Wilbert Rideau, Prison journalist's 4th murder trial begins

Houston Chronicle ^ | Jan. 10, 2005 | Associated Press

[Ramtek57]

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A prison journalist who has had three convictions overturned in the 1961 killing of a bank teller went on trial for a fourth time today......

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/nation/2985908

[Ramtek57]

Here we go again.

[HMFIC]

What a waste of money.

1 trial.

1 appeal

instant application of sentence.

[AlaskaErik]

I'm curious. Anyone know who the longest continuously incarcerated person is in America and how long he's been in prison?

[Ramtek57]

This is the longest one I have seen.

[Ramtek57]

I think that he will be found guilty again, and then sentenced to the time he has already served, and released.

[Publius Valerius]

Yeah, we don't want any innocent people being let out of prison or anything.

[HMFIC]

WHAAAAAAAA!

[Diamond]

"...Prosecutor Rick Bryant described how Ferguson begged for her life after Rideau drove her and two other bank employees out of town. The other two victims were shot but survived.

Rideau was a near-illiterate, 19-year-old janitor when he held up the bank in 1961. Although originally sentenced to death, he was spared the electric chair when the Supreme Court overturned death penalty laws in the 1970s.

Rideau became a self-educated writer and helped transform The Angolite into a nationally acclaimed magazine dealing with the criminal justice system. He also co-directed "The Farm," a prison documentary that was nominated for an Oscar in 1999, and wrote and narrated an award-winning National Public Radio documentary."

 

I can't believe I read what I just read. If this were fiction no one would believe it.

Cordially,

[Publius Valerius]

What, assuming this guy is guilty, you don't believe that people can reform or make themselves better? Isn't that the point of prison, to take the people that are "broken" and to fix them?

[yarddog]

I guess reform is one goal of prison, especially if they are to be returned to public life, but the main reason, I always thought was punishment which makes people not want to go through the same thing, thus encouraging them to not commit crimes.

[Diamond]

Isn't that the point of prison, to take the people that are "broken" and to fix them?

That was the original intent, to be sure:

Walnut Street Jail 1790

Walnut Street Prison behind old "gaol"

What has been called "the first American penitentiary, if not the first one in the world," was established in Philadelphia, in 1790, in the Walnut Street Jail, a building formerly operated as a city jail. "The cell blocks constructed in the Walnut Street Jail, pursuant to the law of 1790, introduced in permanent fashion the structural pattern of outside cells, with a central corridor, the chief architectural feature of the Pennsylvania system of prison construction. Here, for the first time in penological history, the use of imprisonment through solitary confinement as the usual method of combatting crime, was permanently established. The basic principles of the new system, so it appears from contemporary accounts, were the effort to reform those in the prison, and to segregate them according to age, sex, and the type of the offenses charged against them." (quotes from from the Handbook of Correctional Institution Design and Construction, United States Bureau of Prisons, 1949). The word "penitentiary" came from the Pennsylvania Quakers and their belief in penitence and self-examination as a means to salvation. Diagram from Prison History.

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/prison.html

I personally don't like the idea and would prefer methods of punishment and restitution to victims that do not involve incarceration of the criminal for long periods of time. As to the state being expected reform people, it's not the state's job, and the state has no ability to do so. The responsibility of the state is to execute justice by punishing the wrongdoers, and it does have the ability, power and obligation to do.

I cringe at the thought that bank teller Ferguson never got the opportunity to "make herself better" because she was murdered by Rideau.

Cordially,

[Ramtek57]

Former Baton Rouge TV reporter Jodie Sinclair spent the morning on the witness stand in the fourth
murder trial of Wilbert Rideau.

Rideau is accused of the 1961 murder of bank teller Julia Ferguson, who was shot and whose throat was cut.

In a taped interview in 1981, Rideau told Sinclair he cut Ferguson, he thinks, because he ran out of bullets.

The state is expected to play the tape for the jury.

Meanwhile, the defense is doing a lengthy and tedious cross examination of Sinclair, apparently aimed at raising doubts about her credibility.

When Sinclair interviewed Rideau, she met a convicted murderer, Billy Wayne Sinclair, whom she later married.

Rideau, 62, has had three previous murder convictions overturned and is hoping this latest trial will result in his freedom -- if not by acquittal at least by a lesser verdict of manslaughter. That would result in his release for time served.

Rideau's supporters say the renown that he has won as a prison journalist is evidence of his rehabilitation.

Prosecutors want a conviction for murder that would keep him locked up for life for the stabbing death of bank teller Julia Ferguson following an armed robbery.

While the defense is seeking to minimize the crime's brutality, prosecutors are emphasizing it.

Defense lawyer George Kendall has made no attempt to deny that Rideau killed Ferguson but has urged jurors to return no more than a manslaughter verdict.

[Ellesu]

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1105533855254180.xml&storylist=louisiana


The defense said:
-her throat wasn't slit -- there was only a small wound
The evidence says:
-her throat WAS slit
Rideau said in a taped interview back then:
-I cut her throat

But MOST revealing is the irony of this entire story is the fact that

The defense has been claiming all along:
-Rideau didn't receive a fair trial because the white jurors were prejudiced.

And like Paul Harvey, now for the rest of the story....

Rideau said in an interview with the reporter:
-"the fact that I hated white people added an extra dimension to the offense. You're not particularly concerned about the humanity of people you hate."

OH MY....NOW WHO WAS THE PREJUDICED PARTY?

His entire WASTE of taxpayer $$$$ has
been based on the white people being prejudiced, but he admitted he murdered
and could have cared less because he hated white people.

[Ramtek57]

Rideau should also be tried for committing a hate crime. He is guilty according to his own testimony.

[Ellesu]

I agree. What a sham, I hope the jurors see through his lies.

[Ramtek57]

He is a free man now.

http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2815942&nav=0n4JVFbs

Wilbert Rideau stepped outside the Calcasieu Parish jail at Midnight, a little more than a hour after a jury delivered a manslaughter verdict in his 4th trial.

When he stepped out of the correctional center, a crowd of about 50 supporters was waiting for him. Rideau said only a few words. He thanked the jurors from Ouachita Parish for delivering a manslaughter verdict. He also apologized to the victims' families.

When asked where Rideau was going now, one of his defense attorneys -- Ron Ware -- said they were going to a private celebration.

The jury, after deliberating about five and a half hours, handed down a guilty verdict for manslaughter at around 10:40 p.m. Saturday. Judge David Ritchie sternly ordered the crowd in the courtroom to show no emotion when the verdict was read. Rideau showed little emotion as it was announced. His only comment in the courtroom was "Yes, Sir," in response to the judge's question of whether he wanted, in effect, to go free immediately. And he gave his date of birth: February 13th, 1942.