Luigi Mangione, who faces federal murder charges after the December shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Friday.
Mangione appeared in Manhattan federal court in a prison jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, entering not guilty pleas to charges of murder, two counts of stalking, and a firearms offense.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the DOJ intends to pursue the death penalty in the case, causing Mangione&#8217;s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, to request that the court prioritize starting his federal trial before his state cases in New York and Pennsylvania, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/us/luigi-mangione-federal-charges/index.html">reported</a>.
According to authorities, Mangione “<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-directs-prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-luigi-mangione">murdered</a>” Thompson, a father of two young children, in a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination” as an act of “political violence.”
Thompson was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, leading to a five-day manhunt that ended with Mangione&#8217;s arrest in Pennsylvania, more than 270 miles from the shooting scene.
At the time of his arrest, Mangione possessed “fake ID used by the suspect, the gun they believe was used in the shooting and a handwritten ‘claim of responsibility,’ authorities have said,” according to CNN.
Mangione&#8217;s targeting of Thompson appears meticulously planned, according to the DOJ, and three 9mm shell casings recovered from the crime scene had the words &#8220;delay,&#8221; &#8220;deny,&#8221; and &#8220;depose&#8221; written on them, an apparent reference to a 2010 book criticizing insurance industry tactics, according to the NYPD.
The case has sparked considerable public attention, with supporters of Mangione gathering outside the courthouse Friday, some wearing green, referencing Nintendo&#8217;s &#8220;Luigi&#8221; character, and holding banners with messages like &#8220;Luigi Before Fascists&#8221; and &#8220;Stop the Violence: End the Death Penalty Now.&#8221;
Chelsea Manning, the former Army soldier convicted of violating the Espionage Act after leaking documents to WikiLeaks, has appeared at multiple hearings in support of Mangione.
Many people, according to CNN, seem to be channeling their frustration with the health care system through Mangione, with some going as far as calling him a vigilante.
A legal defense fund in Mangione&#8217;s name has raised more than $950,000 from supporters.
Mainstream politicians have condemned Mangione&#8217;s alleged actions. &#8220;In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,&#8221; Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the day Mangione was arrested, adding, &#8220;He is no hero.&#8221;
Judge Margaret Garnett scheduled Mangione&#8217;s next federal hearing for December 5, when a trial date will be set. She indicated she expects the trial to begin in 2026.

Insurance CEO Murder Suspect Luigi Mangione Is Extradicted To New York

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty As DOJ Seeks Death Penalty

Crime

Death Penalty

Department of Justice

Luigi Mangione

New York Police Department (NYPD)

Pam Bondi

U.S.

On Thursday, Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan on December 4, was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/17/us/luigi-mangione-indicted-federal-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicted</a> in federal court on a charge of murder, which could permit him to be executed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this month that the Department of Justice would seek the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ag-directs-federal-prosecutors-to-seek-death-penalty-for-luigi-mangione" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death penalty</a> for Mangione.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” she <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-directs-prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-luigi-mangione" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>. “After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
“As alleged, Luigi Mangione stalked and murdered UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024,” the DOJ declared. “The murder was an act of political violence. Mangione’s actions involved substantial planning and premeditation and because the murder took place in public with bystanders nearby, may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons.&#8221;
&#8220;Following federal murder charges handed down on Dec. 19, 2024, Attorney General Bondi has now directed Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky to seek the death penalty in this case,&#8221; the DOJ added.
The homemade gun that Mangione carried when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, matched shell casings found at the crime scene, according to authorities. In addition, investigators said that Mangione’s fingerprints matched the ones investigators found on items near the scene.
“First, we got the gun in question back from Pennsylvania. It’s now at the NYPD crime lab,” NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/11/us/unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-shooter-wednesday/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “We were able to match that gun to the three shell casings that we found in Midtown at the scene of the homicide. We’re also at the crime lab able to match the person of interest’s fingerprints with fingerprints that we found on both the water bottle and the KIND bar near the scene of the homicide in midtown.”
When he was captured, Mangione had in his possession a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/11/nyregion/luigi-mangione-assassination-plan-notebook.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notebook</a> that described Thompson’s assassination, which occurred as Thompson, a father of two sons, was en route to the UnitedHealth Group&#8217;s Investors Conference. One passage in the notebook mentioned taking out “the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.”
“It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents,” Mangione allegedly wrote in the notebook, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/11/us/unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-shooter-wednesday/index.html">reported</a>. Police also recovered a manifesto where Mangione allegedly called out “United,” adding, “To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone.”
The charges indicting Mangione include one count of murder with a firearm, another firearms offense, and two counts of stalking. The charge of murder through the use of a firearm has a maximum sentence of death if Mangione is convicted. The state of Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested, has also brought charges against Mangione. He was caught at a McDonald&#8217;s in Altoona after police spent nearly a week searching for him.
Mangione was celebrated by some; the audience at a Saturday Night Live show, roughly two weeks after Thompson’s death, cheered when his name was mentioned.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
SNL Weekend Update mentions CEO kiIIer Luigi Mangione and the crowd applauds &amp; cheers <a href="https://t.co/Hn6k2kTBp2">pic.twitter.com/Hn6k2kTBp2</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1870707787157959091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the week after Thompson’s murder, “wanted” posters were <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wanted-posters-threats-mangione-arrest-unitedhealthcare-rcna183867" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plastered</a> in Manhattan showing photos of the CEOs of at least two health insurance companies.

Luigi Mangione Indicted On Federal Charge Of Murder, Making Him Eligible For Death Penalty

