Schwarzenegger allows rare california execution

[Guest_ikonboard]

Good job Arnold

[Huricane]

These Killers are waiting for a call from the " Terminator "

[badcad]

[Guest_ikonboard]

He is one of 640 people on California's death row. Texas is second with 455

 

Except in Texas the death penalty is a deterent , because you actually are put to death! In Calf they say the death penalty is no deterent to crime , they're right , because the liberals keep defending killers and giving them the right to live!

[stu]

Bout time you fucking pansies in California learned to do with murderers. Ya need to pay closer attention to Texas and Virginia. We knows how to kill em.

[Iron Indian]

"The Air Force veteran, who was out on parole at the time for a 1969 murder of a young woman in Missouri..."

 

The Fuckin' Oxygen Thief should have been executed for that crime and those two in CA would still be alive.

 

More proof that the death penalty works to deter crime, every time.  

 

If you don't believe me show me just one executed criminal who committed another crime after being put down?

[indian T]

He is one of 640 people on California's death row. Texas is second with 455

 

Except in Texas the death penalty is a deterent , because you actually are put to death! In Calf they say the death penalty is no deterent to crime , they're right , because the liberals keep defending killers and giving them the right to live!

I hear they're putting in an "express lane" for death-row fucks in Texas!

[cruzer]

I will bet that asshole wishes that bitch Rose Byrd(bird, which ever) was still alive. She would turn him loose!!  Kill them all let God find the innocent ones!

You are right I.I.

[Guest_ikonboard]

The death penalty does not deter crime but I do not care. It is a punishment.

 

Why do these people care if it deters anything, that is not the point. Fucker did something stupid fuckers should die. End of story.

 

If some other dumbass don't learn after seeing others fry oh well, too bad. He will just fry when his time comes.

 

Don't be stupid you won't get punished.

[Guest_ikonboard]

I dont know about that Mike it does deter crime ! At least in the sense that Iron Indian put it ! Cant refute this statement:

 

More proof that the death penalty works to deter crime, every time.  

 

If you don't believe me show me just one executed criminal who committed another crime after being put down?

[TribalChief]

An eye for an eye is fair.

 

Jesus, 640 sitting there on death row?

 

Kill'm faster!

[porkchop]

Ship them all to Utah.. At least ya can still blast 'em there!

 

However I don't feel it  quite sporting to have them tied to a chair and hooded.

 

 

Use of firing squads in the US

 

According to Executions in the U.S. 1608-1987 by M. Watt Espy and John Ortiz Smylka, it is estimated that 142 men have been judicially shot in the United States and English-speaking predecessor territories since 1608, excluding executions related to the American Civil War. The Civil War saw several hundred firing squad deaths but reliable numbers are not available.

Capital punishment was suspended in the USA between 1967 and 1976 as a result of several decisions of the United States Supreme Court. It was "re-launched" by the execution of Gary Gilmore on January 17, 1977 at Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah by a five-man firing squad. The executioners were equipped with 30-30 rifles. They fired at a seated and hooded Gilmore from 20 feet (about six meters), aiming at the chest. Supposedly, one of the rifles was loaded with a blank, in accordance with tradition. Gary Gilmore's brother, Mikal, however, wrote in his memoir that he subsequently examined the shirt that Gary was wearing during the execution, and that there were five bullet holes in it.

Restraint chair used in Utah's firing squad executions

Restraint chair used in Utah's firing squad executions

 

Since Gilmore's death, the only other execution by firing squad, that of John Albert Taylor in 1996, was also in Utah, which retained the firing squad as the default method of execution until 1980. The firing squad was banned in Utah by a law passed on March 15, 2004 [1] (http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/17/firing.squads.ap/index.html), leaving Idaho and Oklahoma as the only states where it is still legal, although four Utah convicts that previously chose to die by firing squad will have their requests honored should they ultimately be executed.

[TitanChief]

I dont know about that Mike it does deter crime ! At least in the sense that Iron Indian put it ! Cant refute this statement:

 

More proof that the death penalty works to deter crime, every time.  

 

If you don't believe me show me just one executed criminal who committed another crime after being put down?

