April 1, 2013

"Prosecutors said today they will seek the death penalty for Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes."

"Holmes had offered to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life behind bars in exchange for avoiding the death penalty."
Holmes is accused of opening fire in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater on July 20, 2012, killing 12 people and injuring 58. By the time he had finished, a police officer has testified, there was so much blood the theater floor had become slippery. Bodies were left with horrific injuries and there was the eerie sound of cell phones ringing, over and over again....
Breaking news email from CNN.

62 comments:

Scott M said...

How many virgins do you get if you kill infidels BEFORE you convert?

Jim Gust said...

It's the right decision.

bagoh20 said...

the eerie sound of cell phones ringing, over and over again...."

That's an incredibly sad thing to imagine. Family and friends desperately calling out, begging for an answer - and so many. All because of one asshole with guns against a guaranteed unarmed crowd of innocents.

He didn't choose the closest or the biggest theater, he went past those to the gun-free theater. That's what I read anyway, and if it's true, it should be very instructional, but won't be.

Brian Brown said...

It is the correct decision.

Sadly, it will take 5 or more years to actually stick the needle in his arm...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Because this guy chose to live, unlike Adam Lanza, we are going to hold that against him?

n.n said...

Age discrimination. It's an elective abortion of a developing human life. However, unlike a million others, this is capital punishment with cause, and following due process.

Anonymous said...

Hangin's too good for him.

(yeah, I know they don't any more)

MadisonMan said...

the eerie sound of cell phones ringing, over and over again...."

Why were people in a movie theater with their phones on?

Chip Ahoy said...

So you all accept readily the situation that goes, no, you cannot plead guilty to the heinous crime for which you are clearly guilty, you must plead insanity instead for you are clearly criminally insane, you see our laws are structured to protect regular murderers from the death penalty, and not planning plotting insane bizarre movie-inspired murderers like yourself. [while we simultaneously use your insane case to successfully bust a move on regular gun-owners second amendment rights. yay for us.]

Scott M said...

Hangin's too good for him.

"Hangin's to good for him. Burnin's too good for 'im! He should be chopped into little bitty pieces and buried alive!!"

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...


They should have taken the LWOP plea. It is the best use of the death penalty.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Why were people in a movie theater with their phones on?

It was probably just one or two cell phones that rang... but to say that would be tantamount to... timorousness?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Chip nails it.

Tank said...

Could we volunteer him for torture testing? Why end it quickly?

Well, quickly in ten to fifteen years.

edutcher said...

Make sure he can never do it again.

Kevin said...

This song is eerily appropriate.

Cell Phones Ringing (In the Pockets of the Dead) - Willie Nile

http://www.amazon.com/Cell-Phones-Ringing-Pockets-Dead/dp/B005EY5SR2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364832541&s=dmusic&sr=1-1

Anonymous said...

April Fools!

Palladian said...

Shouting Thomas or somebody will be along soon to somehow relate this news to the nefarious machinations of terrible homosexuals.

Anonymous said...

Don't Muslims stone such criminals?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

After the first pre-trial conference with the actual trial judge, look for the D.A. to suddenly become very concerned about conserving his department's dwindling resources.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Shouting Thomas or somebody will be along soon to somehow relate this news to the nefarious machinations of terrible homosexuals.

That's a hard one.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If this guy doesn't qualify for the death penalty, who does?

Anonymous said...

AprilApple said...
If this guy doesn't qualify for the death penalty, who does?



Dr Hasan (I refuse to call him Major)

Hagar said...

Calm yourselves.

The media habitually writes about the defendant pleading this and that, but it is of course the defense counsel that does the pleading.

Many jurisdictions will not even accept a guilty plea in a capital case.

Tank said...

Palladian said...

Shouting Thomas or somebody will be along soon to somehow relate this news to the nefarious machinations of terrible homosexuals.


Could be he was driven to it by deeply imbedded, but unfulfilled, homesexual desires.

Or not.

MadisonMan said...

Could be he was driven to it by deeply imbedded, but unfulfilled, homesexual desires.

Maybe too many comments were deleted on a popular blog site, and he snapped.

Or not.

George Grady said...