Brian Thompson

New York

Pennsylvania

Three men found guilty of murdering Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan last year were unanimously sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, state news agency <a href="https://www.wam.ae/a/bixy0yf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WAM reported</a>.
Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals&#8217; State Security Chamber found the defendants guilty of premeditated murder with terrorist intention. A fourth defendant was sentenced to life in prison.
Olimpi Toirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, and Azizbek Kamlovich, who are citizens of Uzbekistan, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/three-uzbeks-arrested-in-uae-over-killing-of-chabad-rabbi-zvi-kogan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were arrested</a> for the act last year. It is not clear if all three of them were sentenced to death, or if one was the individual sentenced to life in prison.
Firing squad is the sole method of execution in the UAE.
Investigations by the state security prosecution revealed the convicts tracked Kogan before murdering him. Evidence during the trial included detailed confessions, forensic and autopsy reports, post-mortem examination findings, tools used in the crime, and witness testimonies, WAM reported.
Attorney General Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi reportedly said the ruling “embodies the UAE&#8217;s unwavering commitment to combating terrorism in accordance with the highest standards of justice and the rule of law, and to providing fair trial guarantees.”
Capital punishment sentences are reportedly automatically subject to appeal under UAE law and are referred to the Criminal Division of the Federal Supreme Court.
Kogan, 28, a Moldovan and Israeli citizen, was last seen alive in Dubai before his body was discovered in Al Ain, a city near the Oman border approximately 90 minutes from Dubai.
Kogan worked as an emissary for the Jewish group Chabad, helping to support religious life for Jewish visitors and residents. He worked with the Chabad in Abu Dhabi and ran a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The UAE has had a spike in Jewish and Israeli visitors since the establishment of formal ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020. The act of suspected terrorism may have been targeted at threatening the stability of the Abraham Accords.
The White House National Security Council under the Biden administration said at the time that the murder was a crime against supporters of peace.
“This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence,” <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-830567" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council. “It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the murder an anti-Semitic terrorist attack and said that the Jewish state will seek justice against those who dispatched the three men.
“This murder of an Israeli citizen and a Chabad emissary, is an abhorrent antisemitic terrorist attack,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will use all means, and will deal with these murderers, and those who dispatched them, to the fullest extent of the law. None of them will get away.”
Almost a million dollars <a href="https://raisethon.com/zvi?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZfyckSvSjP40Xo9gPAgQXY3093pbsI-0KFxqj2zpHRadhwFygAOYTjoXM_aem_ilu3ZGyWKu8EUuBPp8JMNg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was raised</a> to support Kogan’s widow, who is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg. Holtzberg and his wife, Rikvah, were murdered by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai in 2008.

Uzbek Suspects

UAE Court Sentences Three Terrorists To Death For Premeditated Murder Of Rabbi

Anti-Semitism

Murder

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Murder might get you the death penalty in Los Angeles.
Lost Angeles County&#8217; new district attorney, Nathan Hochman ended his progressive predecessor&#8217;s blanket ban on capital punishment this week.
&#8220;Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded,&#8221; the Los Angeles County District Attorney&#8217;s Office <a href="https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/da-hochman-announces-important-policy-changes-prosecutions-murders-special-circumstances" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> Tuesday in a news release.
Under California law, prosecutors may only seek the death penalty for murder with special circumstances, which can include multiple homicides, murder of a police officer, or murder of a witness to another crime.
Prosecutors should seek the death penalty &#8220;only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases,&#8221; and it should be &#8220;restricted to the most egregious sets of circumstances&#8221; the Los Angeles County District Attorney&#8217;s office said.
The only other possible sentence for murder with special circumstances is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County, in consultation with the murder victim’s survivors and with full input on the mitigating and aggravating factors of each case, to ensure that the punishment sought by the Office is just, fair, fitting, and appropriate,” Hochman said in a statement.
However, the new death penalty policy may not have any practical effect yet since Governor Gavin Newsom <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/03/13/governor-gavin-newsom-orders-a-halt-to-the-death-penalty-in-california/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">placed</a> a moratorium on all executions back in 2019 and closed the state&#8217;s main execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
Hochman, a former federal prosecutor campaigned on reinstating the death penalty when he ran for district attorney last year, even <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-22/los-angeles-district-attorney-2024-election-candidates-george-gascon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comparing</a> Los Angeles to “Gotham City” with its “rampant crime.”
Hochman defeated his progressive predecessor, George Gascon, in a landslide in November. Gascon was previously the subject of two recall attempts, but both efforts failed to make the ballot.
Gascon was criticized as soft on crime amid rising crime in Los Angeles County. Critics <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/los-angeles-deputy-da-gascon-creating-ticking-time-bomb-releasing-murderers-back-on-streets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed</a> to cases where violent criminals, including murder convicts, were released onto the streets.
Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia criticized the new death penalty policy, calling it a &#8220;step backward&#8221; and saying the death penalty is &#8220;a cruel and irreversible punishment that is racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent.&#8221;
California has <a href="https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly</a> 600 inmates on death row, the most of any state, but it has not executed anyone since 2006.
More than half of U.S. states still <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allow</a> the death penalty, although 23 states have abolished it.

US-ENTERTAINMENT-CRIME-JUSTICE-MENENDEZ

The Death Penalty Is Back In Los Angeles

California

Los Angeles

On Tuesday, his last day in office, North Carolina Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, emulating President Joe Biden, commuted the sentences of 15 men on death row to life imprisonment.
Cooper was succeeded by Democrat Josh Stein on Wednesday. Last week, President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of 40 inmates on federal death row.
“These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a Governor can make and the death penalty is the most severe sentence that the state can impose,” Cooper said in a <a href="https://governor.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2024/12/31/governor-cooper-takes-capital-clemency-actions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “After thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the death sentence imposed on these 15 people should be commuted, while ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.”
“Before today’s commutations, North Carolina had 136 offenders on death row and the Governor’s Clemency Office received petitions for clemency from 89 of them. The Governor’s Office carefully reviewed, researched, and considered these 89 petitions for commutations, which included the 15 that were granted today,” the statement concluded.
Cooper listed factors that influenced his decision, including:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Facts and circumstances of the crime</li>
<li>Whether a murder was particularly heinous and cruel</li>
<li>Input from prosecutors in the county of conviction</li>
<li>Input from family members of victims</li>
<li>Defendant’s criminal history</li>
<li>Defendant’s conduct and activity in prison</li>
<li>Mental and intellectual capacity of the defendant at the time of the crime</li>
<li>Credible claims of innocence</li>
<li>The potential influence of race, such as the race of the defendant and victim, composition of the jury pool and the final jury, and evidence and testimony offered at trial</li>
<li>Sentences received by co-defendants</li>
<li>Whether plea agreements for a lesser sentence were offered prior to trial</li>
<li>Age of defendant at the time of the crime</li>
<li>Current age, health, and mental capacity of the defendant</li>
<li>Adequacy of legal representation at trial and on appeal</li>
<li>Laws governing capital punishment at the time of conviction</li>
<li>Juror actions and statements</li>
</ul>
“State Department of Adult Correction records list 13 of the 15 receiving clemency as Black,” NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/12/31/g-s1-40663/north-carolina-governor-roy-cooper-commutes-death-row-sentences" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.