Don,

I think the point is it won't deter OTHER criminals. Of course it goes without saying the death row dude is done. I agree with Mike..who really cares if it deters others? that's not the point of the death penalty. You murder people, you should be killed yourself...pretty simple logic, actually. Too many liberal bedwetters out there worried about the criminal, and not the victim. Too many dumb-asses out there.

[TitanChief]

An eye for an eye is fair.

 

Jesus, 640 sitting there on death row?

 

Kill'm faster!

Yea, 640 wastes of space. the latest is Scott Peterson who killed his wife and child. we could save California Millions if they give me a .50 cal and a thousand rounds of Ammo, and an empty court yard. Hell, we could even make money-have guys pay you for the opportunity to snipe away at them with a 30.06 from a tower.  How fun would THAT be? fun, and make the state some money...Damn, I'm runnin for governor!  

[Guest_ikonboard]

I dont know about that Mike it does deter crime ! At least in the sense that Iron Indian put it ! Cant refute this statement:

 

More proof that the death penalty works to deter crime, every time.  

 

If you don't believe me show me just one executed criminal who committed another crime after being put down?

Don,

I think the point is it won't deter OTHER criminals. Of course it goes without saying the death row dude is done. I agree with Mike..who really cares if it deters others? that's not the point of the death penalty. You murder people, you should be killed yourself...pretty simple logic, actually. Too many liberal bedwetters out there worried about the criminal, and not the victim. Too many dumb-asses out there.

[MeanGene]

An eye for an eye is fair.

 

Jesus, 640 sitting there on death row?

 

Kill'm faster!

Yea, 640 wastes of space. the latest is Scott Peterson who killed his wife and child. we could save California Millions if they give me a .50 cal and a thousand rounds of Ammo, and an empty court yard. Hell, we could even make money-have guys pay you for the opportunity to snipe away at them with a 30.06 from a tower.  How fun would THAT be? fun, and make the state some money...Damn, I'm runnin for governor!  

It's a lot easier than that- just put 'ol "Pretty Mouth" in general population in Quentin- won't last a week. After Bubba and the boys pull a train on him, a new prison hero will be born. He'll wish he was dead long before it happens- they don't much care for guys who mess with kids "inside"        

[stu]

It's a lot easier than that- just put 'ol "Pretty Mouth" in general population in Quentin- won't last a week. After Bubba and the boys pull a train on him, a new prison hero will be born. He'll wish he was dead long before it happens- they don't much care for guys who mess with kids "inside"        

What he said.

[Guest_ikonboard]

I dont know about that Mike it does deter crime ! At least in the sense that Iron Indian put it ! Cant refute this statement:

 

More proof that the death penalty works to deter crime, every time.  

 

If you don't believe me show me just one executed criminal who committed another crime after being put down?

Don,

I think the point is it won't deter OTHER criminals. Of course it goes without saying the death row dude is done. I agree with Mike..who really cares if it deters others? that's not the point of the death penalty. You murder people, you should be killed yourself...pretty simple logic, actually. Too many liberal bedwetters out there worried about the criminal, and not the victim. Too many dumb-asses out there.

Damn Keith ya been here a week and your already sucking up to big guy! I bet you were the secretary in boot camp!

[TitanChief]

I dont know about that Mike it does deter crime ! At least in the sense that Iron Indian put it ! Cant refute this statement:

 

More proof that the death penalty works to deter crime, every time.  

 

If you don't believe me show me just one executed criminal who committed another crime after being put down?

Don,

I think the point is it won't deter OTHER criminals. Of course it goes without saying the death row dude is done. I agree with Mike..who really cares if it deters others? that's not the point of the death penalty. You murder people, you should be killed yourself...pretty simple logic, actually. Too many liberal bedwetters out there worried about the criminal, and not the victim. Too many dumb-asses out there.

Damn Keith ya been here a week and your already sucking up to big guy! I bet you were the secretary in boot camp!

Nope-not a guide, not a secretary, just one of the few, is all. I did manage to gain some recognition when I boxed in the smoker, though. They had to stop it in the second round 'cause I damaged the dudes right eye pretty bad...also got recognition on the range but choked on qual day..I told you that story though!

