Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
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This will no doubt be a debate again on capital punishment. Do you think a history of abuse or mental deficiency gives cause for a stay of execution? Does the sex of the condemned matter?
Aileen Wournos (FL)
Oct. 9, 2002
7:00 AM EST
Aileen Wournos, a white woman, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 9 for a series of murders she committed in Florida in late 1989 and 1990. She confessed to six murders, but claimed she killed only in self-defense, resisting violent assaults by men while working as a prostitute. At her trial for the murder of Richard Mallory, Wournos testified that she shot him only after he attempted to violently rape her. Police found “nothing dirty” on the victim and concluded that there was nothing to substantiate the defendant’s tale of sexual assault. Had they simply run Mallory’s name through the FBI’s computer network, they would have known he served a decade behind bars for violent rape years before.
The defense showed that Wournos suffered a tragic, abusive upbringing, which resulted in antisocial and borderline personality disorders. Her mother abandoned her as an infant, and her father served time in mental hospitals in several states as a deranged child molester. Eventually, her father, like her grandfather, committed suicide, and her grandmother died of liver failure from alcoholism. Wournos suffered from physical abuse as a child, and later told police she had sex with her brother at a very early age. During both the trial and the appeal, the court declined to find the statutory factor of extreme emotional disturbance.
This case, from the early investigations to the appeals process, has been tainted by publicity and media drama. Three top investigators in the case hired lawyers within weeks of the arrest to field offers from Hollywood concerning movie deals. The media’s idea of catching a “serial killer” unjustly simplified the complexities of this case. As reporter Michele Gillen said on NBC upon revealing new evidence after the conviction and death sentence: “She’s a sick woman…but that’s no reason for the state to say, ‘She confessed to killing men; we don’t have to do our homework.’”
Unfortunately, Wournos’ abusive upbringing – a tragic situation far beyond her control – is not unique on death row. The United States sentences men and women to death every year with tragic childhood backgrounds, refusing to recognize the pattern of destructive behavior so often associated with such upbringings.
Aileen Wournos (FL)
Oct. 9, 2002
7:00 AM EST
Aileen Wournos, a white woman, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 9 for a series of murders she committed in Florida in late 1989 and 1990. She confessed to six murders, but claimed she killed only in self-defense, resisting violent assaults by men while working as a prostitute. At her trial for the murder of Richard Mallory, Wournos testified that she shot him only after he attempted to violently rape her. Police found “nothing dirty” on the victim and concluded that there was nothing to substantiate the defendant’s tale of sexual assault. Had they simply run Mallory’s name through the FBI’s computer network, they would have known he served a decade behind bars for violent rape years before.
The defense showed that Wournos suffered a tragic, abusive upbringing, which resulted in antisocial and borderline personality disorders. Her mother abandoned her as an infant, and her father served time in mental hospitals in several states as a deranged child molester. Eventually, her father, like her grandfather, committed suicide, and her grandmother died of liver failure from alcoholism. Wournos suffered from physical abuse as a child, and later told police she had sex with her brother at a very early age. During both the trial and the appeal, the court declined to find the statutory factor of extreme emotional disturbance.
This case, from the early investigations to the appeals process, has been tainted by publicity and media drama. Three top investigators in the case hired lawyers within weeks of the arrest to field offers from Hollywood concerning movie deals. The media’s idea of catching a “serial killer” unjustly simplified the complexities of this case. As reporter Michele Gillen said on NBC upon revealing new evidence after the conviction and death sentence: “She’s a sick woman…but that’s no reason for the state to say, ‘She confessed to killing men; we don’t have to do our homework.’”
Unfortunately, Wournos’ abusive upbringing – a tragic situation far beyond her control – is not unique on death row. The United States sentences men and women to death every year with tragic childhood backgrounds, refusing to recognize the pattern of destructive behavior so often associated with such upbringings.