ABC News Hosts Second Presidential Debate

NC Dem Governor Commutes 15 Death Sentences On Last Day In Office

Death Row

Joe Biden

North Carolina

Politics

Roy Cooper

President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he will direct the Department of Justice to pursue the death penalty for &#8220;violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.&#8221;
Trump made the promise in response to President Joe Biden commuting the sentences of 37 convicted murderers on Monday. The president-elect previously blasted Biden for commuting the killers&#8217; sentences, saying that it &#8220;makes no sense.&#8221;
&#8220;As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113708422880476904" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on Truth Social.
Among those whose sentences were commuted by Biden was a man who sexually assaulted and stabbed two young girls to death north of Chicago in 2005. Four years later, the killer struck again and strangled a 20-year-old officer to death in her barrack, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/23/us-news/biden-commutes-death-sentences-of-child-killers-and-mass-murderers-2-days-before-christmas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Another man who received clemency from Biden was convicted of killing a woman and then kidnapping her 12-year-old daughter and shooting her to death in 2010.
Only three convicted killers on death row did not have their sentences commuted by Biden: the Boston Marathon bomber, the Tree of Life Synagogue Shooter, and the man who murdered nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said on Monday. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
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“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” he added.
While running for the presidency in 2020, Biden promised to abolish the federal death penalty, and the Department of Justice has not executed anyone on death row since Biden was sworn into office. The Trump administration, on the other hand, carried out <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-28e44cc5c026dc16472751bbde0ead50" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13 executions</a> during Trump&#8217;s four years in office.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump also <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-wants-expand-federal-death-penalty-setting-legal-challenges-seco-rcna178979" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> expanding the death penalty to include child rapists, drug and human traffickers, and illegal immigrants convicted of killing American citizens.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

Donald Trump

‘Protect American Families’: Trump Vows That His DOJ Will ‘Vigorously Pursue The Death Penalty’

'Protect American Families': Trump Vows That His DOJ Will 'Vigorously Pursue The Death Penalty'

Trump Administration

President-elect Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden on Tuesday after Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-commutes-sentences-of-dozens-of-murderers-two-days-before-christmas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commuted the sentences</a> of 37 convicted killers on death row, including a man who murdered a police officer and a man who kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl.
Biden announced the commutations on Monday, two days before Christmas, saying in a statement that he has &#8220;dedicated [his] career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.&#8221;
&#8220;Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113707754946279224" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on Truth Social. &#8220;When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!&#8221;
Biden was also blasted by Republicans in Congress while some Democrats defended his move.
“Joe Biden is using his last days in office to spare the worst monsters in America. These killers were sentenced to death by a jury of their peers and then had a lengthy and burdensome appeals process,” <a href="https://x.com/SenTomCotton/status/1871203063492407732" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sen. Tom Cotton.
&#8220;Thomas Sanders killed Suellen Roberts in front of her 12-year-old daughter Lexis. Sanders then kidnapped Lexis, drove her across the country before torturing and killing her,&#8221; Cotton added. &#8220;Kaboni Savage, is a mass-murdering drug lord whose victims included small children. A jury sentenced Savage to 13 death sentences, but Joe Biden thinks he knows better. Jorge Torrez is a serial rapist and murderer. His victims include an 8-year-old, a 9-year-old, and a 20-year-old Naval officer named Amanda Jean Snell. She was strangled in her barracks. Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez executed an entire family of four, including two young boys, on the side of a Florida highway.&#8221;
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) <a href="https://x.com/chiproytx/status/1871212977833324608" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>, &#8220;It’s unconscionable. The President&#8217;s pardon power is being abused by @JoeBiden to carry out a miscarriage of justice. The rule of law depends on our faith in it. @JoeBiden isn’t the only problem… it’s the radical leftists destroying the rule of law. This is ending.&#8221;
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Democrats, such as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), applauded Biden&#8217;s commutations.
“The President’s decision today provides accountability with a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and ensures that these individuals never again pose a threat to public safety, but without implicating the myriad issues associated with capital punishment,&#8221; Durbin <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/12/23/biden-commuting-death-penalty-sentences-backlash/77181285007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Pressley, a far-Left member of the &#8220;Squad,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/RepPressley/status/1871141198577951200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> that the death penalty is &#8220;racist, flawed, and fundamentally unjust.&#8221;
&#8220;By taking this historic action, President Biden is demonstrating the type of moral leadership this moment demands,&#8221; she added.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

‘Makes No Sense’: Trump Blasts Biden’s Decision To Commute Sentences Of 37 Murderers

Trump Blasts Biden's Decision To Commute Sentences Of 37 Murderers

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> commuted the death sentences of dozens of convicted killers on Monday, including a man who murdered a police officer and a man who kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl.
Just two days before Christmas, Biden announced that he would be commuting the death sentences of 37 out of 40 prisoners on death row, each of who had been sentenced to death over a violent crime. The only people on death row excluded from the mass commutation were the Boston Marathon bomber, the Tree of Life Synagogue Shooter, and the man who murdered nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 
“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/23/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-federal-death-row-commutations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a>. &#8220;Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.&#8221;
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” he added. 
One of those whose death sentence was commuted was Thomas Sanders, who was <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/neworleans/news/press-releases/jury-imposes-death-sentence-on-a-las-vegas-man-for-kidnapping-and-murdering-a-12-year-old-girl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> in 2014 of kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Lexis Roberts. Sanders kidnapped Roberts after he shot her mother in the head. He held Roberts captive for several days before he shot her four times, cut her throat, and hid her body in the woods. 
Another one of those whose sentence was commuted was <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2013/10/22/court-upholds-cop-killer-s/23840867007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cop-killer</a> Daryl Lawrence. Lawrence murdered 33-year-old Ohio police officer Bryan Hurst during a bank robbery in Columbus in 2005. 
Others included a man who murdered two people in a carjacking, a man who murdered a postal worker, and multiple men who murdered fellow prisoners. 
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The latest move comes after Biden announced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-announces-mass-commutations-after-criticism-over-hunter-pardon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earlier this mont</a>h that he was commuting sentences for around 1,500 people. His commutations come as he has taken a number of other last minute policy decisions which will undermine the Trump administration. He is also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-biden-races-to-sell-off-border-wall-parts-before-trump-takes-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">racing</a> to sell off border wall materials and move them away from the southern border and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-look-to-hire-up-to-1200-new-dei-bureaucrats-before-trump-takes-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">looking</a> to hire up to 1,200 employees to work in diversity, equity, and inclusion positions.

