), she went into the hospital under the false last name that she and Bernardo had used before - which he had gotten from the name of a fictional serial killer. I’m sure she has learned her lesson. Totally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-murderers-should-have-been-executed-but-werent/504771.md?page=2)