The Cheshire Murders

[Morbs]

It's currently being rotated back on to HBO Demand, if anyone is interested.

 

I think we have a choice in life, to choose love or to choose hate/fear, and I believe Dr. Petit is choosing hate.  I'm against the death penalty, I have a hard time wanting the death of a man who was anally raped since 5 and raised in a cult.  Obviously, I have great sympathy for Petit, but I also think he is an asshole and his tone towards everyone who disagreed with him was condescending.  I don't think only people who are victims of violent crimes should be able to have an opinion on the death penalty, but that actually it is the opposite, and their minds are too clouded by being so close to the situation.

 

 

[The Evil One]

Of course I think Dr. Petit's opinions would be biased by what happened to him. Horrible things happened to Komisjarkevsky, but he was never declared not competent to stand trial. And even if his own sexual abuse played a part in his sexual abuse of another minor, was he ever burned alive as a child like the two daughters were? If he wasn't complicit, he could have loosened their restraints to give them a fighting chance. And Hayes raped and murdered Jennifer Petit without being abused as a child.

I'm not agreeing with the death penalty, I'm just saying if some person had to watch the most innocent in their family die horrible, violating, tortuous deaths, this guy did it. And he obviously felt powerless while it happened. So whether I agree with him or not, I understand why he feels he needs to do it. He couldn't protect them then, he was over powered and out numbered. To him, this is justice.

[Armchair Critic]

. Obviously what he has gone through is terrible but anyone else raise an eyebrow that Dr. Pettit got remarried so quickly? And now he has another child

[iggysaurus]

What I found the most interesting (and frustrating) is that nobody in the family seemed to acknowledge the fact that a death sentence wasn't going to result in them immediately (or maybe even ever) being put to death anyway.  As one of the lawyers repeatedly pointed out, the death penalty was only going to result in a neverending series of appeals, costing millions of dollars and keeping the murderers in the forefront of everyone's mind in the meantime.  That, almost more than philosophical or moral objections, is probably the most convincing argument against seeking the death penalty.  No matter how much you think someone needs to die for a crime they committed, what's the point if they're not going to really be put to death anyway? 

 

The absurdity of the system was really highlighted by the fact that a year after receiving the death penalty, Steven Hayes actually requested to be put to death and get it over with, but was denied and his appeals continued.  WTF? On whose behalf are these appeals being done, if the defendant himself doesn't want to appeal and wants to die? It makes zero sense.  I agree with the guy who said it would've been much better to just let them receive life without parole, and then they'd be locked up and forgotten, forced to live with what they did in the bleak and hopeless world of prison. 

 

Edited to add: 

 

Obviously, I have great sympathy for Petit, but I also think he is an asshole and his tone towards everyone who disagreed with him was condescending.  I don't think only people who are victims of violent crimes should be able to have an opinion on the death penalty

 

I agree with this. Dr. Petit definitely seemed condescending to me. His constant public appearances also worked against getting the trial over with, since the case was always in the news and no juror could be objective. It was almost like, he didn't want it to be over, because it became his reason to live, and once the case was finished he'd have to try to move on with his life.  I feel terrible for him, obviously, but not sure prolonging the public nature of the case was the best way to deal with his grief. 

Edited July 16, 2015 by iggysaurus

[One Tough Cookie]

Well, it's moot at this point because Conn. has outlawed the death penalty.  Now let them disappear into the bowels of the Conn. penal system and hopefully never to be heard from again until their unlamented deaths.

 

I would never judge how Dr. Petit manages his grief or "moves on" by marrying and fathering another child.  I cannot imagine living thru the nightmare he did and being able to get out of bed each day, never mind actually getting up and functioning.

[Patrizio]

I was so happy to read that Dr. Petit remarried and had a child.  The crushing depression and horror of what he lived through- I admire his strength and faith.  If anybody deserved the death penalty, it's these two guys, but, I live in the south.  I don't know what it's like in the rest of the country but  we have quite a few convictions overturned because in their zeal to solve cases, the police pinned it on some poor person.  Now I don't mean some victimized person, I mean a guy/gal that doesn't have family to put their house up for mortgage to retain a decent lawyer who will get death taken off the prosecutorial table so to speak.  The death penalty is not fair and frankly I believe that life in prison without parole is a pretty awful life.  Yeah, I guess you're alive, but is that really living?