President Biden Speaks To The Department Of Labor

Biden Commutes Sentences Of Dozens Of Murderers Two Days Before Christmas

kidnapping

Violent Crime

On August 11, 1998, a lifelong criminal named Marcellus Williams was looking for a house to rob in a gated community in University City, Missouri.
By that point, Williams already had several prior criminal convictions, including for robbery and burglary. He shouldn&#8217;t have been on the streets at all, but apparently a judge let him out of jail so that he could commit more crimes and victimize more people. And that&#8217;s exactly why he was in University City on August 11.
When Marcellus Williams knocked on the door of a home owned by a 42-year-old journalist named Felicia Gayle, no one answered. So Williams broke a window and let himself in. After he noticed that someone on the second floor was taking a shower, Williams went downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife, and waited. When Gayle emerged from the shower, Marcellus Williams stabbed her 43 times, including seven separate fatal wounds. He then stole Gayle&#8217;s purse and her husband&#8217;s laptop before leaving the house to pick up his girlfriend.
Immediately, his girlfriend noticed something was wrong. Williams&#8217; shirt was bloody. His neck was scratched. Inexplicably, there was also a new laptop in his car. The next day, Williams&#8217; girlfriend noticed a purse in the trunk that contained Felicia Gayle&#8217;s identification card. When she confronted Williams about this, he admitted that he had just murdered a woman. He threatened to kill his girlfriend if she went to the police.
Then, a few months later, Williams was incarcerated for an unrelated crime. (This is the theme in his life, after all; he&#8217;s constantly in prison because he&#8217;s constantly committing serious crimes). In this particular instance, when Williams was in jail, promptly bragged to another inmate that he had murdered Felicia Gayle, and provided non-public information about the killing. When that inmate got out of jail, he went to the police department and told them what he had heard. During their investigation, detectives spoke to Williams&#8217; girlfriend, who confirmed that he had confessed to the murder. The police also found several items belonging to the victim in the Buick that Williams was driving, as well as the stolen laptop belonging to the victim&#8217;s husband.
On these <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/supreme-court/2003/sc-83934-1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">facts</a>, Williams was convicted by a jury and sentenced to death. On appeal, Williams&#8217; attorneys raised several objections, most of which were technical in nature. But there were a couple of claims that related to his guilt or innocence. Specifically, Williams said that the jury should have been given the opportunity to determine that he was a mere accomplice to the murders, as opposed to the actual killer. That&#8217;s because, according to the defense, &#8220;several unidentified hairs and shoe prints were found at the murder scene.&#8221; Additionally, Williams&#8217; girlfriend was supposedly &#8220;seen with a laptop computer&#8221; after Williams was incarcerated.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1451-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
But these arguments weren&#8217;t convincing to the Supreme Court of Missouri. For one thing, there was evidence showing that &#8220;several workmen&#8221; and &#8220;hundreds of guests&#8221; had been inside the home in the months prior to the murder, so you&#8217;d expect to have some unidentified shoe prints and hairs lying around. Additionally, Williams told both his girlfriend and the inmate that he was alone when he committed the murders. And finally, there was no evidence that Williams&#8217; girlfriend possessed the same laptop computer that was stolen from the murder scene. She just had a laptop — any laptop.
If you tune into any mainstream media coverage of the Williams case, you won&#8217;t hear any of the details I just outlined — all of which are undisputed, and come directly from the Supreme Court of Missouri. You won&#8217;t hear news anchors recount all of the ways in which it&#8217;s clear that Marcellus Williams is extremely guilty of murder. Instead, you&#8217;ll find emotional segments like this one, which just aired on CNN:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Marcellus Williams" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vzpdwJaT7vE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Putting aside the melodrama for a moment — If we&#8217;re being honest, that segment is a little surprising. It&#8217;s your last meal, and you can request anything you want — and you choose tater tots instead of curly fries? Unfortunately, the rest of the CNN segment doesn&#8217;t explain this questionable decision, as confusing as it obviously is. Instead, the anchor focuses on reinforcing the current BLM narrative that Marcellus Williams&#8217; execution was unjust. To that end, she talks about how &#8220;prosecutors&#8221; and &#8220;the victim&#8217;s family&#8221; didn&#8217;t want to see Williams killed. She implies he might even be innocent. And she barely even mentions the woman who was brutally stabbed 43 times in her own kitchen, or the mountain of damning evidence in the case.
Let&#8217;s take both of those claims in turn. First of all, the &#8220;prosecutor&#8221; that the CNN anchor is referring to is a &#8220;restorative justice&#8221; activist named Wesley Bell. Bell was not the original prosecutor on the case, which was tried more than 20 years ago. He parachuted in at the last moment, in defiance of the state&#8217;s attorney general, to try to delay Williams&#8217; execution. Earlier this year, Bell claimed in court filings that DNA evidence might exonerate Williams.
Specifically, there was supposedly unknown DNA on the murder weapon. 
But that claim fell apart in recent weeks. According to the Missouri judicial branch, attorneys, “received a report indicating the DNA on the murder weapon belonged to an assistant prosecuting attorney and an investigator who had handled the murder weapon without gloves prior to trial.&#8221; So there was no unknown DNA on the murder weapon after all.
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a></h4>
This month, a court in Missouri <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H_8gEp_1LgUzEsUAEEXg1643UJw88rja/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">looked into</a> what exactly happened with the handling of this murder weapon. They determined that, back in 2001, it was normal practice for detectives in St. Louis to handle evidence, without wearing gloves, after the crime lab had processed the item and determined there was no useful DNA or fingerprint evidence on it. And in this case, because the killer wore gloves, there was no usable evidence on the knife. So the detective and the prosecutor repeatedly handled the knife, as part of trial preparation. Nothing about that, in any way, suggests that the knife was &#8220;tampered with,&#8221; or that there might have been another killer. So the court upheld the conviction.
As the state attorney general put it: 
<blockquote>One of the defense’s own experts previously testified he could not rule out the possibility that Williams’s DNA was also on the knife. He could only testify to the fact that enough actors had handled the knife throughout the legal process that others’ DNA was present.</blockquote>
That attorney general emphasized that the other available evidence was very clear: 
<blockquote>The victim’s personal items were found in Williams’s car after the murder. A witness testified that Williams had sold the victim’s laptop to him. Williams confessed to his girlfriend and an inmate in the St. Louis City Jail, and William’s girlfriend saw him dispose of the bloody clothes worn during the murder.</blockquote>
