Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty in 'American Sniper' Murder Trial

[Gunner]

I disagree. End him. Why should we (tax-payers) keep spending our money to keep him alive? He will never be a contributor to our society, so I don't think we should spend money keeping him alive. Quite simply, it's bad economics.

I agree 100% he could potentially spend the next 60+years behind bars. If we say it costs about 30k a year we could have spent upwards or 1.8 million to lock him up for the next 60 years assuming he lives that long. What a waste of money. We need to start executing people who commit murder. Code of Hammurabi eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

[TFOGGER]

In my mind, the argument that the Death Penalty provides a deterrent is moot. Totally irrelevant whether it is an effective deterrent or not. The death penalty may or may not deter someone from committing a similar crime, but it would be 100% effective in ensuring that THIS PARTICULAR SCUMBAG never, ever committed another murder. Sure, there's something to be said for keeping him alive and suffering in a prison somewhere, but the death penalty eliminates the possibility that (via pardon or clemency at some future date) he could ever pose a threat to anyone.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

I clicked the link, kinda interesting. Thanks for posting it. Seems like most (not all) of the opinions stated there were regarding the cost of the initial trial, not necessarily the entire cost of lifelong incarceration, multiple repeated appeals from a bored inmate, etc. There were reasoned arguments on both sides. Maybe my "bad economics" argument doesn't hold water, maybe it does, I'm not convinced either way now. I get your point.

Regardless, I still prefer that scumbags like this are put down. Granted, if I was in their shoes, I (like you) would prefer a quick end. But I'm not convinced that psychopaths think like you or me. Many times they have agreed to a life sentence without parole, so that they could avoid the needle. These scumbags are so megalomaniacal that their own existence is all-important. I don't think that they have the capacity for self-reflection or meaningful feelings of guilt, let alone actual rehabilitation.

Besides, prisoners in the US have way too many rights. If we could send him to a Mexican or Turkish prison, that might be suitable. Sure, he's gonna have some miserable times in a US prison, but he's also gonna still be alive. He's gonna watch tv. He might make a friend. He will probably be a pain in the ass to a C.O., just for fun. The thought of him even laughing at a tv show one time, or being even a little bit happy that he gets Cheetos from the commissary, bothers me. He should never again have even the tiniest thing to find pleasure in.

That's just my opinion. We both agree that he's a POS who deserves nothing but badness in his future; we just see the details differently.

I would agree that this guy is probably sick beyond our comprehension. I also agree that prison in the US has probably swung too far the other way from the days of Alcatraz. Let alone TVs and cheetos, this guy will probably be working on a college (law?) degree like so many others.

I'm not against the death penalty per se, I'm against the unbelievable expense, the drama, the years to achieve, etc, etc. I agree that putting this guy in prison for life is costly. It also seems that the costs associated with a capital punishment trial would be heavily front-loaded by design, but from what I'm reading, it seems more expensive. There must be some sort of balance between the Chinese instant firing line and the current American system of 50 appeals and then 20 years later and injection. If the economics and system weren't what they were, I wouldn't be as anti death penalty as it stands.

The arguments on it being a deterrent don't mean much to me. Besides, he may get swifter justice in jail, much like Dahmer. I do know I don't ever want to hear about him again, as we are certain to never stop hearing about James Holmes for the next decade.

[TFOGGER]

Besides, he may get swifter justice in jail, much like Dahmer.

One can only hope someone tries to feed him a urinal...

[Big E3]

I don't like him having any hope that he will ever get out. As long as he is alive and the death penalty is not on the table he has hope. If he is convicted and sentenced to death he gets to count down the days to the end. Yes he would get appeal after appeal, but every time he lost an appeal he gets to start counting down the days in despair. I don't want him to ever say "This ain't so bad they can't do anything to me I'm already here for life". He needs to feel every day is one day closer to a needle. I'm still pissed that every year or so Charles Manson gets to show up at the parole board and hope.

[osok-308]

Honestly, better to live long and lonely with the guilt.

Disagree. Now he can cost the tax payers for the next 60 years of his life.

[DAL357]

So if he had a secret saint who'd foot his total incarceration bill privately, would that be okay? Far-fetched? Sure. But it's not about the money, really, is it? That's just a rationalization. You don't need to justify wanting to ice this piece of human debris for his crime, the murders he committed are all the justification needed. When you bring up the money angle all you are doing is unwittingly handing the anti-death penalty crowd a way to fight against you; they will focus so much on your position on the costs that the heinous act itself is forgotten and, ipso facto, the killer somehow becomes a saint. Don't play their game.

Now, my idea would be life without the possibility of parole/pardon IF we had hard-labor prisons where you work for your keep, or you starve to death. No televisions, weights to build jailhouse muscle, or any other kind of entertainment or distraction. Work, eat, sleep, day after day after day, with only death to look forward to. Shaved heads all around, too. THAT would be real punishment.

BTW, the above type of prison does not apply to those locked due to malum prohibitum laws, only to those in for breaking malum in se laws: murderers, rapists, violent attackers, violent thieves, child molesters, corrupt politicians and cops, etc.

[Squeeze]

A lot of people here are complaining about having to "pay" a lot of money for this scumbag to rot in prison for the rest of his life. Many do not know that it actually costs more to put someone to death via death penalty in the U.S. than to give them life in prison. Something I picked up during my college days from a great law professor. The whole thing is, as soon as someone has been handed the death penalty, the appeal process starts. Every phone call, fax, correspondence exchanged, attorney(s) & judges time to review every legal document or assembly costs $$$ and they get paid well for all of that. Over the course of 20+ years those bills add up to a metric shit ton of money. For example; median cost for a death penalty case is $1.26 million. Non-death penalty case costs were counted through to the end of incarceration with a median cost $740,000. Just some food for thought.

Regardless of cost I would've like to have seen Routh get put to death. The fact he's stealing oxygen from a perfectly hard-working tree is just wrong.

[MarkUSMC88]

. The whole thing is, as soon as someone has been handed the death penalty, the appeal process starts. Every phone call, fax, correspondence exchanged, attorney(s) & judges time to review every legal document or assembly costs $$$ and they get paid well for all of that.

Actually, most capital defense lawyers I've known work for the state, and they don't get paid well at all. Decent salary, but not what most would expect a lawyer would get. Same with capital appeals lawyers. Most capital cases don't involve people with lots of extra money sitting around to pay a private lawyer. That's why most capital cases are defended by the public defender's office and appealed by the public defender's appeal division. No one is getting rich from these cases.

[sniper7]

Sounds like we need to fix it. You get convicted for the death penalty, you get one appeal. That one goes the same way....lights out.