Posted on 12/31/2004 5:59:12 AM PST by Ellesu
Brain defects caused him to follow orders, attack pair, they say: Lawyers for Donald Beardslee, scheduled to die by lethal injection Jan. 19 for the murders of two young women in San Mateo County in 1981, appealed to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency Thursday, arguing that Beardslee is a mentally impaired dupe who is facing execution for crimes orchestrated by others. "The jury was unaware of the extent to which his actions and conduct were controlled by severe brain damage that impaired his functioning since birth,'' attorneys Michael Laurence and Susan Garvey said in a 48-page petition to Schwarzenegger. They said new medical tests had revealed lifelong brain defects that were aggravated by injuries Beardslee suffered in a head-on auto collision in 1961 and when a tree fell on his head in 1965. All his life, "everyone knew something was 'off' or 'odd' about Donald,'' his attorneys said. They said jurors' ignorance of his condition -- for which he sought treatment that was never provided -- allowed the prosecutor to portray him as a cold and calculating killer. The petition asks Schwarzenegger to reduce Beardslee's sentence to life without the possibility of parole.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
He has been on death row for 23 years? When was the last execution in California? I guess Peterson can look forward to a long life.
Charles Manson is still breathing. Does that tell you anything?
Isn't it interesting that condemned killers always discover "brain damage" after decades on Death Row, just about the time they're going for a gurney journey? Perfectly normal people (with the exception of their crimes) up till then, then all of a sudden they're "impaired."
Manson was never sentenced to death. At the time of his conviction for the Tate/LaBianca murders, California had no death penalty. And he can't be condemned retroactively. So he's with us until Satan finally calls him home.
I'm not sure it matters whether they officially have a death penalty or not. Has anyone been executed in CA since they reinstated it?
Manson and several of his “family” were sentenced to death in 1971. In 1972, the CA Supreme Court threw out the state’s death penalty, which was reinstated in 1977/78, but not retroactively.
CA Dept of Corrections: History of Capital Punishment in California
For 25 years after 1967, California executed no one. Since 1992, 11 California inmates have been executed. Their average stay on Death Row was almost 16 years.
When this appeal is denied as it should be (I'm being optimistic here), the lawyers will discover that this killer was forced (forced mind you!) by his maternal caregiver to repeatedly consume meals of liver, broccoli and spinach!!!! Surely, his lawyers will argue, the victim of such meals cannot be responsible for his uncontrollable actions.
Which raises the intriguing question: Since the death penalty in California has been reinstated, and since Manson's original sentence was indeed death, could that sentence not now be reapplied and the world shed of this vermin forever?
"jurors ignorance" about his condition... wasn't it his lawyers job to provide a defense. No Medical doctor willing to testify to that? How many appeals has this brain damage killer had ?
I think you're wrong here.I believe that Manson's death sentence was thrown out as a result of the US Supreme Court "moratorium" on *all* death sentences some time in the early/mid '70s.
I believe that Gary Gilmore was the first person executed in the US after that "moratorium" was lifted by the USSC.
The reinstated penalty has no retroactive force. Manson et al are off the DP hook for good, unless they commit a capital crime in prison.
The fate of Charles Manson, Charles Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, and Robert Beausoleil was decided on February 18, 1972. That day the California Supreme Court announced that it had voted 6-1 to abolish the death penalty in the state of California.-- Vince Bugliosi, Helter Skelter, p. 661. (A footnote mentions the June 1972 US Supreme Court ruling).
As I said, it appears that he and his fellow hackers are now serving life sentences. But since the original sentence was death, did the Supreme Court ruling actually overturn that sentence or simply suspend it? And if it is not overturned, then isn't it merely latent, subject to reinstatement?
If the original sentence was the D.P....
...and there was a LATER Cal SC that declared the DP unconstitional (it could not of course happen in reverse order)--
...and following all this, a yet later Cal SC decision declared the D.P. unconstitutional--the original sentence should be in effect. No double jeopardy. Basically a stay on execution while the S.C. had their heads up where decent law don't shine.
Did i read correctly that Beardslee was on probation for a murder in Mo. when he killed these 2 women over a drug deal? Brain damage? This guy is a sociopath. He deserves to be put to death.
Soooo we have a heartless, brain-dead animal (for there is no God and we are all just crude beasts anyway)...? /sarcasm
Put him down like a skunk with rabies.
Gray Davis paid a premium for our electricity, I want my money's worth. Have him sit down right here.....
That's what I would think. Is there any legal process to reinstate such a sentence once it is enjoined? Or, as dighton has posted, is the original sentence voided by the subsequent SC ruling?
Well, this is progress. California has executed people? I'm impressed, and rather surprised. Thanks for renewing my faith!
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