This is overwhelming evidence, obviously. And if you read between the lines, even this new prosecutor concedes that. In recent court filings — and in his interview with CNN — the prosecutor didn&#8217;t even claim that Williams was necessarily innocent. Instead, he pointed to alleged defects in how the trial was conducted, including jury selection. Here&#8217;s part of the prosecutors&#8217; interview with CNN:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Why The Speedy Execution" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GbTyrNhfJpQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
It&#8217;s an incredible moment. They&#8217;re both claiming that Marcellus Williams was executed too hastily — more than 25 years after he killed a woman in her own kitchen. That&#8217;s too fast, apparently. We just need another 25 years to really investigate this case, and see if we can find some new information. Maybe some new witnesses will turn up. Maybe we&#8217;ll find new surveillance footage. Who knows? Apparently the point is, even after you&#8217;re convicted, you get 50 more years to prove you&#8217;re really innocent. At least, that&#8217;s what you get if BLM and the corporate press think they can turn you into a martyr. If you&#8217;re a white guy on death row, then no one really cares. You’ll notice that the only condemned criminals anyone ever cries over are black. Plenty of white guys get put to death, too, but they never become a trendy cause for the media and activists. I wonder why?
The other argument that they&#8217;re using is that people connected to the victim supposedly don&#8217;t want this man to be executed. Again, this isn&#8217;t a claim that&#8217;s related to whether Williams killed someone or not. It&#8217;s an argument about what the family wants. But if you look closer into this claim, it falls apart as well. Here&#8217;s part of a letter written last month by Laura Friedman, who&#8217;s now married to the victim&#8217;s former husband:
<blockquote>After 26 years of competing court filings, secret commissions, TV news alerts and front-page headlines, my husband&#8217;s personal pain is once again the subject of public discussion and debate. &#8230; This is now the fifth time this family tragedy has been revisited, relitigated and reappeared in the press. We are exhausted and exasperated. &#8230; Whether the death penalty is deserved in a case like this is a matter for debate. Williams&#8217; guilt is not.</blockquote>
Notice what&#8217;s actually going on here. Laura Friedman emphatically says that Marcellus Williams is guilty. The media just ignores that part. She also says that she just wants this case to be over, so that the family can get some closure. They&#8217;re clearly tired of how activists have dragged this case out for more than 25 years. The media ignores that part, too. Instead, the story from the mainstream media is that the family and loved ones close to the victim supposedly don&#8217;t want the death penalty.
These are the lies that are underpinning the latest attempt by race hustlers to manufacture another George Floyd scenario. 
For example, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSqu9YNOEPM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Henry Rogers</a>, a.k.a. Ibram X. Kendi, <a href="https://x.com/ibramxk/status/1838769254553837758" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>Tonight, Missouri lynched Marcellus Williams. DNA evidence proved he was innocent. It didn’t matter. Because the United States is a serial killer of Black people.&#8221; For her part, Cori Bush — who just lost her primary to Wesley Bell — also <a href="https://x.com/RepCori/status/1838740528734638565" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> Williams &#8220;innocent&#8221; and said his death was &#8220;depraved.</blockquote>
The NAACP had a similar <a href="https://x.com/NAACP/status/1838718578465378620" target="_blank" rel="noopener">message</a>:
<blockquote>Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man. Governor Parson had the responsibility to save this innocent life, and he didn’t. The NAACP was founded in 1909 in response to the barbaric lynching of Black people in America — we were founded exactly because of people like Governor Parson who perpetuate violence against innocent Black people.</blockquote>
There are a lot more statements like this, from every BLM activist and race hustler you&#8217;d expect. Mainstream media organizations are saying much the same thing. They&#8217;re claiming that there&#8217;s no difference between executing a man convicted of a brutal homicide — and who clearly did commit that brutal homicide — and lynching a random black person who&#8217;s done nothing wrong. If these people had any degree of intelligence or integrity whatsoever, they&#8217;d recognize how degrading that is to black people who haven&#8217;t committed any crimes. They&#8217;re being equated with a career felon who killed a woman for no reason.
The only lesson we can draw from this is that the NAACP, Henry Rogers, and corporate media don&#8217;t believe that black people should get the death penalty when they murder a white person. They probably don&#8217;t think any punishment is appropriate, frankly, based on how they&#8217;re lying about the death of Felicia Gayle. We are witnessing crass race hatred spilling out into the open.
We all know that, if Marcellus Williams were white, or if his victim had been black, then there wouldn&#8217;t be any outrage whatsoever. This is the clearest imaginable example of a manufactured racial narrative, and of course it&#8217;s happening in an election year.
And it&#8217;s riling up all the lunatics you&#8217;d expect. In one post that has hundreds of thousands of views on X, an activist <a href="https://x.com/mrgnbrmll/status/1838659426716410063" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>: 
<blockquote>The murder of Marcellus Williams is connected to the murder of the people of Palestine and the people in Haiti and the people in Lebanon and the people in &#8230; Let your grief move you to see this as part of one state approved project.</blockquote>
Yes, Marcellus Williams is &#8220;connected&#8221; to the &#8220;people of Palestine&#8221; and the &#8220;people of Haiti and Lebanon.&#8221; As deranged as this post is, it does have a shred of honesty in it. The truth is that no one campaigning on behalf of Williams actually thinks he&#8217;s innocent. If a woman is brutally murdered and you confess to the crime to multiple people, giving them details that you wouldn’t have known unless you’d been there — and you are found with the victim’s property in your car — then you’re guilty. Period. It is basically impossible to even conceive of a scenario where all of that could happen and yet you’d still be innocent. That’s because Williams is guilty. He did it. He brutally butchered an innocent woman. He deserves to die for what he did. It’s that simple.
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But none of the activists really care about the facts of his case, or even about Williams himself. These, after all, are not empathetic people. These are not people who value human life. Millions of human children have been killed by abortion in this country and these people not only don’t care about that, but celebrate it. They apparently feel infinitely more sympathy for a convicted murderer who stabbed a woman 40 times than they do for 60 million dead children combined. How could anyone’s heart be that twisted? How could their sympathies be so wildly, psychotically misdirected? Well, because they actually have no sympathy at all for anyone. It’s all a show. It’s an act.
This is about a much larger effort to undermine and ultimately destroy the rule of law in the United States. And this effort is being undertaken by people who care far more about Haiti and Lebanon than they care about this country. That&#8217;s why they&#8217;re trivializing the murder of this young white journalist in Missouri. It&#8217;s why they&#8217;re mocking her family and pretending her killer is innocent. Only the most dysfunctional hellholes on the planet have explicit, distinct standards of justice depending on the skin color of the assailant and the skin color of the victim. And after this surreal and delusional effort to absolve Marcellus Williams, it&#8217;s clear that we&#8217;re much closer to becoming one of those hellholes than we might like to admit.

