NEWS: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger won't stop Beardslee execution, page 1

posted on Jan, 18 2005 @ 04:05 PM

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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has refused to grant clemency for convicted murderer Donald Beardslee. Beardslee was convicted of the brutal murders of two women in 1981 to pay a drug debt. He is scheduled to be executed via lethal injection tomorrow.

sfgate.com
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency today to Donald Beardslee, who is scheduled to be executed at a minute past midnight at San Quentin Prison for the murders of two young Peninsula women in 1981.

Beardslee has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. The court had not acted by early this afternoon.

Beardslee, 61, of Redwood City, was convicted of the shotgun murder of Patty Geddling, 23, and the throat-slashing death of Stacey Benjamin, 19. Prosecutors say the two were killed in revenge for a drug debt claimed by another man. Beardslee was on parole at the time after serving a prison term for a 1969 murder in Missouri.

His lawyers asked Schwarzenegger on Friday to commute his sentence to life without parole, saying new medical tests show Beardslee suffers from serious brain damage that impaired his ability to make independent judgments.

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One less criminal on death row as far as I am concerned. There was some question on how Arnold would handle this case. To date he has been very lenient on parole issues, but in this case he has held tough. This man clearly deserves to die, my only regret is that it took 23 years to do so.

[edit on 18-1-2005 by TrickmastertricK]

shaunybaby

posted on Jan, 18 2005 @ 04:23 PM

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1 murder... put on parole, a further 2 murders let off death penalty...where's the justice in that. sure he might be unwell in the mind (so they say) but every person is responsible for their own actions. what about those people he killed, one was 23 and the other 19...he took their lives and he still doesnt get the death penalty. in my mind he doesnt deserve to live...one murder i think you could argue with the (unwell mind thing), yet with 3 murders it makes it a completly different story altogther.

djohnsto77

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 04:04 AM

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The execution took place:

Five guards strapped a passive Beardslee to a table to administer lethal injections of three different chemicals, including potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest.

The guards, working in a small room with five windows built as a gas chamber, took about 15 minutes to insert intravenous tubes into each arm. Once the drugs started flowing Beardslee let out a big yawn, blinked his eyes several times and moved his head before his breathing stopped shortly thereafter.

Majic

posted on Jan, 19 2005 @ 05:56 AM

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Actually let them continue.

I always find the idea of laying the responsibility for death sentences on governors to be disingenuous, as has been shamefully done with Bush when he was governor of Texas.

The governor didn't sentence this yahoo, a jury did. You know, as a result of a trial conducted under the laws we supposedly respect.

It only took 23 years for his punishment to be meted out -- assuming you don't count the murder he committed 35 years ago.

Personally, I oppose the death penalty because of glaring flaws in our legal system that have been repeatedly and demonstrably abused to sentence innocent people to death, but I never shed a tear when someone like this walks the green mile.