Posted on 05/30/2012 5:19:55 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
(Reuters) - A convicted killer who hanged himself on California's death row did so using an extension cord for an appliance in his cell and had not previously been considered a suicide risk, a prison spokesman said on Wednesday.
James Lee Crummel, 68, was found hanging in his one-man cell at San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco on Sunday, five months before Californians are due to vote in November on a ballot measure aimed at repealing the state's death penalty.
Crummel had been sentenced to die for the 1979 murder of a teenage boy.
San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Bill Mitchell, who prosecuted Crummel, reacted to Crummel's suicide by saying: "I'm very pleased. I wish it had been many years sooner. The world would have been a better place without him in it.
"I've done a lot of murder cases, I've sent 10 people to death row, and Crummel was one of the worst because he victimized young kids, he targeted them."
Crummel faced execution for the kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder of 13-year-old James Wilfred Trotter, who disappeared in April 1979 after leaving the Costa Mesa, California, hotel room he shared with his mother.
In 1990, Crummel led authorities to the boy's charred skeletal remains in a remote area of Orange County, claiming to have discovered them while hiking, Mitchell said. Crummel was eventually linked to the crime through circumstantial evidence.
Mitchell said Crummel served previous prison terms for child molestation and attempted murder and was considered a suspect in the disappearance of two other California boys. His death sentence had been on appeal before the California Supreme court.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Any idea what kind of appliance? Can we get one for all the death row inmates?
All of the cells on death row should be furnished with a noose hanging from the ceiling.
ba-bye
Well, it’s not called “death row” for nothing.
I guess he got tired waiting for his turn...
Good! He saved the State of California some money.
Whoever said Death Row cells should be equipped with nooses is on the right track.....
I think we ought to supply all death row inmates with appliances!
Should have happened long, long ago.
Can we make these cords available to all violent prisoners?
>> All of the cells on death row should be furnished with a noose hanging from the ceiling.
Not bad, but a little too passive.
How about cells comprised of a bed and a toilet/drinking fountain, suspended 30 feet above a concrete floor... with a tightrope between them.
He probably got tired of California living up to their promises.
I love a story with a happy ending.
“Cruel and unusual” sure doesn’t seem to bother the murderers. I don’t understand why so many kollege kiddies and their Marxist professors lose so much sleep over it.
Try that again.
;-)
And why does a DR inmate get appliances in his cell?
D@mned considerate of him!
Perhaps it was an alarm clock.
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