You HAD to be a guide though, huh? I mean, they would've wanted to put a big ol goof up front. Of course, you are an ugly fucker, so maybe tall wasn't good enough?

[copcars1]

I think lethal injection is to humane!!  Start building electric chairs and turn the current up real SLOW,  let them slow cook and think about what they did!!!!  How about putting it on PPV and giving the proceeds to charity??

[Falcon]

"Remember when I said I'd kill you last, Beardsley?  I lied." :cppl1

[Guest_ikonboard]

Yep, here I go again with another cut and paste. But it is nice to see a Governor or antother state offical that follows the law.

 

This is a great read, I still don't trust him but he seems to be turning into the real deal.

 

Governor Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency to Convicted Murderer Donald Beardslee

 

 

 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the following statement today following his decision not to grant clemency to convicted murderer Donald Beardslee:

 

"I have given serious consideration to Donald Beardslee's petition for clemency including all supporting evidence and testimony. The state and federal courts have affirmed his conviction and death sentence, and nothing in his petition or the record of his case convinces me that he did not understand the gravity of his actions or that these heinous murders were wrong. I do not believe the evidence presented warrants the exercise of clemency in this case."

 

The full text of the Governor's decision is below and attached. Also attached is the full text of the Board of Prison Term's recommendation to the Governor in this case.

 

STATEMENT OF DECISION

Request for Clemency by Mr. Donald J. Beardslee

 

Mr. Donald J. Beardslee was convicted by a jury of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death. He is scheduled to be executed for one of these murders on January 19, 2005. These are not the first killings Beardslee has committed.

 

In December of 1969, Beardslee met Laura Griffin in a Missouri bar and accompanied her to her home. After they arrived, he strangled Ms. Griffin with his hands, held her head underwater in the bathtub, and stabbed her in the throat. He later confessed to the killing and pled guilty to second-degree murder. After serving seven years in a Missouri penitentiary, he was paroled in 1977 to California.

 

Four years later, Beardslee was still on parole for the Missouri murder and was living in a Redwood City apartment. On April 24, 1981, he returned home from work and discovered his roommate, Ricki Soria, and a few of her friends making plans to harm 19-year-old Stacy Benjamin over a drug-related monetary dispute. This group, consisting of Soria, William Forrester, and Frank Rutherford, planned to lure Ms. Benjamin to Beardslee's apartment and then force her to give them the money.

 

While Soria, Forrester, and Beardslee were waiting at the apartment for the two women to arrive, Rutherford tied a piece of wire to some shotgun shells, fashioning a garrote. Ms. Benjamin and her friend Patty Geddling then arrived, and Beardslee answered the door. Once the women were inside the apartment, Beardslee closed the door, and Rutherford fired a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun, striking and wounding Ms. Geddling in the shoulder.

 

Eventually, Beardslee put Ms. Geddling into a van driven by Forrester and told her they were taking her to a hospital. Soria followed them in Beardslee's car. Instead of stopping at a hospital, the two vehicles drove south along the California coast until Beardslee told Forrester to turn off the main road. After coming to a stop, the men exited the van and Beardslee retrieved and loaded the sawed-off shotgun and handed it to Forrester. Ms. Geddling pleaded for her life, but Forrester shot her twice. Beardslee then reloaded the gun and shot Ms. Geddling two more times. Forensic evidence showed that Beardslee shot Ms. Geddling in the head and that his shots actually killed her.

 

The trio left Ms. Geddling's body in a ditch and fled the area, Soria driving the van and Beardslee driving his car. When the van ran out of gas, the threesome abandoned the vehicle, wiped it clean of fingerprints, and returned to Redwood City in Beardslee's car.

 

Beardslee and Soria later dropped Forrester at another location and traveled to a different apartment where Ms. Benjamin was being held. Shortly thereafter, Beardslee, Rutherford, Soria, and Ms. Benjamin got into Beardslee's car and drove north to Pacifica. All of them used cocaine while they were in transit.

