Bundy. revi
The world —
is well
rid of him
cai eo. ented:
eae eaten uke Iying roe tei Se csancs courts will guarantce that race,
EZ & ocess to wealth and influ:
rug. stacking bl. th my & Zz, she we sto wealth
monthold daughter. 1 thought: So Wa z r gare wil have ne ring oa Who
ae 3 ‘We are left, then, with this dis-
tif you cast
into my bometowa for one
dozens of families in
‘has
paid wit
Igathered my baby in my arms and
gave a silent cheer. There is restitu-
just days before bis death — and the
ight have ha
Like to taink that Nancy Wilcox, j : soar
disappeared from ber suburbaa erie rates of the 19605 and 705, a for
Lake City neighborhood on a ‘and the astonishing rise in the
chil fll sight tn 3974, might have 3 a aoe ane aa cavageny of Killings , sith bas si dea peal or for
id of her. Ww, too, She ndassaultsbasenraged tBePUD yssr toutes petion’s40Vear is
might have married the bandsome lic, and properly so. tor. only Ado Hicbmann bat
football player she dated at the time. ‘The arcane arguments about 22" cxecut
‘They were pretty serious — or SS = whether the death penalty deters, PER OSM ast? In
vfeat the rumor in the balls of the Pin, Ras plet view it fells s that, ven noah
Mberals tend to oppose the dest!
‘blonde, a jun- - disappearance. they’ have ‘kept the over ‘my shotlder to be wary, I graduate student, have given ¥a¥ —Fenaity, the most powerful argu-
leader 1 see Bet, porch light on for ber) that, yest toa much more basic contention: Trent pnt itis conservative 10
sete s ~ ure ‘should not hav
5: Bundys ou there i That society hag to express = ‘The state: not have
ultimate power over any indi-
the
inate rocky with her parents. But
others had vanished Just days ear-
fer, andthe case eventually was
lied an abducti
Police jater foun found | two of the bod- fF
tes, but of Nancy and 17- after school. et With school: g ahis Dieu welaa fe vel he bs
year-old Debi Kent, who disappeared administrators, demanding that 2 ioe boon betrayed by the wrongdoer
the renae a of life.
pal fs from the parking eis, In
north of where the Wilcox femily When police finally apprehended ~Tn glad that were rid of him. And poster boy for capital punish
lived, have never been found. Bundy in Florida after in* thet now, at last, the we om fay ment He did not kill in the heat
ay escapes an tun aff the pore of anger; he did not kill while
stealing money th penalty than those usu
ily Mallen ioe editor at redid not Kill out of hopelessness aye tutta 2y vies, Wenes the
r, descrit the St: Paul Ploneer Press Dispatch. spawned by the mean streets of of being right.
Stl tigator as “totally consumed by Mlk: She Wi chilahood. and be was not eve Of Pelng Teh _
clung to the hope their rdaughter ing,” had changed ny li ay tie, He had condemned to die because of the 2 Gr Greenfield is is a columnist and
10 look; + state, Bundy hunting ground. color of his skin.
would return. Each night since her taught me at the rn commenter.
ig! age of
4A Gainesville Sun
Thursday, Feb. 21, 1980
Gainesville Sun
OPINION PA GE
Deadly Wheel of Fortune
Even for a societal wart like Theodore Bundy,
criminal justice turns out to be a gambling wheel.
Last May, in fear of the electric chair, he admit-
ted murdering two sorority sisters at Florida State
University in Tall: and a 12-y id 1
from Lake City. The official court d was
A Sun Editorial
signed, sealed and ready for delivery — and, in re-
turn, Bundy was promised a prison sentence which
would absolutely remove him from circulation for 75
years.
Such an agreement, struck in secrecy, is called
plea bargaining.
Then Bundy blew it. On the very day the confes-
sion was to be officially filed, he chipped his teeth in
court about the poor quality of his state-paid legal
defense. This irritated the prosecutors, who had his
confession on the table before them. So they forgot
about the deal and gambled for the electric chair.
” They succeeded. After trial by jury, Bundy now is
condemned to three deaths.
The prosecutors’ motives for voiding the 75-year
deal were both legal and whimsical. On the legal
side, they feared Bundy was laying grounds for ap-
pealing the deal — that later he would argue his at-
torney had coerced him to confess. On the whimsical
side, they were just mad as hell because they had
invested a lot emotionally in convincing lawmen,
judges, and victims’ parents that justice would be
served by putting Bundy away for 75 years.
The bargain even had been a political risk be-
cause, in the words of the elected State Attorney
Jerry Blair, ‘Our people wanted blood.”
