No punishment is too harsh

It was a relief to hear Dennis Rader admit in court today that he killed 10 people. Now the citizens of the Wichita area and the victims’ families know for certain that the monster who committed these crimes has been caught and will be punished.
But it was chilling to hear him describe without emotion how he "trolled and stalked" his victims. How he falsely comforted several of them before strangling them. How he assigned code names, such as "project green" and had a "hit kit" and "hit clothes." And how there apparently were many other Wichitans whom he considered as "potential hits."
We still don’t know why he committed these crimes, other than he said he had a "sexual fantasy." We also don’t know why he resurfaced. Did he want to get caught? Had he begun "trolling" for his next victim? More details will come out during the sentencing phase of the case, which begins Aug. 17.
But what we heard from his own mouth today was enough to decide that there is no punishment that the state can impose that will be too harsh.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

6 Comments

  1. gordon
    Posted June 27, 2005 at 1:27 pm | Permalink

    Do you understand how the sentencing works for count 10, the Delores Davis murder? I know it’s the only one eligible for the hard 40, but the legal language kind of lost me at the end of the hearing. Will he be sentenced for that murder on August 17 too or is the judge setting a separate date for that then? Thanks.

  2. Steven E.
    Posted June 27, 2005 at 3:07 pm | Permalink

    Gordon,
    My understanding was that Rader waived his right to a jury hearing for the hard 40 charge which followed from his murder of Delores Davis. Thus, on 8-17-05 Judge Waller will sentence him for that count also. Anybody get it differently?

  3. Jimmy Bisoni
    Posted June 27, 2005 at 5:00 pm | Permalink

    Of course the irony is that he won’t receive the ultimate punishment, a punishment designed EXACTLY for people like Rader because Kansas allowed our death penalty law to be declared unconstitutional.

  4. Tara C
    Posted June 27, 2005 at 5:30 pm | Permalink

    Actually, I think he won’t get the death penalty because he committed the murders before before Kansas allowed it…but don’t quote me on that. Does anyone else know if that sounds about right?

  5. Jeff Yearout
    Posted June 28, 2005 at 10:40 am | Permalink

    That is correct. All 10 of these murders were committed prior to Kansas adopting the death penalty.

  6. MC
    Posted July 2, 2005 at 7:03 pm | Permalink

    I think they should lock the bastard in a cell with Charley Otero for a few hours.