Ciao Robert, thanks for your reply. As you mention the high cost of the Death penalty is new to you, let me drop some more information for you, specifically about Pennsylvania: "Pennsylvania's taxpayers have paid an estimated $272 million per execution since the Commonwealth reinstated its death penalty in 1978, according to an investigation by The Reading Eagle. Using data from a 2008 study by the Urban Institute, the Eagle calculated that cost of sentencing 408 people to death was an estimated $816 million higher than the cost of life without parole. The estimate is conservative, the paper says, because it assumes only one capital trial for each defendant and it does not include the cost of cases in which the death penalty was sought but not imposed. The total cost may exceed $1 billion. An earlier investigation had estimated a cost of at least $350 million, based on the 185 inmates who were on death row as of 2014, but additional research into the cases that had already been overturned, or in which inmates died or were executed prior to 2014, revealed a total of 408 people who had been sentenced to death. Pennsylvania has carried out only three executions under its current death penalty statute. State Senator Stewart Greenleaf, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "We're scratching for every dollar that we can right now. To continue to spend that kind of money is hard to justify." The Eagle's investigation also uncovered geographic disparities in the application of the death penalty. 60% of all death sentences came from just four counties: Philadelphia, Allegheny, York, and Berks. Death sentencing rates also varied dramatically, with about a third of counties handing down zero death sentences, while three (Columbia, Cumberland, and Northumberland) had 5 or more death sentences per 100 murders. Somerset District Attorney Lisa Lazzari-Strasiser, who has filed one death penalty case in five years as District Attorney, said, "I think our system is broken. It doesn't do justice to any one of the stakeholders, in my opinion, not the taxpayers, the victims or the defendants. It doesn't work." Reading your response to Jamie I guess you'd agree with Tupac, The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone... Take care, Julia
I haven't written yet - this has really hung on I felt some better today and went to church with a friend - she's been patiently waiting - and made it through the day. Went to Amber's this evening and now I'm going to bed. They're taking me to the beach tomorrow - a nice gesture and I know they're doing it for me - but they don't get that I like the ocean and the rocky cliffs, but I'm not overjoyed about the sand. I'll enjoy it though - they're doing something special for me. :) Anyway I should get a letter done this week:) I love you - more and more :)
Multiple reasons. For one, I attended this monsters trial. I watched him sit at the defendant table, shackled because he attacked a bailiff.
I listened to testimony. I saw photos which I will never be able to get out of my mind.
I read the news (much of which can still be found online despite the age of this story).
You see, the murder he committed has had very long reaching implications on many people.
His precious Justine was frankly terrified of him at the time to listen to the stories in court.
This is not someone who deserves a second chance. Yes, I knew his victim, we were neighbors for a number of years. The man was quirky, but helped me out in a heartbeat had I ever needed it. One year, he and a fellow that was living with him shoveled out my car multiple times over a winter. When I had a broken leg, Ron carried my groceries up. He kept a really nice garden out front, beautifying the neighborhood. Our blogging monster here not only killed him, he chopped up his body and left pieces in bins around town. He then decided to empty out the mans apartment, steal his car and was ultimately caught driving that same stolen car.
I can understand, and to a point even forgive the murder... It is the monstrous actions afterward that have left me angry for years. The man lay partially dismembered in my apartment building for days. Imagine your shock and anger finding out someone you knew was bludgeoned, chopped up and left as trash. Not only left as trash, but left in pieces in a bathtub literally yards from where you slept at night. Would you think that person deserves a second chance?
If his beloved Justine was so wonderful, why did he not listen when she and her family told him to go to the police? He had DAYS after the fact. As I write this, I realize not only is he a monster, but just an idiot to boot. Too stupid and too violent to function in normal society. If you'd like to get some info on his trial, and all of the circus surrounding it, a simple search of Updegrave murder in any search engine will bring up a pretty substantial number of stories that were written during the trial. The part justine and her family is particularly telling as to the utter monster this man is/was.
