sounds like the movie with Richard Gerbil er Geer as a lawyer who got a killer off cause he acted fake crazy till after the verdict.
Posted on 03/05/2006 5:01:15 PM PST by Former Military Chick
BUNKER HILL, Ind. -- Christopher Flauding was considered retarded.
Now, 27 years after he killed a Merrillville woman, he's about to go free, a bachelor's degree in anthropology to his name.
Flauding was 17 when he attacked Celia Villareal with a butcher knife as she walked into her far-Northwestern Indiana home. Now 44, Flauding disputes labels such as "borderline mentally retarded" and "a limited mind" that were attached to him -- and may have saved him from the death penalty.
Defense attorneys used the 17-year-old Merrillville High School junior's mental state as part of its case to keep Flauding off Death Row. The prosecution never rebutted it. And Lake Superior Court Judge Richard Maroc believed it, handing down a 60-year sentence.
But, in a recreational room at the Miami Correctional Facility in the Northern Indiana community of Bunker Hill, Flauding held a folder full of photocopied certificates and degrees.
He earned his general educational development certificate a year after entering prison. An associate's degree followed, then a bachelor of science in anthropology. Through a program offered by Ball State University, he made the dean's list twice and finished with a 3.39 grade-point average.
Nearly three decades after Villareal's death, Flauding readies himself for release from prison July 30.
He's a large man, standing about 6-foot-4 and weighing just under 300 pounds. He was large as a teenager, too, an awkward 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds, and an easy target for ridicule from sharp-tongued high school students.
In 1979, Flauding said, he broke into the home on Merrillville's westside, where Villareal lived alone, and was waiting for two friends to arrive. Villareal, though, unexpectedly came home, he said.
Flauding said he, classmate Steven Glenn and another friend had planned to steal either a stereo or a television from Villareal's home "just for kicks."
"I got scared, and that's when it happened," he said. "It was the spur of the moment.
"There was a knife sitting on the table. I was drinking a little bit when it happened. It just happened. It's just so hard to explain."
Police and coroner's reports said Villareal was stabbed multiple times, perhaps as many as 30.
He took food and beer from the home before taking Villareal's purse and stealing her 1976 Buick Electra. Flauding said Glenn and the other friend never showed up.
"That was the only act of violence I ever had," Flauding said. "I've been through therapy and everything you could think of. There's no answer for it, really."
Deputy Prosecutor Karen Coulis, now a defense attorney, was 30 when she tried the case.
"He has served the sentence he was ordered to serve," Coulis said. "Am I concerned about his future? Absolutely. And I can't imagine how the Villareals are taking this. Nothing will bring back that truly wonderful woman.
"Hopefully, the education the state has provided him above and beyond that a lot of kids not committing those crimes will get will serve him well. I surely hope all the violent tendencies he showed have been expunged."
Maroc, 63, who retired from the bench in 2003, is practicing law in Munster. The Flauding sentencing was one of the most difficult decisions he made during his 24 years as a judge.
"I imposed death sentences after that," Maroc said.
"This was a case where it definitely was a consideration. But I felt at the time that the term of incarceration was the proper sentence."
If parole allows, Flauding hopes to settle himself far from Lake County.
"Have I paid for it? I don't know," Flauding said. "If I did 60 years, does that mean I paid for what I did? I don't know.
"Only thing I can do is try to do the best I can."
From the first day, Flauding said, he vowed to be a model prisoner. With good behavior, he would get out after 30 years.
But since he received a bachelor's degree, two years were removed. Six more months were taken off after he received a computer business certificate.
Flauding's plan is to earn his commercial driver's license and drive trucks for a living.
Villareal's children -- Albert Jr., 58, Fort Wayne; George, 56, Hobart; and George's twin sister, Sally Burcham, 56, Virginia Beach, Va. -- wonder if the family was duped 27 years ago when doctors claimed Flauding had limited intelligence.
If that's what kept him off Death Row, they said, why is he leaving prison with a decorated educational background?
"All of a sudden he's a doggone brilliant person," Albert Villareal Jr. said. "It just doesn't make sense."
They were duped. Sue him in civil court. Sue him, however it is possible. I mean, he got a free education. His punishment in prison may be over but now it is time the family seeks justice as well.
EVERYONE WAS DUPED.
And the authorities wonder why we have vigilantes.
What about perjury?
Either that, or what everyone has always suspected about the Anthropolgy Department is true....
There is no substitute for the death penalty.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
No, I wonder why WE DON'T have vigilantes.........
If Dr. Dean is correct, and who is to doubt him on this, this guy is going to kill again ~
Both Kentucky and Indiana had Charlie Manson confined, and they both let him loose ~ you'd think people would learn that killers really should NOT be let loose.
30 times with a knife?
That's:
Stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab
Not anyone I'd like around here ~ we already have enough of them that DC keeps letting loose.
It sounds as if the judge has his own regrets. I just think there was fraud. I wonder about the statute of limitation's when it comes to civil trials. There must be a way for this family to convey that fraud upon the courts is wrong.
He may have served his prison sentence, which wasn't long enough, knowing what he was facing, that there isn't more that this family can do through the legal channels.
PING
Now this might be one of those articles that get's your blood boiling.
I get his served his time, but that was based on the fact that he was borderline retarded. Than he goes off to college on the tax payer's dime. Just adding insult to injury.
This is fraud pure and simple. I am disgusted.
... and during that time over 30 million kids were aborted ... sorry for the sarcasm
He doesn't sound "borderline" retarded to me.
"It just happened. There's no explanation." Really??? You CHOSE to do it, buddy. Let's call it an EVIL CHOICE. Bad deal.
oh just grrrrrr.
I think the degrees on the taxpayer's money are an added insult, too.
If that was my mom.........he'd be out less than 24 hours before he'd be dead.
He gets out just in time to vote Democrat in Nov too!!! :):):)
sounds like the movie with Richard Gerbil er Geer as a lawyer who got a killer off cause he acted fake crazy till after the verdict.
When I was in Alaska in the early 80s, the state had a murderer who got off on the "Twinkie defense." The local "Twinkie" shrinks had notified the state that our murderer was no longer "insane" and that he should be set free so he could "get on with his life." While awaiting his "official" release, the murderer was allowed to go out on a "furlough." While he was "furloughing," he murdered four teenagers in an Anchorage park. Even though the shrinks said he was sane on the day prior to going out and killing four people, they tried the "Twinkie" crap a second time. It worked again. I'm not big into the "Twinkie" and "retarded" stuff.
Flauding's plan is to earn his commercial driver's license and drive trucks for a living.
Looks to me like two frauds have been perpetrated: the fraud of him being retarded (and yet mentally astute enough to plan his early release from day one); and the fraud of his "advanced" degrees. How many actual college graduates (with additional certification in computer business, no less) do you know who aspire to be truck drivers? I'm betting that the university Leftists who oversaw his academic program simply rubber-stamped him through to his anthropology degree (they probably gave him extra credit for his "life--and death--experiences").
And speaking of becoming a truck driver, would that not be the perfect profession for a potential serial murderer?
As for our corrupted legal system, I say mandatory death penalty for the crime of murder.
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