Mr. Robert W, described by prosecutors as a “deranged demon” who brutally kidnapped, raped, tortured and nearly murdered a Columbia University journalism student in 2007, was sentenced on July 24, 2008 to 422 years. from prison The sentence was the maximum allowed under New York law. His victim was not in court at sentencing. She wrote a letter to prosecutors saying she was “afraid to go out.” The victim narrowly survived her ordeal of being kidnapped, raped, slashed with a butcher knife, scalded with boiling water, drugged to the brink of death, Krazy’s lips glued together, and then left for dead tied to her couch. from the burning room. . Mr. W tried to opt out of the sentencing hearing, but six state court officers wearing helmets and shields took him to the hearing. Mr. W had already spent most of his adult life in prison.
Prison is surely where Mr. W belongs and it seems that he did everything he could to ensure that he would return there for life.
Then there is the story of Tremayne D, 36, from Portland, Oregon, who was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after thirty years. Mr. D was convicted of the murder of a certain Adam Calbreath, for a business deal gone wrong. Instead of going to trial, Mr. D took a very unusual plea deal offered by the prosecutor. He had been in jail for nearly two years awaiting trial and missed the greasy food he liked to eat. So when the prosecutor offered him a fast food buffet in exchange for his guilty plea, Mr. D admitted that he had shot Calbreath.
His buffet offering included gorging on KFC and Popeye chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, carrot cake, a pizza, two calzones, lasagna, and ice cream. The judge quickly approved the plea deal and Mr. D drank the food at two places. The cost to Oregon taxpayers was only $41.70. A murder trial would have cost the state at least $4,000.
This was certainly a way to take a bite out of crime.
Finally, there is the story of the Ohio killer who tried to avoid execution by claiming he was too fat for the State of Ohio to give him a lethal injection. Richard C, who at 5-foot-7 tipped the scales at 267 pounds, was scheduled to die in October 2008. He had argued in numerous legal challenges that his weight problem would make it difficult for prison staff to find the right veins to administer the chemicals. deadly. , a problem that had delayed previous executions in the state. Mr. C, who had been convicted of the murders of two Akron University students in 1986, spent 22 years on death row. Mr. C weighed 75 pounds more on the day of his execution than when he went to death row, as a result of prison food and 23-hour confinement. His execution took place in October 2008, without issue.
It seems that the prison chef was too good for Mr. C. One would think that prevailing wisdom would hold that one should lose weight on death row and not gain it.