NEWS: Man Asks for Death Before Murder Trial

In what legal experts call a rare occurrence, a man has not only asked the judge to allow him to plead guilty, but has asked to receive the death penalty as well. The defendant, Marco Allen Chapman, in due back in court on Monday where a doctor will offer testimony on his mental state. Experts on both side of the death penalty have been unable to offer up statistics showing the number of cases where the defendant pleads guilty and requests death.




Its all pretty cut and dry it seems till the person changes his mind down the road. The article point to a case where th convict later decided he did not want to do this. The court let it stand. As legal experts point out, if he did it and freely admits it we should have a quick execution (pun intended) of his sentence. It is very nice of him to save the taxpayers of Kentucky all that money .

I believe serial killer Carl Panzram pleaded guilty and asked for the Death Penalty whilst defending himself after killing a prison warden. In fact on the day of his execution he couldn't wait to get the show on the road.

On the day of his execution in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in 1930, he ran happily up the gallows steps, spit in the executioner�s face and yelled: �Hurry up you bastard, I could kill ten men while you�re fooling around!�

He did some truly horrific crimes but anyone who's clearly out of their mind like that should not be getting the death penalty. Although admittedly I don't believe in the death penalty full stop.

Here's a great article on the history of this killer, although unfortunately it doesn't really go into the court case of when he asked for the death penalty. However it is the most in depth.

Carl Panzram

[edit on 5/12/2004 by LouieLouie]