I don't care if he ignores me. I will always have the option to write letters to the state about him, reminding every politician, warden or anyone responsible for his keeping of what a monster he is, and making sure he never, ever gets out of that hole.
His every sadness, and every crap thing that happens to his family are karma, plain and simple. Everything that happens to his loved ones is brought on by his previous actions.
RSS
thanks for your reply. As you mention the high cost of the Death penalty is new to you, let me drop some more information for you, specifically about Pennsylvania: "Pennsylvania's taxpayers have paid an estimated $272 million per execution since the Commonwealth reinstated its death penalty in 1978, according to an investigation by The Reading Eagle. Using data from a 2008 study by the Urban Institute, the Eagle calculated that cost of sentencing 408 people to death was an estimated $816 million higher than the cost of life without parole. The estimate is conservative, the paper says, because it assumes only one capital trial for each defendant and it does not include the cost of cases in which the death penalty was sought but not imposed. The total cost may exceed $1 billion. An earlier investigation had estimated a cost of at least $350 million, based on the 185 inmates who were on death row as of 2014, but additional research into the cases that had already been overturned, or in which inmates died or were executed prior to 2014, revealed a total of 408 people who had been sentenced to death. Pennsylvania has carried out only three executions under its current death penalty statute. State Senator Stewart Greenleaf, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "We're scratching for every dollar that we can right now. To continue to spend that kind of money is hard to justify." The Eagle's investigation also uncovered geographic disparities in the application of the death penalty. 60% of all death sentences came from just four counties: Philadelphia, Allegheny, York, and Berks. Death sentencing rates also varied dramatically, with about a third of counties handing down zero death sentences, while three (Columbia, Cumberland, and Northumberland) had 5 or more death sentences per 100 murders. Somerset District Attorney Lisa Lazzari-Strasiser, who has filed one death penalty case in five years as District Attorney, said, "I think our system is broken. It doesn't do justice to any one of the stakeholders, in my opinion, not the taxpayers, the victims or the defendants. It doesn't work." Reading your response to Jamie I guess you'd agree with Tupac, The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone... Take care, Julia
Anyway I should get a letter done this week:)
I love you - more and more :)
I listened to testimony. I saw photos which I will never be able to get out of my mind.
I read the news (much of which can still be found online despite the age of this story).
You see, the murder he committed has had very long reaching implications on many people.
His precious Justine was frankly terrified of him at the time to listen to the stories in court.
This is not someone who deserves a second chance. Yes, I knew his victim, we were neighbors for a number of years. The man was quirky, but helped me out in a heartbeat had I ever needed it. One year, he and a fellow that was living with him shoveled out my car multiple times over a winter. When I had a broken leg, Ron carried my groceries up. He kept a really nice garden out front, beautifying the neighborhood. Our blogging monster here not only killed him, he chopped up his body and left pieces in bins around town. He then decided to empty out the mans apartment, steal his car and was ultimately caught driving that same stolen car.
I can understand, and to a point even forgive the murder... It is the monstrous actions afterward that have left me angry for years. The man lay partially dismembered in my apartment building for days. Imagine your shock and anger finding out someone you knew was bludgeoned, chopped up and left as trash. Not only left as trash, but left in pieces in a bathtub literally yards from where you slept at night. Would you think that person deserves a second chance?
If his beloved Justine was so wonderful, why did he not listen when she and her family told him to go to the police? He had DAYS after the fact. As I write this, I realize not only is he a monster, but just an idiot to boot. Too stupid and too violent to function in normal society. If you'd like to get some info on his trial, and all of the circus surrounding it, a simple search of Updegrave murder in any search engine will bring up a pretty substantial number of stories that were written during the trial. The part justine and her family is particularly telling as to the utter monster this man is/was.
I don't care if he ignores me. I will always have the option to write letters to the state about him, reminding every politician, warden or anyone responsible for his keeping of what a monster he is, and making sure he never, ever gets out of that hole.
His every sadness, and every crap thing that happens to his family are karma, plain and simple. Everything that happens to his loved ones is brought on by his previous actions.