Society is served equally whether Bundy gets the
chair or spends life in prison, because he is a danger-
ous person who certainly should never walk free
again. But society is less served by a criminal justice
system which penalizes by the luck of the draw — in
this case Prosecutors m made fe angry ar and suspicious by a
day has not arrived — and never will.
bitchy defendant. Logic demands recognition that if
the system deems 75 years imprisonment as just,
then death is not. Or vice versa.
The luck of the draw was a factor in Florida’s
prosecution of John A. Spenkelink, _who last May
became the first ily in
12 years. Spenkelink had done the favor of ridding
society of a criminal bum with a rap sheet four pages
long.
This was a matter of some value, which the state
was willing to r It offered ink 15
years in the slammer in exchange for a guilty plea.
Spenkelink decided for the long shot and rejected the
plea bargain, preferring a trial with a plea-of self-
defense. He gambled on the criminal justice wheel,
lost, and paid with his life.
Once again, if 15 years was just, execution was
not. Or vice versa.
It is hard to respect a criminal justice system
which operates on the principle of a carnival
wheel. Gambling for a stuffed teddy bear is one
thing; ext ing a lifé is else. Former
Florida Gov. LeRoy Collins, now deploring his own
signature on 22 death warrants, put it well: “It is
grossly freakish and unfair to take the lives of those
few who don’t have the money, friends, education,
social Status or the simple good fortune to survive the
system.
The snuffing out of human life, even a horrendous
one like Theodore Bundy’s, is morally justified when
the criminal justice system works without flaw. That
Bundy lied: Porn doesh’t create mass killers
By Al Goldstein 27 [L-F9 | inetuen . fre
yf
ce of po nostaphy, Be, y fine 9 ssfend it, Bee, implicit
“poo. n’ A "solid Christian lome,” as Bun 'Y put the Dobson-. ‘undy inte;
. jal eleva Hels it, deserves a closer look, We should censor adult |
le Went to Florida’s electric chair . Was Ted Bundy's early life aver- Censorship, once emba;
for the rime of ft a dif. age or norma, 24 Wa: T ‘sh Wa f
ferent ‘Kind. of carnage Benn! ‘Truth 2 “any? house? He tvas an illegitimate’ to Tran; or th
a
iWaS_ massacred: Jogi ir “child, 'and the ! Btandfathep who
and mained ea nee was wPpled Taised him was a violent man. who no, In laboratory setti
is partners in this, the last crime _ vented his aggressions against peo- non-violent Sexually explici
that he was able to commit? Were the ple ard animals both. At 4, Ted was. ial actually reduces a8Bressive ten.
edia, for ‘loving an voted removed - fro ni parents? dencies, 4
credence that they lent t his claims house by his Mother, who took him to Predict; ly, Dobson is offering the
os . Seattle,” wh hi er married a i
obso, ‘the L : ¢ ried
‘Angeles Peligious broadcast “Focus ~ violent man. If that is the ‘solid
the Fam
ideo:
¢ . a fund-raisin, vehicle for hi
fon ily.” Bundy lied an the Christian home’ we are all in frou. onthe ‘am ly.” It is a vile a
iway through his dramatic last inter. ble. i cal effort to inflame Censorship
:view, and the media didn’t cal} him Dobson didn't call the Killer on his in America The Big Lie of
a it, ie Dobson actually fostered rather obvious lie, But What “was Dobson's argument is concealed
Mose lies, - i
Ce
Bundy’s Teason for twisting the within his rant: If you Tead Play
» Dobson was & member of the So- truth? The ma + of Pen;
called Meese Commission, the pro. US to believe as, of Course,:a patho- Bundy; Does this mak
Censorship tas force assemble, by logical liar, But he had a reason for anyone outside the puritanical] pre-
our now. lisgraced former attorney that Particular lie, and he Stated it; Gincts of Dobsonland?
eneral, : “T hope nobody will try to take the It is fortunate for us
y Bundy had plenty bad to Say-about easy way out and try ‘to blame or, lies and Killings of
sex and ficlence in the media, In othenyi i I
n
fact, he lamed the media for his tributing (to the crimes),”” a agail
crimes, The facts about violence and Por- however, Un
Let us begin at the beginning, and nography clearly -point away: from ‘Sorship 4
focus on the family,. as Dobson and i t
“Bundy did, Their argument was art.
‘fully Conceived, They Portrayed Ted
‘AS a young boy from’ 2 perfectly fing
shome who Was corrupted ‘by the
Opinion
f . =
Isit ime to dust o
.the rope in Michigan?
‘They got out the big rope
when they hanged Stephen ‘
Simmons. :
‘They had to. Simmons stood |
over 6 feet tall and.weighed 255,
‘That was on Sept. 24, 1830.
