Paul Warner Powell could be the first man put to death in part for sheer cockiness. Powell was convicted in a second trial of the murder and attempted rape of Stacie Reed, 16. The evidence against him included a letter that he wrote to prosecutors mocking them with admissions of his crime after he assumed that he could not be tried again for the crime after a reversal.
Powell was convicted in the 1999 murder of Stacie Reed and the rape of her 14-year-old sister in their Manassas home. In his letter, he wrote “[s]ince I have already been indicted on first degree murder and the Va. Supreme Court said that I can’t be charged with capital murder again, I figured I would tell you the rest of what happened on Jan. 29, 1999, to show you how stupid all of y’all … are.”
He added “I guess I forgot to mention these events when I was being questioned. Ha Ha!” he wrote in 2001. “Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid … and saving me?” Not really. He died at 9 pm last night.
For the full story, click here
Unfortunately the public only remembers the ostensibly offensive reprobates that get off of a an offense that all are sure they committed. They forget the ones that are imprisoned for crimes that they had no part in.
May God have repose on his soul as I do not.
You know what they say about that word”assume”.
Do I detect a hint of “pro-death penalty” here?
Sir, I have stated before. If you have a direct admission, YES I can live with that. However, when alls that you have is circumstantial evidence. I am totally against it. It is the circumstances that tend to show you committed a crime.
Just because you were in a bank 5 minutes before it was robbed does not make you an accessory. This happened to a black person I know. BTW they never found the person that robbed the bank.
Duh,
In cases which involve violent sex offences and child sexual assault I am completely in favour of the death penalty. In Powells case, if there is a Hell, I hope he is rotting there this morning!
I am 100% against the death penalty.
duh and how does Bdaman feel about this?
Personally I would like to give a shout out to whomever gave him the idea that he could not be tried again. I see an attorney with a conscience telling this guy he couldn’t be tried again and not to worry. “Gee guy I am so sorry, I must not have understood that part when I took criminal law. My bad”
Chock one up on the plus side for the legal profession.
Duh:
why? although it is cheaper. I am about 95% against it, but this guy qualifies.
Duh,
Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. I have had opportunity to help survivors of violent sexual assault ( adult & child ) try to overcome the trauma caused by such crimes, and witness the devastation these crimes bring to these survivors. Knowing the incredibly high recidivsm rates for this type of offender, I find it difficult to support the annual tax dollars that go into attempts to ” cure ” them.
AY, I don’t know how bdaman feels about the death penalty.
Byron, I used to be in favor of the death penalty. Today, with what I know about corrupt prosecutors and coerced confessions, I can no longer support it. If it’s a matter of public safety, I think we can adequately ensure that those found guilty of heinous acts will remain safely behind bars. (We couldn’t do that years ago. Prison breaks were a common occurrence.)
It appears to me that what we’re talking about here is vengeance. If that is the case, why does doing so humanely even enter the picture?
Canadian Eh!,
I don’t know how it is in Canada, but here in the U.S. it costs more to put them to death, than it does to have them serve a life sentence.
duh and how does Bdaman feel about this?
Bdaman feels sick, bad chest cold, however I have been monitoring all of your comments. I got my eye on you AY
Mama said, don’t start no trouble won’t be no trouble. (sitting back down now)
Duh,
This fiend confessed and most certainly can be said to have bragged. Without this, I would not be in support of the death penalty. But when you have only circumstantial evidence to convict is where I am strongly opposed to the same. But here in Texas we douche em with ill prepared asleep attorney at the bar and then call that Justice.
See Illinois and why the out going indicted Governor not the latest Bag that was Governor commuted everyone on death row to life sentences. BTW that decision is reversible by the next Givememore.
Bdaman,
Welcome back. I am pleased that Duh is here to.
It is curious that Bdaman did not post until duh was asked. Hmmmm
“He added “I guess I forgot to mention these events when I was being questioned. Ha Ha!” he wrote in 2001. “Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid … and saving me?” Not really. He died at 9 pm last night.”
