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Dennis Hanshew's avatar

This is the first time, that I am aware of, that you expressed an emotional judgment of Dahmer. Death by guillotine, an eye-for-an-eye or, more precisely, a head-for-a-head. I have mixed thoughts about capital punishment. Certainly in such a case as Dahmer's, it would have been justified. My misgiving is that there have been many verdicts invalidated with new technology, DNA specifically. Once you kill someone, you cannot make amends if it was in error. But that is another topic entirely. I did not follow the Dahmer trial but must assume he did not give testimony. I know that he gave a confession and that he spoke during his psychiatric evaluation. There is enough there to safely say he was ... what? What word covers it? Deranged? That seems inadequate. Utterly insane? Although there were several psychiatric diagnoses given, he was found competent to stand trial. That must be a thin line to tread!. "Yes, your honor, he drugged, strangled, dismembered his victims, had sexual interaction with their corpses, and, oh, yeah, he ate their body parts... but, you know, he's competent to stand trial. Just saying! From a purely legal definition, I agree, he was competent to stand trial. He knew what he had done and was methodically controlled when doing it. Yes, what a hideous creature, to be so outwardly meek and mild and yet capable of doing such violence. There are countless meek and mild men who play out violent sexual fantasies in their minds but who do not enact them. Therein lies my interest in Dahmer. I assume he did not keep a journal either before or after he was apprehended? What a treasure trove that would have been. And, yes, Rita's outburst in the Courtroom was spectacular and must have been cathartic not only for her but for all the victim's families and friends. I once attended a Federal sentencing with a legal client of the law office I worked for in San Francisco. She and many others had been bilked out of their life savings by a charismatic young man who passed himself off as a financial planner. He was so good at it that no one questioned him for over a year. When people finally became suspicious, he disappeared. People, mostly elderly, had lost a total of $25M. The perp had vanished without a trace but was eventually found in the UK living the high life. He was returned to the US and found guilty of forty felony counts. The Judge's sentencing statement was ruthless and she apologized to the victims in the Courtroom because she was obligated to follow the legislated sentencing guidelines. He got the maximum of ten years. When I exited the Courtroom with our client, a normally gentle woman in her seventies, she said, "I hope that bastard gets fucked in the ass every day of his ten years!"

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No_Yesterday's avatar

As usual, I love this entry. I couldn't agree more that Isbell's release was strong enough for everyone. It was so necessary (yet unfortunate the court decided to stop the family statements). As someone who was too young at the time, I can feel how raw, intense, and powerful her emotions were in that moment all these years later. I'm glad Jeff was forced to endure it, see it, and hopefully feel it. I'm doubtful it deepened the fractional sense of remorse he might have felt, but he deserved to be screamed at and threatened. Far too many tiptoed around him because he was "polite" and "easy to work with"... He deserved a lashing and I'm glad he received it.

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