MixCollage-26-Sep-2024-04-01-PM-1534

This Man Confessed To His Brutal Crimes … And They Still Call Him ‘Innocent’

This Man Confessed To His Brutal Crimes ... And They Still Call Him 'Innocent'

Anti-Racism

Blacks

Ibram X. Kendi

Matt Walsh

Missouri

Opinion

Racism

When Kamala Harris was running to be San Francisco’s district attorney, she said she would never pursue the death penalty.
But then a case came before her that was so deserving, that her commitment to her campaign promise blindsided a grieving family and even gained condemnation from former prominent Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein.
On April 10, 2004, San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza, 29, was called to work overtime on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Espinoza, a plainclothes officer, looked forward to attending Easter services the next day with his wife, Renata, and their 3-year-old daughter.
During his night shift, however, the Espinozas&#8217; lives would be forever changed.
Espinoza and his partner saw a man walking down the street in the Bayview District of San Francisco, and it looked like he was hiding a weapon, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/politics/kamala-harris-death-penalty-decisions/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in 2019, while Harris was running for president. Espinoza exited his unmarked police car and approached the man, later identified as 21-year-old David Hill, saying he was a police officer. Hill turned to face him, reached for his AK-47 rifle, and opened fire, the San Francisco Examiner <a href="https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/gang-member-guilty-of-officer-s-murder/article_0ffd1f81-386a-5cb4-ba7f-826ebff0b185.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“I had just talked to Isaac maybe about 30 to 40 minutes before,” Renata told CNN. “He had told me to stay up because he was coming home.”
Another police officer took her to the hospital where Espinoza had been taken after the altercation, reassuring the frightened mother that her husband was “fine” and “alive.”
But when they arrived at the hospital, none of the other police officers could look at Renata, and the captain handed her Espinoza’s star.
“I remember I walked into this room and he still had blood here,” she told CNN, tearing up. “He was laying there with his eyes closed and I saw the blood here. And I walk over to him I just said, ‘wake up.’”
Espinoza’s death was the first time a San Francisco police officer had been killed in the line of duty in at least 10 years, CNN reported.
Gary Delagnes, then-president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, told CNN he received a call from Harris “a day or two” after Espinoza’s death. A day later, Harris spoke during a news conference regarding the murder.
“In San Francisco, it is the will, I believe, of a majority of people that the most severe crimes be met with the most severe consequences,” Harris said at that news conference. “And that life without the possibility of parole is a severe consequence.”
Delagnes was at the event as well, standing quietly next to Harris.
“I’m standing there and I’m going, ‘Oh my God,’” he told CNN. “The kid’s not even in the ground yet. You’re thinking to yourself, OK, is she sorry that this kid died or is this just a political opportunity? Is this just an opportunity for her to double down on the fact she’s not going to pursue the death penalty?”
He also told the outlet that he didn’t know Harris was going to take the death penalty off the table when he agreed to appear alongside her at the event.
Harris’ team justified the decision by saying San Francisco juries rarely, if ever, sentenced criminals to death, and reminded the media that Hill, the shooter, was only 21 years old.
Renata, Espinoza’s widow, told CNN that she remembered the press conference as the first time she heard Harris would not pursue the death penalty against the man who killed her husband.
“She did not call me,” Renata told the outlet. “I don’t understand why she went on camera to say that without talking to the family. It’s like, you can’t even wait till he’s buried?”
“I felt like she had just taken something from us,” she added. “She had just taken justice from us. From Isaac. She was only thinking of herself. I couldn’t understand why. I was in disbelief that she had gone on and already made her decision to not seek the death penalty for my husband.”
At Espinoza’s funeral, Harris was rebuked by none other than then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who at the time supported the death penalty. Feinstein would later switch her position on the issue, but at the time, she took a moment during Espinoza’s eulogy to condemn Harris’ decision.
“This is not only the definition of tragedy, it’s the special circumstance called for by the death penalty law,” she said, diverting from her prepared remarks but not naming Harris.
The hundreds of officers attending the funeral stood up and clapped after Feinstein’s remark.
Even after the funeral, Harris didn’t call Renata. So, Renata wrote her a letter. Espinoza’s older sister, Regina, expected to hear from the DA.
“She never called,” Regina told CNN. “There was no consideration for Renata, my niece, my parents, me, or the officers. It was as if she didn’t care.”
Espinoza’s family didn’t understand why Harris wasn’t pursuing the death penalty since California law allowed for “special circumstances,” including the murder of a police officer. And, while San Francisco juries rarely agreed to the death penalty, it had been decades since an accused cop killer was put on trial.
Nearly two weeks after Espinoza’s death, Harris – who still hadn’t called his family – wrote <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Justice-for-Officer-Espinoza-peace-for-the-city-2789147.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an opinion article</a> published in the San Francisco Chronicle again defending her choice not to seek the death penalty, saying the “district attorney is charged with seeking justice, not vengeance.”
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The family then reached out to the assistant DA to try to meet with Harris.
“I can’t remember exactly what she said,” Espinoza’s sister Regina told CNN. “But I remember there was no connection. We let her know how we felt. We didn’t walk away feeling better.”
“She never came over and said, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ Never. Nothing.” Espinoza’s widow, Renata, added. “I would have been able to hear her explanation directly and then we could have talked about it.”
Renata told CNN she never received any compassion from Harris in the years following, during Hill’s trial and conviction.
During her short-lived campaign for president in 2019, Harris wouldn’t tell reporters whether she ever personally spoke to anyone from the Espinoza family.
“We reached out to the family. We always did. We did in that case as well and offered all of the support that our office was able to give the family,” Harris said at the time.
While <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/diaz/article/Harris-and-the-death-penalty-years-of-13693075.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speaking</a> to the San Francisco Chronicle in May 2019, Harris said the part of the case she thinks about the most was whether she should have waited until after Espinoza’s funeral to announce she wasn’t seeking the death penalty.
“Maybe it was a political novice mistake. I don’t know. Maybe it was the right thing to do but you got to take the heat for it,” she said at the time.
Espinoza’s murderer, David Hill, is &#8220;grateful&#8221; for Harris’ decision.
“It took a lot of courage and integrity to make a campaign promise like that – and then keep it,” Hill told CNN. “I’m forever grateful.”

Kamala Harris

As A Prosecutor, Kamala Harris Refused To Seek The Death Penalty For A Gang Member Who Murdered A Cop

