North Carolina Death Row Inmate Writes Letter About Life of 'Leisure'

http://news.yahoo.com/ ^

[jakerobins]

A convicted murderer on death row in North Carolina wrote a taunting letter to his hometown newspaper about his life of "leisure" in prison and making a mockery of the legal system.

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. was found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009 and was sentenced to death on Nov. 18, 2011.

Hembree, 50, is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., but he's not looking for any pity in the letter he sent to The Gaston Gazette.

"Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day," Hembree asked in the letter. "I'm housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7."

[jakerobins]

If I were the family of the murdered girl I might visit the prison and pay an inmate to pass rumors this guy is an informant/snitch....See how long his new Death Row pals let him live after that......

[Malone LaVeigh]

We need to bring back Devil’s Island.

[SuzyQue]

We need to do the right thing and not let this creep get to us.

[PGalt]

I can cure that. On behalf of the innocent victims give me an automatic weapon and all the ammo I need. I can clear out every death row in America and save money doing it.

[toro_embolados]

Deathrow inmates are not kept in the general population. They have private rooms with no contact with other inmates.

[paul51]

He is scheduled to go on trial for Saldana's killing in March

Why bother?

[Maceman]

"Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day," Hembree asked in the letter. "I'm housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7." And locked down 23 hours a day? Sounds like a million laffs.

[DickBrannigan]

I’d use a pistol to the head. Much cheaper.

[SkyDancer]

Heather Catterton didn’t die easily, according to a videotaped confession by Danny Robbie Hembree.

The 49-year-old man is on trial for killing Catterton, a 17-year-old Gastonia girl whose half-naked body was found Oct. 29, 2009, in York County, S.C.

Jurors watched a second police interview recording this week in which Hembree confessed to killing the teenager and Randi Saldana, a 30-year-old who traveled in the same circles.

The first interrogation was viewed by jurors Monday and the second on Tuesday.

Second interview Hembree, who appeared more alert, spoke to detectives in the second interview.

The Gaston County man used hand gestures during the video and described how he suffocated Catterton.

He told investigators that he used a cord around her neck to force her to the ground in the laundry room of his home then put his hand over her mouth and pinched her nose shut.

Catterton fought for her life for about 10 or 15 minutes and tried to hit him with a flashlight, Hembree said in the interview.

“She just wouldn’t die,” Hembree said in the video.

Hembree then grabbed a Walmart shopping bag and suffocated Catterton, he told detectives, but he still wasn’t sure she was dead until he stood on her throat.

Read more: http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/heather-62420-hembree-catterton.html#ixzz1kWgOPaNZ

[Bulwyf]

I can’t even imagine someone I know being in that situation, as a father of three small children, that is one of my biggest fears. Animals like this need to put down like you would any animal with rabies, immediately and permanently.

[reefdiver]

What ever His age. Every second that clicks, He gets closer to the judgment.

repentance on his menu?

[Jack023]

We need to outsource our prisoners to Russia.

They have a bunch of gulags in Siberia collecting dust. It would save us money (most prisoners would need only a one-way ticket) and Russia could use a few extra bucks/rubles.

This death row scum could enjoy his life of leisure in a nice cozy Siberian gulag feasting on watered-downed borscht once a day.

[Twotone]

Remove the gym equipmentm the a.c. & the tv. The only book would be the Bible & maybe the constitution. Cold sandwiches for breakfast, lunch & dinner. No medical care other than comfort care - an aspirin. Permanently attach electrodes to the genitals. When they get out of line, zap ‘em!

My prison reform platform!

[PGalt]

Thanks. I defer to cost savers.

[FRForever]

> We need to do the right thing and not let this creep get to us.

Agreed. Besides, he who laughs last ... :)

[Terry Mross]

When I was 18 I spent a few days in jail in West Memphis, Arkansas for minor in possession of booze. They served powdered eggs for breakfast and bologna sandwiches for dinner. There was no lunch for those who weren’t assigned to a work detail. I learned my lesson.

[RedMDer]

Click

[1010RD]

Yep, prisons a great life. Of greater concern to society is this:

He also asks if the public knows that the chances of his "lawful murder" taking place in the next 20 years, if ever, are "very slim."

Hembree has also been accused of killing two other women. One was 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana, whose burnt remains were found near Blacksburg, S.C. in 2009. The other was 30-year-old Deborah Ratchford, whose body was found in 1992.

He admitted to taking drugs and having sex with Catterton and Saldana on the days they died, but told jurors he did not kill them or dispose of their bodies, according to ABC News' Raleigh-Durham affiliate WTVD. He is scheduled to go on trial for Saldana's killing in March.

Hembree confessed to killing the three women during recorded police interviews, but later said the confessions were an attempt to cover up a string of armed robberies, according to the Gaston Gazette.

"I laugh at you self righteous clowns and I spit in the face of your so called justice system. The state of North Carolina has sentenced me to death but it's not real," he wrote.

A sentence of death must be absolutely accurate and then a society must be swift about it or else it makes a mockery of justice.