Simmons, a Detroit tavern keep-
er, was found guilty of murder-
ing his wife while he was drunk. *
was
moved from :
To give yousome perspectiveon |
how tong ago that was. the Capi- , The ladle, designed
Dobben is undergoing a bat-
too close to Canada. The War of
tos 5 araot | tery of tests. Some experts say
1812 was fresh in their minds. » ST Gan't know what he Was cee
“Last week, 2 guy {a Florida _Ing at the time.
was selling T-shirts emblazoned
F was a quart low on the
ecution of Ted Bundy, convicted dip-stick doesn’t seem like
-ofthe 1978 rapeand murder ofa much of an excuse. +
T2-year-ald girt and two Florig "3 the cose of Jui-
“ate University students.
/ Bundy also was suspect:
4, was arraigned in
the robbery of a Detroit man
confined to a wheelchair and
Campbell, a Dearborn au;
They sent 2.000 votts into
Bundy’s body. Fried him good.
Bundy was the 20th man|put the rape of the man’s Jt-year-
todeathin Floridaandthe 106th old wife.
in the United States since the Su- That little matter wasn't pur-
sued only because he was con-
victed of Scott's murder first.
reinstate the death penalty, in
1976, : After he was in the slammer,
Nobody has died inconnec-
tion with a Michigan murder ia
138 years. Untess you count the
ict \ ‘
‘The harshest penalty meted |
some idle chit-chat in a bar. Bundy claimed to “fee!
The Michigan Legislature presence” before he died. He
passed a law in 1931 reinstating also was said to be remorseful.
il ine the thought of be-
Ing toasted does that to a guy.
rear, 109 people were
sent to Michigan's prisons for
first-degree murder. It costs
about $23,000 a year to keep a
person in prison.
The state of Florida paid an
uti 150 to grill Bundy.
‘That, folks, is a bargain.
store the death penalty: Twenty-
nine percent were against doing
and 11 percent were
undecided.
It will be Interesting to see
geance is a |
cancer on the publie psychie
BY Harry T. Cook
}
‘ tween justice and mindless, banal ven-
THE “EXECRABLE
1989 has.
geance. You didn't see or hear of any
Taste
beeawon relatives of Bundy’
Srievin i
of the execinicn of serial killer Theo- major-leigue jerks.
Bundy. ry contra >t
Michigan victim reportedly listened to
ron the news reports ofthe execution vith
is that t 2 Kind of solemn satisfaction that his
ea was eld ata daughter's horsible saga came 16 an
Golden Rule res- end with the executioner’s throwing of
taurant. Ia the the ‘switch. There was no crowing or
days since the ex- rejoicing. a H
aug since th Not even execution can begit to
Bundy-que, [have bring back any of Bundy’s victims or to
not been able to heal the wounds their murders have
yeell of left upon their survivors’ psyches. Per
revul to that fares :
improbable cir- Cook that initial revulsion and an accompa-
cumstance. ying sadness, i
‘The Mountain Brook barbecue was H
only the most egregiously usteless 1 FEEL revulsion because the idea
development around Bundy's death. A of two or three dozen people pressing
radio host in northern Florida eggedon ‘heirn fi exec
his listeners by telling them to tera off CP3Mber to watch a human being iivol
their coffee pots early on the morning WSarly writhe as 2,000 volts of elec.
of the execution “to give ‘em more {icity exploded in his “body seems
iuice down there at Starke” (the joca- U"'Watrantably gruesome, H
tion of the prison where Bundy was I felt
executed), idea of giving up on any human bein
even a Ted Bundy. Somewhere in that
person must have be:
arse emerged, spared the electric chair, the gallows,
the crowd yelled and screamed in the firing squad. the lethal injection
delight. or the ges chamber and become by
Tn what country am I living, any- judicial sentencing the permanent sub-
way? On what planet? Are wea bunch jects of intense psychiatric study to
of savages, or what? see how it is that persons such as
Bundy, who had obvious intellectual
and ial gift yenerate ir
OKAY, SOTED Bundy wasamad- [04 Social sits, can degenerate into
man. There is no hard count of how :
young women he tortured, OF would that be too bloodless and
raped, mutilated and finally killed, but Utexciting for the yowling mob and the
it may be as manyas 50. Maybe more, oh-So-clever hosts of the Bundy-que?
Since the death penalty is an option for We've got a lot of problems in this
Juries in the state ia which he was country, and I havecried to account for
convicted, it certainly can be and was one of themin this column. I'm not sure
argued that he more than deserved it, what you cail it, buc it is a cancer oa the
Sven though { remain convinced public psyche that cries out for exam.
that f nation and extermination. In my
ivilization in having repeatedly reject- gious tradition we learn that, "Ve
ed the sleath penaity from the list of Reance is mine,’ saith the Locd. “I will
criminal sentences, justice would seem repay." ”
ix lorida.
been served in
Bur there's a big di
Barry C208 1 the cece ol Sh Ancrew s Eoacooe
Churen. Clawson =
By contrast, the father of Bunliy’s |
