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.'

[jayhorn]

What is it about Wichita that drives people insane? (Carr Brothers, Rader etc.)

The Carr brothers are from Dodge City.

[Heyworth]

Why shouldn't whatever law there is on the books today apply? Stupid!

That would be ex post facto law and is specifically forbidden in Article I of the Constitution. In the USSC case of Calder v. Bull in 1798, the court laid out exactly what that means:

" I will state what laws I consider ex post facto laws, within the words and the intent of the prohibition (... ) 3d. Every law that changes the punishment, and inflicts a greater punishment, than the law annexed to the crime, when committed. (...) All these, and similar laws, are manifestly unjust and oppressive"

http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0003_0386_ZO.html

[conservative cat]

It was adopted in 1994, long after Rader had stopped his killing.

I don't know if he necessarily stopped his killing in 1994. I just don't think he confessed to any post-DP killings.

[RobbyS]

My thought exactly.

[jayhorn]

I don't know if he necessarily stopped his killing in 1994. I just don't think he confessed to any post-DP killings.

I completely agree with this.

I saw Foulston get asked this question in an interview by Nancy Grace a while back ... predictably, Nola flipped out. Rader outsmarted everyone for thirty years. Why should anyone, especially her, expect him to suddenly come completely clean? It seems to me to be totally in character for him to hold back a victim as some sort of personal memory of his, as well as having one final triumph in his mind games with the cops. Sadly, it seems Nola's gigantic ego will not allow for even the hint of such a notion.

[dmz]

He gets a certain number of years without the possibility of parole for each count he was convicted on. It's a math thing.

[C210N]

I hope when they lock him up, they put the key in a good safe spot. It would be just awful, if after 175 years, they lost it.

[winston2]

The important part of sentence is the message sent to would be imitators-

The sick-O types would like to continue to relish and brag about their perversions.

What ever type of punishment should clearly eliminate that pleasure.
Our society has brought most of the horrors we endure upon ourselves by not dealing with criminals with brutal severity.

[Boardwalk]

You "think" we need the death penalty? So many are holding out on death row now that new facilities need to accomodate them. To the tune of billions my friends. The death penalty is long overdue.

[Boardwalk]

Thank you for making me smile. This guy scares the bejesus out of me!

[Republican in CA]

You can tell a tree by its fruit. There's no way that the BTK killer is a disciple of Christ. You're bending so far over to be fair to this guy that you're losing sight of common sense and scripture.

[AFPhys]

He stopped killing in 1991.

Sometime after that, Kansas reinstated the death penalty.

Is this a prime example of the death penalty being a deterrent?

[Republican in CA]

No one's claiming to be an expert, but you can judge a tree by its fruit. Jesus said that if we love him, we will obey his commandments. Did BTK obey God's commandments?

And as far as not giving up, yes God can work on BTK's soul while he's in prison, just as Son of Sam was saved in prison, but today the guy comes off like an unrepentant piece of work.

[AFPhys]

Rulings by the USSC annulled most if not all of the state's death penalty laws somewhere after that - probably because they weren't just somehow - and probably properly ruled - I don't recall and am not going to research that now.

Sometime during (I think) Reagan's era, the states managed to figure out how to satisfy the USSC's requirements, and many states passed laws to reinstate the death penalty.

[gopwinsin04]

Nola just thinks he stopped killing then, these guys really never stop--they are pathalogical.

[Kharis13]

Hi JW,

I agree, Rader seemed very smug. I watched his "speech" and he went on and on, even talking about some of the "complaints" that he had about the investigation, etc.

He won't last long in prison.

Brian

[jmq]

Very well thought out JMQ

[SerpentDove]

>>He won't last long in prison.<<

They way I hear it, inmates just LOVVVE child murderers and "Law enforcement" officers.

[Recovering Hermit]

What will happen to him in prison? Will he get solitary or will he be with general prison population?

Hopefully general population so somebody can "Dahmer" his ass.

[ExSoldier]

In some states a LIFE term means they're eligible for parole in seven years. In others it's 25 years. But in most states, if you get a term of sentence that is given in a numerical value, you have to serve two thirds of the sentence before you can get parole. Also, I suspect it has to do with giving the victims families a measure of individual justice for their own loved one and thus closure. In any case, I'm sure he'll make somebody a fine little wife on the inside!