Cop-Killer

Police

San Francisco

On Monday, Tennessee became the second state to officially allow child rapists to be executed.
Tennessee GOP Gov. Bill Lee <a href="https://apnews.com/article/child-rape-death-penalty-tennessee-6edde756a71b0ae26eea703d1f69b572">signed a bill</a> into law in mid-May that went into effect Monday. It authorized the state to implement one of three penalties for the aggravated rape of a child: death, imprisonment for life without possibility of parole, or imprisonment for life. In May 2023, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill allowing child rapists to be executed.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana in which it declared it unconstitutional to execute a convicted offender in child sexual battery cases. But supporters of the death penalty for child rapists hope the conservative majority on the Supreme Court will reverse the 2008 decision.
“Maybe the atmosphere is different on the Supreme Court,” Tennessee GOP state Sen. Janice Bowling said. “We’re simply challenging a ruling.”
In the Kennedy decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the 5-4 majority, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/554/407/">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
We have explained that capital punishment must “be limited to those offenders who commit ‘a narrow category of the most serious crimes’ and whose extreme culpability makes them ‘the most deserving of execution.’”
</blockquote>
Yet, here is how Anthony Kennedy described the act that had taken place which led to the conviction of Patrick Kennedy for <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2007/07-343">raping</a> his eight-year-old stepdaughter:
<blockquote>
When police arrived at petitioner’s (home between 9:20 and 9:30 a.m., they found L. H. on her bed, wearing a T-shirt and wrapped in a bloody blanket. She was bleeding profusely from the vaginal area. Petitioner told police he had carried her from the yard to the bathtub and then to the bed. Consistent with this explanation, police found a thin line of blood drops in the garage on the way to the house and then up the stairs. Once in the bedroom, petitioner had used a basin of water and a cloth to wipe blood from the victim. This later prevented medical personnel from collecting a reliable DNA sample.
L. H. was transported to the Children’s Hospital. An expert in pediatric forensic medicine testified that L. H.’s injuries were the most severe he had seen from a sexual assault in his four years of practice. A laceration to the left wall of the vagina had separated her cervix from the back of her vagina, causing her rectum to protrude into the vaginal structure. Her entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus. The injuries required emergency surgery.
Police also found that petitioner made two telephone calls on the morning of the rape. Sometime before 6:15 a.m., petitioner called his employer and left a message that he was unavailable to work that day. Petitioner called back between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. to ask a colleague how to get blood out of a white carpet because his daughter had “‘just become a young lady.’”
</blockquote>