************************
More proof, it seems, of the wisdom of Oscar Wilde who reminded us that, “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.”
Thanky Thanky AY. How U 2day potner.
Guy Paul Morin
David Milguard
Donald Marshall Jr
William Mullins-Johnson
Sherry Sherret
James Driskell
Anthony Hanemaayer
Thomas Sophonow
Steven Truscott
Just a few names, off the top of my head, of people who have been found to have been wrongly convicted of murder (and in some cases, also of sexual assualt) in Canada in the past number of years. If we had the death penalty, most of them would have been executed before they were exonerated. In Truscott’s case, the death penalty still existed and he was sentenced to death, but it was later commuted to life imprisonment.
ECookie,
I am generally against the Death Penalty unless it involves a Heinous combination such as Rape and the Death resulting from the Rape. These generally prove to be the most dastardly crimes in my book meriting death. HOWEVER, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, only under circumstances such as this. I do not believe that eye witness testimony, circumstantial evidence should ever be used to justify the Death Penalty. Just when you have pompous asses such as this. I used to consider DNA reliable enough of an indicator but today, I am not so sure now, as it is possible to cook the results and you also have some folks that have the ability to create designer DNA. NOR SHOULD the DEATH PENALTY ever be used on a person that is mentally infirm. I find it reprehensible that they can drug them to make them sane in order to execute them. Something just wrong about that.
It is curious that Bdaman did not post until duh was asked.
did not post? you mean as far as you know. Have you not seen how many new posters have been visiting the blog since it was announced that Professor Turley has received yet another honorable mention. I also see that he has interjected for a call of civility a few times. I’m sure he’s proud that you “Heed the Call”.
We often disagree, but I’m with Duh on this issue.
AY, Does any state put the death penalty on the table for rape? I thought Coker v Georgia (1977) eliminated that as a possibility.
I used to consider DNA reliable enough of an indicator but today, I am not so sure now, as it is possible to cook the results.
Wasn’t there a big scandal involving the Houston crime lab over this a few years ago.
Mike Appleton,
I often try to explain to people that we all agree on much more than we disagree. Fortunately, those things that most of us all agree on don’t get debated.
AY, If I understand you correctly, only people who are arrogant, or those who are repentent deserve the death penalty. I don’t see any others who will confess to their crime. Some would say the he who repents should be spared. That would leave only those who are arrogant. That would be mostly sociopaths. Is that not a form of mental illness? I think you see where I’m going with this. That’s why I’m happy to let those who are truly guilty suffer by being permanently excluded from society.
Bdaman,
I had check that out before I posted that. So unless your previous post had been deleted you were not here don’t you see?
Mike A.,
In a case such as Death resulting from a Rape, I too am opposed to the Death Penalty.
Duh,
I am sure that the above answers your question.
Bdaman,
99% of the time the Forensic Labs work for the Prosecutor to obtain a conviction. And yes, I am aware of the cooked results in Houston. Texas btw does not hold this victory all by itself.
Duh,
I do not understand the point that you are trying to make. Please expand on this so that I may properly respond. Thank you.
AY:
I find myself in total agreement with you here. Like you, I am firmly against the death penalty imposed by Powell on his victim. While I have trepidation against the sanction when placed in the hands of the state and premised on dubious evidence, I have no such concern here. In fact, had I been asked, I would have dutifully turned all the electricity off in my house to insure full capacity for Ol’ Sparky. Barbaric, maybe, but a gesture to civility and respect for human life – the innocent variety .
As stated before, I am for the death penalty in principle for certain crimes. However, the economics of the process do not wash. It is cheaper to warehouse them. This is in addition to the unacceptably high number of wrongful convictions.
bdaman,
Here’s a story about the Houston lab you were thinking of and their bad scientist, James Bolding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/us/new-doubt-cast-on-testing-in-houston-police-crime-lab.html
This being said, most scientists are in it for the science. In Houston? Eh, not so much.
