BTK Gets 10 Consecutive Life Terms (175 Yrs. w/o Parole)

CBS News ^ | 8/18/05

[gopwinsin04]

'Bind, Torture and Kill' serial killer Dennis Rader was ordered to serve 10 consecutive life terms Thursday during a tear filled hearing in which his victims called him a monster and said he should be 'thrown into a deep hole and left to rot.'

The sentence of a minimum of 175 years without chance of parole was the longest possible that Judge Gregory Waller could deliver.

The state of Kansas had no death penalty at the time the killings were committed.

Earlier Rader stood in front of a courtroom filled with his victim's family members, tell the court he believes he is a Christian and he knew he would be caught for his crimes.

Instead of asking forgiveness or a lenient sentence, Rader rambled off details about his series of murders. In a bizarre moment of triumph, he ran through a list of people he wanted to think.

He also told the judge he was honest and cooperated with police after his arrest, then said 'he blew so much smoke' in telling his story that 'nobody knows fact from fiction.'

[nicmarlo]

Those were one of my first thoughts....wonder how many "life" terms he'll live through before that happens.

[ken5050]

We should start a pool..guess the M/D/Y..or closest to, without going over...

[The Brush]

If he were a Christian, he'd understand that "works" are the biggest part of it.
If you say you're a Christian but your works in your life aren't God honoring. It doesn't work.
Christ said that at the end, he will tell many Christians; "Get away from me, I never knew you" (Paraphrased)

[cripplecreek]

Well I bet it will be within the first 100 years.

[T.Smith]

I think the point is to deny the prisoner an opportunity at parole. If you get a life sentence you are up for parole in 30 years. If you get two life sentences you don't get parole for 40 years, etc.

[gopwinsin04]

I don't believe there is going to be special segregation at El Dorado for Rader, unless the administration itself specifically orders it so.

[gopwinsin04]

And his deluded Lutheran pastor says he still will be forgiven by God!

[ken5050]

I don't think that's it....it gives EACH of the victims' families closure they feel that he is being sentenced to what he did to thier particular loved one..

[jw777]

he will be forgiven by god, if he is sincere, but i saw a braggard today.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I never understood why they sentence for years greater than life. Why bother or does it send some sort of signal? Why 175 years? Why not 500 years? See the difference? There is none.. If he's lucky, he'll be dead in 20-30 years anyway thats if an inmate doesn't do him in on the first day.

The only legal purpose of sentences like that is that if some appellate court later reverses some (but not all) of the charges, he will still be facing enough time to keep him locked up for life.

[CarolAnn]

"bastard was proud of himself today."

I agree. His rambling sounded like he was accepting an Academy Award!

[Clock King]

I concur. This, thing, can serve no purpose in this world other than act as a cancer.

[mosquewatch.com]

BTK's newest husbands in the "Slammer". Hola amigo's!!

[gopwinsin04]

There is a quote in scripture that applies to Rader, Jesus was talking about evil acts perpetrated on children and that those offenders would be 'cast out to sea with millstones around their necks.'

I think it applies here.

[fatnotlazy]

"The state of Kansas had no death penalty at the time the killings were committed."

***
Personally, I think laws like these which forbid administration of the death penalty where the offense occurred when there was no death penalty law on the books is idiotic. He was tried and convicted when there was a death penalty law and he is being sentenced TODAY. Why shouldn't whatever law there is on the books today apply? Stupid!

I just don't trust these life w/o parole sentences, even something like this (175 years). Since life w/o parole is a relatively new concept, how do we know that maybe in a couple of years some doofus judge will put him back on the streets?

[ThomasNast]

You really don't think he'll make it to old age, do you?

He'll be dead a lot quicker with THIS sentence than if he were given the chair

[Clock King]

...Dennis Rader was ordered to serve 10 consecutive life terms.

Can someone explain what a "life term" is in the justice system? I thought it was 40 years, but??? Also, what is the point of 10 consecutive terms; how does that equate to real time? I guess the idea is that if one conviction for one victim is overturned, he would still have 9 other convictions and he's have to serve, it that it?

[fatnotlazy]

BTK's newest husbands in the "Slammer". Hola amigo's!!
***
I'd like to find the guy who did in Jeffrey Dahmer. Personally, I think they oughta send him to all the prisons to mete out the death penalty on those who have escaped it through stupid laws like the one I mentioned previously.

[freedom4ever]

The judge on FOX News explained it just a few minutes ago. When the death penalty was abolished in the U.S. and then reinstated, Kansas was slow in getting it back in their state. The murders were committed during the time that there was no death penalty. This is why the killer, Rader, doesn't get death.

I watched this creep give his statement. He sounded like a politician giving some kind of victory speech or something. He was thanking everyone for all their help and talked about himself a lot. It was sickening.