'Steven' kidnapper convicted

AP ^ | Monday, February 9, 2004

[cateizgr8]

OAKLAND, California (AP) -- A man infamous for kidnapping a young boy 30 years ago was convicted Monday of trying to buy a child last year in what a prosecutor described as the would-be "last hurrah" of a long criminal career.

[xJones]

Now 72 and in a wheelchair, Parnell...

That is a really determined predator.

[evad]

That is a really determined predator.

They ALL are.

[ibheath]

As the father of 2 born and one unborn (wife is due in june) little children, I firmly believe pedophiles should face the death penalty.

[livius]

Yes, they are. And they're all a great argument for the one permanent cure, the death penalty.

[VadeRetro]

Parnell was arrested shortly after White's abduction. Stayner, then 14, escaped and took the boy with him to police, saying he didn't want the 5-year-old to go through the same ordeal he had.

Stayner died in a motorcycle accident in 1989. Stayner's brother, Cary, was sentenced to death last year after being convicted of killing four women in Yosemite National Park.

There's something weird going on here. It's either a freaky coincidence or criminal insanity is contagious. The Yosemite case is famous in its own right.

[tdadams]

In addition to the Stayner kidnapping, Parnell was convicted of kidnapping 5-year-old Timmy White in 1980. He served five years for both abductions.

He served five years for kidnapping a boy he held hostage for seven years. The boy was a prisoner longer than the perpetrator. There is no justice in that.

He should have never seen the green grass again after his first conviction.

[WV Mountain Mama]

I believe that they should get death by German cannibal. That way they get to live through there most prized instrument getting cut off and cooked up for dinner.

By the way, you have to abduct 3 kids to get life in prison? Oh yeah, that seems right. (sarcasm off)

[ibheath]

There's something weird going on here. It's either a freaky coincidence or criminal insanity is contagious. The Yosemite case is famous in its own right.

The kidnapped boy's brother is the one who did the killing in Yosemite, not the kidnapper.

[ccmay]

In addition to the Stayner kidnapping, Parnell was convicted of kidnapping 5-year-old Timmy White in 1980. He served five years for both abductions. Parnell also has a 1951 conviction for committing a lewd act on a minor.

Unbelieveable. This man should have been put down like a rabid dog decades ago. I think child molesters of his ilk are incurable and should get death on the first offense.

-ccm

[Bubba_Leroy]

the prior cases are too old to be relevant

They sound pretty damned relevant to me. I wonder how many children he has molested over the years that we will never know about?

[mbynack]

It's amazing how decrepid these guys get when they're getting ready to be sentenced. There was a case last week of a guy who was released from jail because of failing health and was re-arrested several months later for repeat offenses.

[EggsAckley]

Yeah, strange coincidence about the Yosemite killings. I wondered at the time if there was some connection between Stephen's experience and Cary's insanity. Weird.

[Cubs Fan]

For something like Kidnapping the first offense should be life in prison.

This is Yet another example of what happens when evil doers are let out again and again. whether its with Jospeh SMith, or this guy, or the three time rapist who killed Dru Sjodin, or David Maust and a string of other. We constantly hear in the news that repeat offenders who should be locked away are out destroying more lives. When is something ever going to get done about it?

[GovernmentShrinker]

I've wondered if Cary's head wasn't severely messed up by the experience of growing up in a family which was traumatized by his older brother's disappearance, and then traumatized all over again by the brother's return after 7 years of abuse at the hands of this disgusting Parnell. If I'd been doing the sentencing, I'd have taken this into account and given Cary life in prison instead of the death penalty. Parnell, on the other hand, should have been dispatched to the hereafter back in 1951 -- if that had been done, there's a good chance that Steven and the 4 women Cary killed would still be alive and doing fine, and that Cary would also be a normal productive citizen.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Or at the very least, amputation and a frontal lobotomy. That combination would almost certainly do the trick.

[Irene Adler]

"Yeah, strange coincidence about the Yosemite killings. I wondered at the time if there was some connection between Stephen's experience and Cary's insanity. Weird."

Very weird. And sad. Sad that Stephen was killed. Sad all around. Golly.

[KantianBurke]

I would disagree with the death penalty after one remembers the infamous child day care molestation hysteria in the 1980's. Barring eye witness accounts and DNA verification, the past has taught us that going solely on the child''s tstimony isn't always reliable.

[KantianBurke]

He served five years for kidnapping a boy he held hostage for seven years. The boy was a prisoner longer than the perpetrator. There is no justice in that.

bump!

[beaversmom]

Oh give him another chance. He didn't really mean it. He can be rehabilitated.