AY,
To expand:
If we only execute the arrogant sociopath are we only executing those with a mental illness? Is a person who brags about killing another not mentally ill?
Don’t get me wrong. I can be one vengeful SOB. If Powell did what he did to one of mine he’d be chewing on his pecker while I beat him to a bloody pulp. Then I’d bury him alive. That’s the DDP (Duh Death Penalty).
I just don’t believe societal vengeance serves a good purpose. Society knows that too. If they didn’t, they would care less about the method of carrying out the sentence.
mESPO:
“More proof, it seems, of the wisdom of Oscar Wilde who reminded us that, “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.”
He may have been a bit of a dandy but he sure could turn a phrase.
AY,
“NOR SHOULD the DEATH PENALTY ever be used on a person that is mentally infirm. I find it reprehensible that they can drug them to make them sane in order to execute them. Something just wrong about that.”
Seconded.
To me that’s the very definition of cruel and unusual. Make someone sane just long enough to tell them you are going to kill them? It’s a bit like pulling a drowning man out of the ocean, giving him a glass of water and then promptly tossing him back in the sea.
Buddha that was it. Thanks for looking it up. I’m not up to par as of late. I think I got what you had and I don’t like taking medicine, worse I have now given it to my little one.
bdaman,
If you had that bug I had? Be careful. It’ll trick you. You’ll think your fine once or twice, but oh no, you’re not. Lots of sleep is what finally got me well.
Speaking of DNA
Dog DNA helps convict man who used pet as weapon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031900843_pf.html
Buddha,
Lot’s of sleep. Hmm, figured a good workout in the yard would make most people tired anyway. Have you tried that approach, working out in the yard?
Duh,
I was following you up until this point.
Could you explain this in terms that I understand. I agree with the first part of the sentence, but with the prior know statement by me.
“I just don’t believe societal vengeance serves a good purpose. Society knows that too. If they didn’t, they would care less about the method of carrying out the sentence.”
AY,
Yes I have and often I’d agree. But bdaman is referring to that bug I had just before moving. It was some kind of flu or something, but working in the yard with that one? Eh, not likely. It just saps your energy. I got so tired making coffee one Sunday morning, I just went back to bed. A really nasty bug. My mother got it as well and it took her almost a month to kick it.
Have you tried that approach, working out in the yard?
No I’m under house arrest, I mean rest, I’m not allowed in the yard
Buddah how bout ringing in the ears? I’ve had the ringing three days now.
Bdaman,
Then you must get ready for your next marriage.
bdaman,
No ringing in the ears here. But from other experiences, you might want to get that checked by a professional. Ringing in the ears is a more serious symptom than most people would think. If the infection has reached there, you might be risking permanent hearing loss.
What, did somebody say something? My ears are ringing Buddha….
It’s all that working in the yard! That hot Texas sun will get ya!
That or somebody is talking about you.
Or is that when your nose itches? I get so confused with Old Wives Tales being that I am neither old nor a wife.
AY,
I don’t understand the thought process behind “kill the bastard, but do it humanely”. Public hangings at least sent a public message.
We’re not really worried about how it makes them (the killer) feel. They’re the bastard receiving the blunt of our vengeance. Lethal injection makes us (society) feel better about doing it. We want a guy to rot in hell (the most horrid existence we can imagine) but we want to be nice about how we send him there? Am I the only one that sees the conflict?
bdaman,
Did you, by chance, forget to turn off your alarm clock?
Well sir it was about the 8th Am Cruel and Unusual Punishment that went from Hanging or Shooting, to Sparkin, to Injections. I think that Utah still allows Shooting, but I am not sure.
It is alleged that Bean used to leave me hang for a while to send a message.
Buddha,
It was the Alarm Clock, that Travel one with double bells….