Nashville, Tennessee

Tennessee Follows Florida, Will Now Allow Execution Of Child Rapists

Child rape

Florida

Tennessee

I have talked a lot about the collapse of the criminal justice system. The very concept of criminal justice — of enacting justice, and punishing crime — has been destroyed. But very few people ever take the time to trace the roots of our current state of lawless anarchy back to its origins. And the thing is, you don’t need to trace the roots very far.
There is a reason why we now live in a country governed by people who don’t believe in simply enforcing the law and punishing lawbreakers. These are people who are operating according to certain particularly crazy set of beliefs. And one of those beliefs is that deterrence doesn’t exist. Effectively, you cannot deter crime by punishing it. That’s the insane idea that began in our institutions of higher learning — the sort of insane idea that can only begin in our institutions of higher learning — and filtered its way down from there. As these ideas always do.
It began with the claim, first made years ago, that the death penalty doesn’t deter crime. This was always false, for reasons we’ll touch on later. But whatever you think of the death penalty, the implication underlying this &#8220;deterrence&#8221; argument was never going to stop with the death penalty. It was always going to progress far beyond that. And indeed, we&#8217;ve seen that progression in recent years. It&#8217;s no longer, &#8220;The death penalty is pointless because people don&#8217;t consider those consequences when they commit crime.&#8221; Instead, the argument we&#8217;re hearing today is, &#8220;All harsh punishment is pointless because people don&#8217;t consider any consequences when they commit crime.&#8221;
This is the intellectual origin of the &#8220;soft-on-crime&#8221; approach to law enforcement that we&#8217;re seeing in every major city in the country right now. And several years ago, this approach was adopted by the Obama DOJ without any fanfare whatsoever. In May of 2016, the National Institute of Justice, which is the research arm of the DOJ, published a <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> entitled, &#8220;Five Things About Deterrence.&#8221; You’ve probably never heard of this document but it is essentially the modern manifesto of the anti-incarceration movement in the United States. It applies the reasoning of anti-death penalty advocates to all forms of crime. It’s truly a remarkable document.
So here are the &#8220;five things about deterrence&#8221; that the memo highlights and then expands upon.
Number one: &#8220;The certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment.&#8221; In other words, according to the DOJ, criminals are primarily worried about whether the cops are going to arrest them — not about how long they&#8217;re going to have to stay in prison. The question that apparently never occurred to this DOJ is: If the punishments aren’t severe, then why would the certainty of being caught deter anyone? Why would criminals care if they’re caught, if they know ahead of time that they won’t be punished? The whole reason that being caught is scary is that you will be punished. But if you aren’t punished, then being caught isn’t scary anymore. 
We are seeing this play out in cities across the country. Sure, the criminals are caught (sometimes), but it doesn’t matter because they aren’t punished and they’re back on the street a day later, committing more crimes. The argument from the DOJ is like saying that home invaders are deterred by guns, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a Glock or a super soaker. It makes no sense.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1309-why-the-criminal-justice-system-gave-up-on-punishing-criminals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
The DOJ&#8217;s manifesto doesn&#8217;t bother to expound on this point in any way. It just says, &#8220;Research shows clearly that the chance of being caught is a vastly more effective deterrent than even draconian punishment.&#8221; So there you have it. &#8220;Research&#8221; shows that punishment doesn&#8217;t work. What kind of research? They don&#8217;t say, at least not in that paragraph. Buried in the fine print on the page, however, is a citation to an <a href="https://prohic.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-06-02-DeterrenceMetaNagin.2013.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> by a public policy professor named Daniel Nagin at Carnegie Mellon University. This is the primary paper the DOJ relies on, along with a couple of others. Apparently, Nagin has done the research, and he&#8217;s realized that criminals don&#8217;t really care that much about punishment. They only care about the prospect of being caught.
I looked around to see if Nagin actually thinks this, and if so, what his logic is. I came across this clip from many years ago, which I&#8217;m going to play primarily because it&#8217;s kind of hilarious. Watch as a local news team breaks the news that, according to Daniel Nagin&#8217;s first groundbreaking finding, when you have more police officers, criminals tend to commit less crime. And then the news station interviews a couple of random people who think that checks out. This is one of the best examples of &#8220;research&#8221; telling us something that&#8217;s incredibly obvious, to a comical degree. But buried in this report, if you listen really carefully, is Nagin&#8217;s second theory, which the DOJ finds so compelling. Watch:
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So the reporter holds up the stack of papers. &#8220;Here&#8217;s the research,&#8221; he says. &#8220;It shows that more police means less crime!&#8221; Cut to the two local residents and the sheriff who say, &#8220;uh, yeah. You think?&#8221; Apparently, being a professor at Carnegie Mellon isn&#8217;t what it used to be. Random people off the street think your research is incredibly obvious, because it is.
But the key part of that segment for our purposes is what Daniel Nagin says in that clip. He reports that, &#8220;There&#8217;s little evidence that making punishments even more severe than they already are has an incremental effect.&#8221; Right away, that&#8217;s a different argument from the one the DOJ is making. The DOJ said flat-out that, &#8220;draconian punishments&#8221; don&#8217;t deter crime. But the argument this Carnegie Mellon professor is advancing in that clip is that, if you make our existing punishments more severe, then they won&#8217;t deter crime that much. Those are two completely different arguments.
This little inconsistency confused me enough to look up Nagin&#8217;s actual paper — the one the DOJ cites in its manifesto on deterrence. And in that article, you&#8217;ll find two main claims.
The first one is the idea he outlines in that video clip, &#8220;There is little evidence that increases in the length of already long prison sentences yield general deterrence effects that are sufficiently large to justify their social and economic costs.&#8221; In other words, he&#8217;s saying that existing prison sentences are a sufficient deterrent, and we don&#8217;t need to make them longer.
But afterwards in the paper, Nagin goes on to say pretty much what the DOJ claims. He says, &#8220;I have concluded that there is little evidence of a specific deterrent effect arising from the experience of imprisonment compared with the experience of noncustodial sanctions such as probation. .. It is clear that lengthy prison sentences cannot be justified on a deterrence-based, crime prevention basis.&#8221;
Those claims don&#8217;t follow at all. His starting point is that we don&#8217;t need to make prison sentences longer. And somehow, without showing his work, he ends up with a declaration that criminals don&#8217;t really care about their punishments, only whether they&#8217;re apprehended — as though apprehension without punishment matters to anyone. We might as well just sentence everyone to probation, is what he&#8217;s saying.
The technical term for this kind of argument is that it&#8217;s garbage. It&#8217;s a clearly absurd result, but it&#8217;s the basis for the DOJ&#8217;s entire argument against deterrence. This is the document that the DOJ cites to justify its policy of releasing as many criminals as possible — or at least, criminals who share the DOJ&#8217;s politics. It&#8217;s hard to overemphasize how truly bizarre and incredible this is.
But it gets weirder. Citing Nagin&#8217;s research, the DOJ goes on to claim that, &#8220;Sending an individual convicted of a crime to prison isn’t a very effective way to deter crime.&#8221;
Again, that&#8217;s a direct quote from a document produced by the DOJ in 2016. &#8220;Sending an individual convicted of a crime to prison isn&#8217;t a very effective way to deter crime.&#8221; They&#8217;re saying that because some random Carnegie Mellon professor just wrote it down a few years earlier. Again, they don&#8217;t really clarify this point. Here&#8217;s the extent of the DOJ&#8217;s explanation: “Prisons are good for punishing criminals and keeping them off the street, but prison sentences (particularly long sentences) are unlikely to deter future crime. Prisons actually may have the opposite effect: Inmates learn more effective crime strategies from each other, and time spent in prison may desensitize many to the threat of future imprisonment.&#8221;
If this is true, it’s an argument for giving out even longer punishments, not shorter ones. In fact, this is a solid reason to be much more generous in handing out life sentences. If you give a life sentence — and actually make it a life sentence, meaning that the person isn&#8217;t released after 25 years or whatever — then the deterrence issue, at least for that individual, is a moot point. He’s gone. He’s off the street for good. But the DOJ doesn&#8217;t mention this possibility in the memo. Instead they conclude that we should let people out of jail sooner, after just telling us that jail only makes criminals more dangerous.
The rest of the DOJ document continues along these lines.
The third bullet point in the DOJ&#8217;s document says, &#8220;Police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and punished.&#8221; (This was the earth-shattering revelation that shocked those news reporters). 
Number four: &#8220;Increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.&#8221;
And number five: &#8220;There is no proof that the death penalty deters criminals.&#8221;
Those latter two bullet points contradict everything we know about the human condition. Obviously longer, harsh prison sentences deter crime. This is a basic fact of human psychology. People are less likely to do something if the consequences are very bad. That doesn’t mean nobody will do it. It doesn&#8217;t mean that everyone will respond to incentives like a rational person. It just means fewer people will do it. It&#8217;s impossible for a reasonable person to deny this point because it is again a basic fact of human behavior, well established over the course of thousands of years of human civilization.
That’s why they have no way of disproving it. All they have are random studies done by quack sociologists which are supposed to outweigh the collective experience of all mankind for the past 10 thousand years. And by the way, these random studies contradict the random studies I cited earlier — the ones CBS News reported on back in 2007.
That&#8217;s a cue that it&#8217;s a good idea to ignore all of these studies, and use common sense. The DOJ is stacking a handful of research papers against the totality of human experience, and expect us to believe the research papers. Which is also how they come up with the ridiculous proposition that the death penalty doesn’t deter crime. Obviously people are less likely to do something if you kill them for doing it. If the death penalty in its current form is less effective as a deterrence than it has been in the past, that&#8217;s only because we put so much time in between conviction and punishment that the punishment loses much of its societal impact.
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And again, the DOJ&#8217;s arguments are all assuming that &#8220;deterrence&#8221; is somehow the only relevant goal. But long prison sentences have another important goal, known as &#8220;incapacitation.&#8221; They remove violent criminals from the public, so they can&#8217;t hurt anyone again. 
Later on in the document, the DOJ does briefly touch on the goal of incapacitation. Here&#8217;s what they say: &#8220;Individuals grow out of criminal activity as they age. &#8230; A more severe (i.e., lengthy) prison sentence for convicted individuals who are naturally aging out of crime does achieve the goal of punishment and incapacitation. But that incapacitation is a costly way to deter future crimes by aging individuals who already are less likely to commit those crimes by virtue of age.&#8221;
This is how the DOJ views criminal justice. They actually say that sending criminals to prison for a long time might be pointless because they&#8217;ll grow out of being criminals anyway. This is the type of thinking that is directing the justice system from the very top, and the mental rot goes all the way down from there.
But the DOJ does make one point that makes sense, which is that it&#8217;s impossible to say which criminals are likely to reoffend, and which criminals are likely to &#8220;age out&#8221; of a life of crime. That&#8217;s true. Really, it&#8217;s impossible to conduct a fully accurate study of deterrence. There&#8217;s no way to quantify the number of people who would have committed a crime had the punishments been softer, or the number who did commit one because the punishments were too soft. This would require not only self-reported data (which is notoriously unreliable) but also a person&#8217;s speculations about their theoretical mental states in some other possible universe. There&#8217;s just no way to compile that into a statistic and call it science.
We ultimately have to fall back on the history of human societies and our own basic common sense intuitions about how human beings operate and what sorts of things incentivize and disincentivize them.
And all of that points back to a simple and straightforward conclusion: if you want less crime, you have one choice. It&#8217;s the choice that academics and public health experts and politicians have avoided making for decades now. You have to punish criminals, and you have to punish them severely.

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