Denver Federal Jury Rejects Death Penalty in Prison Murder

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 05:37:59 PM EST
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After three weeks of deliberation, a federal jury in Denver has rejected the death penalty for William Sablan, an inmate at Florence who it found killed his cellmate. The facts were ugly. As I wrote here

The defendants are cousins and maximum security inmates at Florence who allegedly killed their cellmate, cut out his body organs and held them up to guards to taunt them — and to warn other inmates not to snitch them out. The aftermath of the murder was videotaped by guards.

It would have been the first federal death verdict in Colorado since Timothy McVeigh. Sablan's lawyers initially went for an insanity defense. Then, as Alan Pendergast of Westword wrote on the day of the guilty verdict,

More...

Sablan’s lawyers tried to shift the blame for the crime to William’s cousin, Rudy Sablan, whose trial is still pending. Rudy was a notorious gang leader in their native Saipan, and William has been characterized as head-injured, possibly insane and “borderline retarded.” But in his closing argument, defense attorney Nathan Chambers also tried to focus attention on how poorly the prison was run. How could such a crime take place, he asked, in the Secure Housing Unit (SHU) — supposedly the most restrictive cellblock in one of the highest security prisons in the country? ....here’s the sticking point: to do what he did to [victim] Estrella while they were both in federal custody required a lot of help, from the same busted justice system that now wants him to take the fall alone.

Another blow for Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department. And for the taxpayers who funded both the prosecution and the defense in this four month trial.

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Denver Federal Jury Rejects Death Penalty in Prison Murder | 5 comments (5 topical)

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Death Penalty for Prison Murder (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by zone on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 12:17:15 AM EST

If the feds wanted to send a message about prison murders, this was one of the weakest cases they possibly could have taken. Another Gonzales oversight and complete waste of taxpayer's money. The defendant had a 71-73 IQ, clear frontal lobe injuries sustained in the last fifteen years, was from the third-world country of Saipan, had never even been to America, was drunk on prison hootch that the prison guards probably knew he had, was one of three people in a cell designed for two, one of whom was his cousin, also from Saipan, and he had never been medicated or diagnosed by prison pscychologists, even though it was on his records that he clearly needed to be. Should prisoners who kill other prisoners be sentenced to death? Prison should be a scary place. But if youre for the death penalty, murders related to prison gangs should be the target if there is to be any institutional improvement. Sentencing to death a high-up in gang who murdered another prisoner for gang reasons would send the signal that murder will cost you, not a psychotic incident by a "practically retarded" third world islander.

I'm reserving judgment until the jurors talk. (none / 0) (#1)
by oculus on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 05:45:56 PM EST

On the Other hand... (none / 0) (#2)
by jarober on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 06:28:37 PM EST

This is the main reason that I still see some value in the death penalty (although I waver on it a lot) - for people who are in for life, any murder in prison is free.

So what's your solution for that? Permanent isolation? This isn't a hostile question, btw - I'm honestly interested, because prison killers are an obvious edge case.

: No pass for being from Saipan? (none / 0) (#5)
by oculus on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 03:46:21 PM EST

what if his next victim is a guard? (none / 0) (#7)
by diogenes on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 08:01:15 PM EST

Those who oppose the death penalty for murderers of prison guards should at least support exiling them to a small island in the middle of a large lake with food airlifted in by parachute and no statutory right to medical care although volunteers would be welcome to visit the island to provide it.