 

Once the foursome crossed the Golden Gate bridge, they continued north to Lake County and stopped on a deserted road. Rutherford coaxed Ms. Benjamin from the car, and Beardslee and Soria wandered away from the vehicle. After walking a short distance, Beardslee turned back and found Rutherford strangling Ms. Benjamin with a wire. He thought he noticed a "pleading look" on her face, so he punched her in the temple. He then took one end of the wire from Rutherford and pulled on it. When the wire broke, Beardslee asked Rutherford for his knife, and used it to cut Ms. Benjamin's throat. Forensic evidence showed that Ms. Benjamin died from the knife wound.

 

Beardslee was arrested by police several days after the murders. A jury, after hearing the evidence, found him guilty of murdering both young women. Following the two first-degree murder convictions, a jury returned a death verdict for the killing of Patty Geddling. To date, all state and federal courts have affirmed Beardslee's conviction and death sentence.

 

With the assistance of his attorneys, Beardslee has appealed to me for an act of executive clemency. He is asking that I exercise my power under Article V, section 8(a), of the California Constitution to commute his sentence of death to one of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

 

Beardslee advances several reasons why his life should be spared. He argues that death is an unjustly severe punishment when his role in these crimes is compared to his associates. However, Beardslee was the only one of the accomplices with a prior murder conviction. In fact, he was on parole for this prior murder when he committed the grisly and senseless killings of Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin. He was also the only of the partners in crime who administered the coup de grace to each of the murdered women. Given these facts, I cannot disturb the jury's penalty of death on this basis.

 

Beardslee also argues that his model behavior for years in prison warrants mercy. While I commend Beardslee for his prison record and his ability to conform his behavior to meet or exceed expected prison norms, I am not moved to mercy by the fact that Beardslee has been a model prisoner. I expect no less.

 

Finally, and most significantly, Beardslee argues that his life should be spared because his criminal acts were performed as a result of his being in a dissociative state at the time of the crime due to long-standing mental impairments that compromised his executive functioning and judgment when he was under extreme stress. Beardslee claims that the stress of the fatal events of the evening of April 24, 1981, interfered with his ability to make reasoned decisions, rendered him unable to process emotions, and caused him to dissociate from events into some kind of fugue state. This claim warrants more extensive discussion.

 

The evidence supporting Beardslee's application suggests that he suffers from a mental impairment that has resulted-at least in part-from serious injuries he sustained prior to the murders. There is also some reason to believe that some of his mental impairment has existed since birth. But we are not dealing here with a man who is so generally affected by his impairment that he cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. We also are not dealing with a claim that Beardslee's mental condition has resulted in subaverage intellectual functioning or impairments in his adaptive skills of everyday living. That is not the case.

 

Beardslee can function at a very high level. In fact, the expert neuropsychologist retained by his lawyers in connection with these clemency proceedings stated at the Board's hearing that in many areas Beardslee performs quite a bit better than the average person. His reading and comprehension scores are good. He got B's and C's in high school He had a good personnel record in the Air Force where he was a jet engine mechanic. He earned A's, B's and C's when he attended the College of San Mateo while he was on parole for the Missouri murder. He had a good work history at Hewlett Packard where he was employed as a fabricator. Over the course of his life, Beardslee has been employed as a machine operator, machine set-up man, apprentice machinist, and employment counselor. He also did a good job in all of his prison work assignments in both Missouri and California. Indeed his prison behavior has been described as exemplary.

 

The question for me is whether Beardslee acted in a dissociative state due to mental impairments when he murdered two women in the course of the horrific events that transpired on April 24, 1981. And, if so, whether that fact sufficiently impeded his comprehension of the heinous nature of his crimes such that it inspires in me mercy compelling enough to set aside the jury's sentence and commute death to life in prison without parole.

 

It seems consistently reported that on the evening of April 24, 1981, Mr. Beardslee showed little or no emotion once Ms. Geddling was shot when she entered his apartment. In fact, many observers have reported that Beardslee has had such a flattened affect for much of his life. It is argued that this lack of emotion is a symptom and byproduct of his mental deficiency. That may be. But in and of itself, the fact that Beardslee had a flat affect the evening of April 24, 1981, does not have persuasive value that he acted on "autopilot" that evening and had no capacity to make reasoned decisions. This is especially true when one understands that this flattened affect is usually present in his personality.