That hot Texas sun will get ya!
Isn’t suppose to snow in Texas today?
Back to DNA, it seems like we are all in agreement that DNA should not be relied upon for absolute conclusion. What do you think of Obama’s proposal to have “Test on Arrest”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0310/Slow_boil_on_Obama_nod_for_DNA_testonarrest.html
Just for grins suppose that one person is arrested seven times and has seven different DNA conclusions by none other than the Houston Testing Center…..I suppose.
Duh,
The Soviets have executions as they should be.
Once they found their first verifiable serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, and tried and sentenced him? He was taken to a tiled room with a drain in the floor and shot in the back of the head.
Clean.
Simple.
Direct.
Effective.
The utility of public executions in this day and age would be a fiasco. Our populace is far to desensitized to violence from years of Hollywood training. It wouldn’t be a deterrent.
It’d be a game show.
It’d be a game show. In 2017
“It’d be a game show.”
I agree.
I think lethal injection sits well with people because they think of it as just putting someone to sleep. Hanging, electrocution, and firing squad made them consciously recognize that someone was actually being killed.
If the jury imposed the death penalty, why not have the same jury all have to push the button?
I have noticed that most who confess manage to avoid the death penalty. I find that to be a mockery of our judicial system.
Buddha:
good advice to Bdaman, but I thought ringing in the ears for a prolonged period of time meant liberalitis was setting in.
Bdaman:
you better get to a doctor quick, it can change your perspective and it makes you dizzy. In other words political and philosophical “Vertigo”
roflol @ liberalitis
Nobody could possibly feel sorry that the sociopathic punk in this story is no longer around to terrorize and harm young women. But at one point or another the judges, juries, police etc felt just as certain of the guilt of the people I listed above. Yet they are innocent (not just not guilty, but actually/factually innocent). Supporting the death penalty means that you accept, as part of the ‘cost’ of having it, that sometimes innocent people will be executed. It’s inevitable.
EC,
“innocent people will be executed. It’s inevitable”
I agree. That’s something I find to be unacceptable. We also know that some have confessed to a crime in order to protect another. We may have killed an innocent person because they chose to protect a loved one. How many fathers have taken the fall for a child? In those cases we killed someone for having a poor sense of justice, and the real murderer keeps walking the streets.
Unless I see them do it, and it’s the only way I can ensure that they won’t do it again, I can’t support the death penalty. Maybe age has made me soft. I’d like to think it is the result of wisdom gained by living those years.
Maybe age has made me soft.
They have drugs for that now
bdaman,
I took one of those blue pills. Then I found out it was Walgreen’s Pain Reliever PM.
http://milo.com/walgreens-pm-extra-strength-pain-reliever-sleep-aidcaplets-4
At least I had erotic dreams.
May this layman say that on this site I learn so much at times and laugh so hard at times,it a great balancing act.
Duh….
” I don’t know how it is in Canada, but here in the U.S. it costs more to put them to death, than it does to have them serve a life sentence. ”
Unfortunately here in Canada life means 25 yrs, and typically release on parole at 3/4 served term with good behaviour with the exception of criminals who are deemed ” Dangerous Offenders “. In order to attain the honour of a dangerous offender designation, a criminal needs to commit, be charged & convicted, and have served time during their life with several violent offences. In short, it is not often a designation imposed.
Buddah…
I’m an old wife, and the grand daughter of an Irish Catholic….your ears ring when someone is talking about you and your nose itches when you’re about to kiss a fool.
Canadian,
That explains why my wife is always sneezing when she’s at home.
You just saved me the trouble of dusting our ceiling fan.
Bdaman:
have you tried micoxifalin for that?
Gyges..
You’re welcome…lol
It’s Duh’s condition but I hear once you take micoxifalin if you have an adverse reaction you go right on to micoxifillin
Duh your probably a fan of a Limp Bizkit.