I don't get why he should get to plead guilty in exchange for anything. If the horrific act deserves the death penalty, it deserves the death penalty. If anything, pleading guilty would make the death penalty easier to impose. He did it, and he admits it!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Play ball!

Methadras said...

I want the law prof or any lawyer for that matter to explain to me why insanity is a legitimate defense against murder 1?

MarkW said...

I'm not sure why anybody's enthusiastic about the death penalty here. He's quite obviously nuts, and executing would have no deterrent effect on potential future lunatics.

I'd say that the reverse is more likely to be true. That is, the best thing at this point would be for him to disappear into prison and out of the news ASAP. A long, well-publicized trial, followed by appeals, followed (eventually) by a well-publicized execution would tend to inspire future lunatics, I'd think. On the other hand, a trial will offer a golden, potentially once-in-a-career opportunity for politically ambitious prosecutors, and they'll have a hard time passing that up.

Gahrie said...

He deserves the death penalty.

Normally I would be in favor of seeking and imposing the death penalty.

However, given the fact that a death penalty trial will cost millions of dollars, take years, and might result in an insanity decision, in this case they should accept the plea bargain.

Anonymous said...

MarkW said...

Mark does have a point. These wackos do it for their 15 minutes of fame. The press should not use their names, just, "the accused Colorado wacko with tiny penis syndrone"

As for punishment, the old approach of lowering the convicted to the bottom of a 50 foot dry well, and closing the top seemed to work well. The costs were low enough.

Scott M said...

I'd say that the reverse is more likely to be true. That is, the best thing at this point would be for him to disappear into prison and out of the news ASAP.

When you break the basic social contract so horribly, the rest of us don't want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions?) tucking you away somewhere.

It's not punitive and it's not preventative. Then again, it's neither of those things when I take my garbage out to the curb each Monday morning.

Anonymous said...

Bye.

Known Unknown said...

Since he was so keen on being the Joker, I favor the pencil-through-the-brain death penalty.

Known Unknown said...

Or, just put him in stocks in the Aurora town center.

What's the worst that could happen?

Smilin' Jack said...

"Holmes had offered to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life behind bars in exchange for avoiding the death penalty."

I'm for whichever's cheaper.

Nonapod said...

I like to think of myself as a thoughtful and enlightened person, but I believe this guy should be put to death. There's no helping or rehabilitating creatures like him. He is a dangerous abnormality.

cold pizza said...

Mad dogs get put down. -CP

sakredkow said...

When you break the basic social contract so horribly, the rest of us don't want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions?) tucking you away somewhere.


More expensive to give them a capital trial with attendant appeals and put them to death than it is to lock them up for life, isn't it?

I know it probably shouldn't be but that's the way it is. Or that's the way I think it is.

Big Mike said...

I know it probably shouldn't be but that's the way it is. Or that's the way I think it is.

Too lazy to go look for yourself?

Peter said...

'EMD' said, "Or, just put him in stocks in the Aurora town center."

Better to turn him lose at an announced time and place, and with all citizens absolved from criminal or civil penalties for anything they chose to do to him.

sakredkow said...

Too lazy to go look for yourself?

Yes as a matter of fact I am.

Does that help your self-esteem?

Rusty said...

Look at it this way. Once he's executed there is absolutely no chance he can kill any one else.
It isn't personal, kid, we just have to protect ourselves.

Cedarford said...

Smilin' Jack said...
"Holmes had offered to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life behind bars in exchange for avoiding the death penalty."

I'm for whichever's cheaper.

==================
The amswer, when a vital societal system becomes perverted into a system mainly geared to pay the people administering it - be it the lawyers cabal, the teachers cabal, the municipal employees cabal - is to bring costs in line with value to the public.

Not rationalize that it would be cheaper to let a pothole grow into a crater because it takes 20 union employees in Cleveland 18,000 in pay and materials to fill the pothhole.
Or make justice , perverted into Talmudic endless due process with endless lawyer paychecks, into a cut the corners bartering system. The solution is to return to "swift and sure", with less lawyer billable hours.

Big Mike said...

Does that help your self-esteem?

Not really. My self-esteem comes from my own accomplishments. I do not put you down to build myself up; I put you down in a (so far vain) effort to try to get you to think for yourself instead of spouting left-wing dogma.

