Posted on 05/16/2005 6:26:03 PM PDT by Graybeard58
GERING, Neb. - Jeffrey Hessler asked Monday for the death penalty, and three judges quickly obliged. Click to Enlarge Jeffrey Hessler
Less than six hours after Hessler said that he deserved to die for the February 2003 abduction, rape and murder of a 15-year-old Gering newspaper carrier, a three-judge panel issued that sentence.
Hessler, 26, a former airport security screener, provided no arguments for a sentence of life in prison. In a rambling nine-page written statement he provided to the judges Monday, Hessler said he would fight even the required automatic appeal of his death sentence.
"I, Jeffrey Alan Hessler, must be put to death without dialectic," Hessler wrote, in all capital letters.
Hessler nodded his head in affirmation as the presiding district judge, Randy Lippstreu of Scottsbluff, read the death sentence order.
Hessler mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," toward the family of the victim, Heather Guerrero, as he was led in shackles from the courtroom.
"It's a little late for that," responded one of Heather's aunts.
A 25-minute hearing in the morning, followed by the 20-minute sentencing session in the afternoon, provided a swift ending to a tragic case.
Heather Guerrero, three days past her 15th birthday, was abducted as she finished an early-morning paper route in a Gering neighborhood at the foot of Scotts Bluff National Monument.
Hessler, whose parents' home was on Guerrero's paper route, drove the girl into the country, raped her and shot her execution style, leaving her partly clothed body in the basement of an abandoned house near Lake Minatare.
I think this is the third story this week where I read a killer asking to be put to death. Just three more examples of why I don`t believe the death penaly is a punishment. I mean lets look at this logically; If there is any benefit to it, it brings closure to the victims family, relieves the taxpayers of continuing to support the scum, and prevents future parole or escape. But on the other hand, if the killer doesn`t care if he (or she) dies, there is no real punishment. Then considering how they are put to death, to me it seems completely painless. They are basicaly euthanized "put to sleep" like dogs.
If it was up to me, like O`Rielly says, hard labor for life in Alaska. That or 5 minutes listening to Hitlery Clinton.
I disagree. That's a lot of money the tax payers would need to spend in order to keep this monster doing hard time, not to mention the continued grief the family would have to endure. Not to suggest that it all goes away once he is dead. It doesn't, but putting it to death certainly provides them with a sense of justice through their loss.
The punishment, whether he requests it or not, is appropriate. Civilized people should never allow such criminals to live on.
I'm for a week in the stockade and then a public hanging. I'm series and unanimous....no slow drift off to the dirtnap.
FMCDH(BITS)
I really don't care what the criminal wants, I want them dead. The punishment isn't for the sake of the criminal, but for the safety of anybody that could come in contact with them later. There's been too many people sentenced to life in prison that have been paroled and gone on to commit more crimes.
I've read somewhere that it's illegal to use the drugs they use for executions for euthanizing dogs, so I'm not so sure it's as painless as people say. Certainly the waiting period up to their big date can't be an easy burden.
[If there is any benefit to it, it brings closure to the victims family, relieves the taxpayers of continuing to support the scum, and prevents future parole or escape.]
Three good reasons right here.
Yeah that`s true. If he was to continue living, even if he was doing hard labor, the family would always have in the back of their minds that true punishment wasn`t served, and knowing how prisons are basically run today, video games, TV, and even rock bands like O`Reilly showed last year, I don`t blame them in the least for feeling that way. My only problem with this death penalty though is these killers basically go to sleep. Yes they don`t get up again, but damn, I can`t see how that punishes especially if the killer doesn`t care. The gas chamber on the other hand, now there was an execution. Watch the SOB hold his breath for as long as he can and start to panic, none of this "go to sleep" stuff.
Grant Hessler his wish.
Nebraska is the only state that still has the electric chair. This guy is going to fry like a piece of bacon.
Her father almost always accompanied her on her newspaper route. On February 11, he didn't. Her killer, who lived only a block away from her home, had raped another girl on a paper route just months before.
The aunt is in great danger (Matt. 18:23-35).
Of course you're unanimous. There's only one of you.
I'm not sure how a person can be series, but I'll take you at your word on it.
If you're suggesting she turn the other cheek, I think you're off base. There's a difference between being insulted and having your niece raped and murdered.
Why did Jesus tell the disciples to bring swords with them? There's a time for the sword even according to Jesus.
I didn't cite "turn the other cheek". I cited the unmerciful servant.
Jesus told the disciples to take swords for self-defense. If any of her relatives had been nearby when the murder happened, killing him would have been entirely right. And putting him to death is also right. But she wasn't right there when it happened, and she's not the civil authority. We can't ignore the hard parts of the Bible just because they're hard. I know why she doesn't want to forgive him; I wouldn't either. But that's what Jesus requires.
I realize it's not literally "turn the other cheek", but forgiving somebody 7 x 70 certainly sounds like the same idea. Easier said than done, either way. Hopefully, I'll never have to be in her shoes.
And half of you already want to ask me, "I wonder how'd you feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?"
So do I. I wonder very much. Just as when Christianity tells me that I must not deny my religion even to save myself from death by torture, I wonder very much what I should do when it came to the point. I am not trying to tell you ... what I could do--I can do precious little--I am telling you what Christianity is. I did not invent it. And there, right in the middle of it, I find "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us." There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven. There are no two ways about it. What are we to do? --C.S. Lewis
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