“Unfortunately here in Canada life means 25 yrs, and typically release on parole at 3/4 served term with good behaviour”
This is not accurate, Can-Eh.
A conviction for first degree murder in Canada automatically means life imprisonment without the possibility for parole for 25 years. The 25 year marks is the minumum you have to serve before you become eligible for parole. There is no getting out on good behaviour at the 3/4 mark and you do not automatically get out after 25 years. You still have to convince the parole board that it is safe to release you. If they say no, you stay inside and you can only apply for parole once every 2 years. You can keep trying but, if you can’t convince the parole board to let you out, you spend the rest of your life in prison.
Second degree murder is the same – an automatic lfe sentence – but the minimum time for parole eligibility is between 10 and 25 years (set by the judge). Again, you only become eligible for parole after that minimum time, you do not automatically get it.
There is something called the “faint hope clause” that allows people who are serving life sentences with a minimum parole eligibility of 15 years or more to apply for parole after 15 years. But it is rarely, if ever, successfully used.
I will go with Duh.
The question is not: “why be nice in executing a heinous criminal?” The question is: “why do we think we have to be nice?” Perhaps because something is telling us we are doing wrong?
Duh, Bdaman,
Limp is all I can say. Limp.
EC,
I agree….1st degree murder is an automatic 25 year sentence here( as I stated above ), often 25 years behind bars does not encompass a persons life, depending on age of course. I believe however that in the US ” LIFE ” means ” LIFE “.
It is typically the high profile convicts who do not get released after 25 years, but the majority do. Let’s face it, people like Bernardo and Olsen are not going to live life on this side of bars again. I am going to check into the 3/4 rule for 1st & 2nd degree murder though because it has always been the understanding of those of us who live in ” Canada’s Prison Town ” that we do have non WE murderers walking amounst us.
To clarify however, I would not support the death penalty in cases of murder alone. It is not these convicts who terrify me, in fact recidivsm for murder is quite low. I’ve said before on the blog that I believe sentences for sex crimes are ridiculously lenient ( especially given known recidivsm rates…which only include those who are actually caught re-offending )and need to be changes to reflect the crimes more appropriately. My belief is that murderers who commit heinous acts, as in the case of Powell ( or Bernardo, & Olsen for Canadian examples ), should face the death penalty.
Can-Eh: That ‘prison town’ you live in is quite beautiful, isn’t it?
Creepy story: I was at the K-Pen in about 1987 (student “tour”), and Olson walked right past our little group as we were standing talking to a guard. Being someone who craved attention, he leaned into the group and stuck his hand out for the guard to shake and said “hello my name is clifford olson” (of course the guard knew him, it was just a show for our benefit). He was only allowed out of his cell once a week to go to the canteen and we happened to be there right as he was coming back with his potato chips. What struck me was how small and ordinary he looked. Strange how evil can look so banal.
EC.
It is beautiful here…I love it!
I actually did 1 of my college placements at RTC ( located within the walls of KP )in 1993 about 2 months after Olsen was moved. A college friend had completed her placement there during the semester prior to mine ( she was placed on the sex offender unit, I was on the Mental Health unit ). She had the ” priveledge ” of sitting in on an iinterview with him and later described it as the ” creepiest experience of her life “.
Did you attend one of the wonderful post secondary institutions in K-town?
Speaking of the death penalty . . . it’s our old “allies” the Saudis.
They are going to execute a man for “sorcery”.
Yep.
You read that right.
Sorcery.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/19/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=Sbin
The day Saudi Arabia is a sheet of radioactive glass can’t come soon enough.
BIL,
I had better stop casting spells then…or stay the hell away from Saudi Arabia!
Canadian,
Keep on doin’ that voodoo that you do so well.
And check your e-mail.
BIL,
Will do on both suggestions
C-Eh No, but my spouse did an undergrad at Q’s, as did a number of friends. They loved living there.
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