Michael K said...

The mental health laws have not made sense since 1962. He should spend his life in a hospital for the criminally insane. By doing this, they risk a contrary decision by a jury.

Donna B. said...

Without getting into the question of whether the death penalty is right or wrong under any circumstances, why does insanity preclude putting someone to death? Are we holding out for a cure?

I can understand not putting to death a criminal who did not have the brain power to know right from wrong, or legal from illegal. This set of people does not include most of the people who are insane.

Even if this guy is insane enough to think he was doing a "right" deed, does anyone honestly think he didn't know it was illegal?

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sakredkow said...

I do not put you down to build myself up; I put you down in a (so far vain) effort to try to get you to think for yourself instead of spouting left-wing dogma.

But your comment didn't have anything to do with my "left-wing dogma" - you were attacking me because I'm "lazy."

I'm going with you're trying to build yourself up.

Dante said...

I'm not sure why anybody's enthusiastic about the death penalty here. He's quite obviously nuts, and executing would have no deterrent effect on potential future lunatics.

What about others who aren't lunatics?

Personally, I would prefer an actor who is televised and appears to suffer horribly by the capital punishment. And the same for all murderers. Then, put them on a small guarded island and air-drop them food from time to time. Yes, the pedophiles too.

Rick Lee said...

I think it's stupid to insist on a trial just to get the chance to kill him. The trial will be incredibly costly and all the legal wrangling over the years to come. Just throw the guy in jail and forget about him.

Paul said...

He should have received the death penalty at the hands of an armed citizen shortly after he got off his first shot.

The real insanity here is of the liberal variety..."gun free zone" indeed.

Paul said...

I have no problem with him getting the death penalty. But I sure wish it was done by a rope.

To me 'Cruel and unusual punishment' means BOTH cruel AND unusual and not 'Cruel OR unusual punishment'.

Thus hanging is not unusual so it should be legal.

So ... hamg'em high.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sakredkow said...

I think it's stupid to insist on a trial just to get the chance to kill him. The trial will be incredibly costly and all the legal wrangling over the years to come. Just throw the guy in jail and forget about him.

Yeah, it sounds like they're trying to punish his lawyers for whatever infraction they committeed: plea bargaining in public? Teaching other lawyers what not to fuck with them that way?

Or they're really pissed at the perp and they're personalizing it. I'm not saying that's what it is.

The Godfather said...

I suggest that he be paroled to the custody of Joe Biden. Holmes can have his AR-15, and Joe can have his double-barreled shotgun. Perhaps we'll learn something.

sakredkow said...

They mean business.

JamesB.BKK said...

A bit surprising to see no comments about the CNN Breaking News email. From a network that affirmatively refuses to show disturbing images, it sets out in a "Breaking News" blast email vivid descriptions so that you can picture (and hear) the scene for yourself.

A fine manipulative act in steering ever toward that publication's desired outcome, Constitution be damned.

JamesB.BKK said...

A bit surprising to see no comments about the CNN Breaking News email. From a network that affirmatively refuses to show disturbing images, it sets out in a "Breaking News" blast email vivid descriptions so that you can picture (and hear) the scene for yourself.

A fine manipulative act in steering ever toward that publication's desired outcome, Constitution be damned.

Methadras said...

Rick Lee said...

I think it's stupid to insist on a trial just to get the chance to kill him. The trial will be incredibly costly and all the legal wrangling over the years to come. Just throw the guy in jail and forget about him.


And here is the case for cost based justice. So do we not prosecute people because we believe it will be too costly? That justice delayed is justice denied? You would rather forego at least his constitutional right to a trial by a jury and instead just toss him in prison because it will cost to much? Hmmm...

Dante said...

And here is the case for cost based justice.

The guy will plea for life in prison if the death penalty is removed. The point is you have to pay to kill the guy.

And there is a point to be made here. The whole legal justice system is very expensive. And there's an industry that survives due to the idea the state offing one of its citizens for killing people is so dangerous.

It's another one of those upside down things. So long as my chance of being killed by lightning is lower than my chance of being wrongly killed by the state for a murder I didn't commit, I can live with the risk.