I just found this recent page: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/17/na-decision-may-reopen-death-chamber/
and wondered now which death row prisoner(s) you think will or should be executed. I'm not sure if he has exhausted his appeals, but Oba Chandler would be at the top of my list followed by John Errol Ferguson and William B. Cruse Jr. from my homestate alone.

First name that come to mind when I read the title was Edward Bell. Second was Donnie Hansen.

Definitely George Washington Hicks, the man who murdered Roxann Jeeves and her son Kristopher. I also second Oba Chandler.

Definitely George Washington Hicks

I second that CD, that was such a heinous crime :(

I would also like to see Franklin Delano Floyd and Dale Wayne Eaton (who killed Lisa Marie Kimmell) next.

Did all of those people get the death penalty? I thought Edward Harold Bell got 70 years, George Washington Hicks got life, and Donnie Hansen got off. Franklin Delano Floyd got the death sentence? What state was his conviction from?

Did all of those people get the death penalty? I thought Edward Harold Bell got 70 years, George Washington Hicks got life, and Donnie Hansen got off. Franklin Delano Floyd got the death sentence? What state was his conviction from?

You're right on all counts. As for Franklin Floyd, he was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a young Florida woman. It wasn't until 2002 when he was charged with the crime, which has no connection to either the abduction of Michael Hughes or the suspicious hit and run death of Michael's mother "Sharon Marshall."

Wow. I think I saw a court TV or A&E show on that case and forgotten some of the complex details. What were the circumstances of the lady he killed to get the death sentence? And didn't the court not know if Franklin Delano Floyd was his real name at one point, since he used so many aliases? Or am I thinking of a different case?

Wow. I think I saw a court TV or A&E show on that case and forgotten some of the complex details. What were the circumstances of the lady he killed to get the death sentence? And didn't the court not know if Franklin Delano Floyd was his real name at one point, since he used so many aliases? Or am I thinking of a different case?

Cheryl Commesso was the woman he murdered to get the death sentence. I have the book on this and its very interesting. If I recall she was a friend of Sharon and Floyd's and she may have threatened to turn him on some type of government aid fraud. Anyway he ended up viciously murdering her and even taking pictures. It also seems like Floyd had put the pictures of her battered body up in the gas tank area of a pickup truck he then owned. The truck ended up eventually being sold to different people and they happened to find the pictures and turned them into the authorities. If memory serves me correctly anyway.

Much as I like to see murderers and rapists caught and imprisoned FOREVER (preferably in solitary confinement), I'm anti-death penatly. The dignity of the state is compromised by sinking to the level of those it would punish.

I also do not support the death penalty...so none of them.

Scott Peterson

Richard Ramirez aka Night Stalker. hasn't he been on death row a long time now?

Richard Ramirez aka Night Stalker. hasn't he been on death row a long time now?
Yes, and I can't believe that I had forgotten him. He would be the perfect candidate. He was featured on UM pretty long after he was caught on the segment with the Original Night Stalker and he has the death sentence for nearly 20 years now. But I doubt he will ever get the needle because of the backlog of death sentence cases (nearly 700 people on death row in CA) and because CA doesn't seem to carry out that sentence very often.

Yes, and I can't believe that I had forgotten him. He would be the perfect candidate. He was featured on UM pretty long after he was caught on the segment with the Original Night Stalker and he has the death sentence for nearly 20 years now. But I doubt he will ever get the needle because of the backlog of death sentence cases (nearly 700 people on death row in CA) and because CA doesn't seem to carry out that sentence very often.

When it comes to states with the death penalty, California is indeed among the slowest in carrying out executions, even though a number of the state's death row prisoners are proper candidates for the needle (especially Richard Allen Davis, the degenerate scum who abducted, raped, murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas). However, history shows that the death penalty appeals process in California wasn't always slow to the point where inmates ended up residing on death row for decades. In fact, California used to have its share of death row inmates who were executed less than ten years after a murder conviction. One such example is Aaron Mitchell, who was executed in 1967 for the 1963 murder of a police officer.

Yes, California has been pretty lax lately when it comes to carrying out it's death sentences. I also want to add another Florida Death Row inmate that was a serial killer in 1984 who raped and killed 10 women around the Tampa Bay area of Florida. His name is Bobbie Joe Long. He's been on Death Row for over 20 years now and has to be on Governor Charlie Crist's short-list of choices since lethal injection has been re-instated by the Supreme Court.

Well, from what I have read the earliest Richard Ramirez could be executed would be 2014. That is the earliest all of his appeals will be exhausted. California is one of the slowest states in the country on carrying out the DP. However since I am anti-death penalty I can say I support the execution of none of these people. However if I were a death penalty supporter, I would say Richard Ramirez, Oba Chandler, James King, Alfredo Prieto all need to go. Out of all of them, Prieto who just got the death sentence recently in Virginia could be the first to get it. Virginia has even faster appeals system than Texas.

James King?

Originally posted by mozartpc27: "Much as I like to see murderers and rapists caught and imprisoned FOREVER (preferably in solitary confinement), I'm anti-death penatly. The dignity of the state is compromised by sinking to the level of those it would punish."

That could not have been said more perfectly.

I do not believe in the death penalty. I don't think it is our place to take life, whatever the reason. That is Gods place, not ours. But if I HAD to make a choice, scott peterson and darlie routier come to mind.

I'm not sure if he has exhausted his appeals, but Oba Chandler would be at the top of my list followed by John Errol Ferguson and William B. Cruse Jr. from my homestate alone.


Cruse is dead!

PALM BAY, Fla. -- A man on death row for killing six people and wounding 14 others in a 1987 Palm Bay shooting spree has died in prison.

The Florida Department of Corrections reports that 82-year-old William Cruse died of natural causes Sunday afternoon. He was the oldest man on death row in Florida. He was being held at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.

On April 23, 1987, Cruse reportedly shot at some teens playing basketball in front of his Palm Bay home and then left with a shotgun and an assault rifle. He fatally shot two Florida Tech students at a nearby intersection, one woman in a Publix parking lot and two police officers and another man at a Winn-Dixie Supermarket.

The retired librarian was arrested after a six-hour hostage standoff.





http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1358817.html

Yes, he died of natural causes. Ironically, victims are angry that he died of natural causes and was not killed by the state. I think this guy should not have even been on death row in the first place. It is obvious he had some serious mental issues and was a few cards short of a full deck. But he was sentenced to die in the electric chair, that was 20 years ago he was actually sentenced to death. So for 20 years people sit around and think this guy will be executed and then he dies of natural causes. I am not happy he is dead but I will not miss him either.

However I will say, the Cruse case is a prime example of why they death penalty needs to be done away with it. There is a far greater chance in most states that these guys will die of natural causes before they are actually executed. Yes the appeals process can be rather lengthy and drawn out, even I do not necessarily like it but it is what it is. There are guys on death row in Florida that have been there over 30 years. One of them Tommy Zeigler I feel is innocent. Yet the state has tried to execute him more than once. They nearly got him in 1986. Their longest serving death row inmate is also the longest death row inmate in the country. He has been there since 1974. I do not see him ever getting executed either due to his mental health issues.