 

Moreover, the argument that Beardslee acted in some sort of dissociated fugue state is not clearly supported by his actions or his numerous accounts of the events of that horrible night. On the afternoon of the murders, Beardslee agreed with the other participants that Ms. Geddling and Ms. Benjamin would be taught a lesson that evening in Beardslee's apartment. Beardslee drove to pick up one of the participants, Rutherford, and brought him back to the apartment. [Frank Rutherford by all accounts appears to be the evil protagonist in this tragedy. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Stacy Benjamin. He died in prison.] Rutherford brought with him the shotgun. Beardslee directed another accomplice to go out and buy tape that could be used to bind and gag the victims.

 

After the women arrived at Beardslee's apartment and Ms. Geddling was shot, Beardslee explained to an inquiring landlord that the noise he heard was a firecracker that Beardslee intended to throw out the door but missed. Of the murder of Patty Geddling, in his confession Beardslee says he was committed to murdering her "from the first". After her murder, in addition to wiping down the abandoned van for fingerprints before they again met up with Rutherford, Beardslee and Soria vacuumed his car at a San Mateo car wash. Beardslee also disposed of the empty shotgun casings in a bay slough where they would not be found. Later, after the pair joined up with Rutherford and murdered Stacy Benjamin, Beardslee pulled the dead women's pants down in an effort to make it appear she was sexually assaulted. The day after the murders, he continued to clean his apartment and replaced cushions on his living room couch that had blood on them. These actions show Beardslee's consciousness of guilt and the nature and consequences of the murders he committed.

 

Looking back in time to the state of Beardslee's mind on April 24, 1981, his counsel urge that I grant a reprieve to allow him to be administered a Magnetic Resonance Imaging or similar examination. But such a diagnostic tool is only a "snapshot" of a person's brain at a particular time, and it is questionable that such an examination would reveal information that could reliably form the basis for an appraisal of the condition of Beardslee's brain more than twenty three years ago. Moreover, while such a diagnostic tool may show anatomic injury to Beardslee's brain, the injury may not tell us anything about his behavior. [Ruben C. Gur, Andrew J. Sakin, and Raquel E. Gur, Neuropsychological Assessment in Psychiatric Research and Practice, in Robert Michaels, ed., PSYCHIATRY, revised edition -- 1991 (Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott Company, 1991), ch. 72, pp. 1-16, at pp. 5-6.] Finally, records of the interview of Beardslee performed by the neuropsychologist retained on his behalf in connection with his clemency application do not appear to be comprehensive.

 

The extent of Beardslee's involvement and action in the murders of each of the young women, and perhaps more significantly his recollection and after-the-fact recounting of these events to police, make it hard for me to accept that Beardslee was dissociated and disconnected from the events of that fateful night. From a review of the events and Beardslee's actions following them, there is no question in my mind that at the time Beardslee committed the murders he knew what he was doing-and he knew it was wrong.

 

Nothing in Beardslee's application, supporting papers, or testimony on his behalf before the Board convinces me that he did not understand that he committed two grisly murders and that his decision to take those actions was wrong. Clemency is not designed to undo the considered judgment of the people in favor of the death penalty, but to prevent the miscarriage of justice.

 

The Board of Prison Terms unanimously recommended that I deny clemency to Beardslee. A copy of their recommendation is attached to this decision. After my own independent study and analysis, I agree with the Board.

 

Although I have given serious consideration to Beardslee's plea for mercy, I do not believe the evidence presented warrants the exercise of clemency in this case. For this reason, Donald J. Beardslee's application for clemency is denied.

[firebird77clone]

The death penalty does not deter crime but I do not care. It is a punishment.

 

Why do these people care if it deters anything, that is not the point. Fucker did something stupid fuckers should die. End of story.

 

If some other dumbass don't learn after seeing others fry oh well, too bad. He will just fry when his time comes.

 

Don't be stupid you won't get punished.

not that I disagree with your post.  I would point out my personal view on the death penalty:

 

It is an admittance to the inability of our justice system to rehabilitate certain individuals, and furthermore is an indication that some crimes are so heinious that the value of the perpetrator's life exceeds the cost to house him for the period of a life sentance.