Gardener pleads guilty to two murders

[Munjibunga]

Today, John Gardner pled guilty to killing not only Chelsea King, but also Amber DuBois. He will receive two consecutive life sentences without the possibilty of parole or appeal. He will be in prison until he is dead, dead, dead. My only wish is that they would put him in the general population to shorten the amount of time we have to support him there.

This is the case where he ambushed, raped and killed a 17-year-old jogger near Lake Hodges in San Diego. Legislation has been introduced to make sexual assault a one-strike offense, meaning life in prison the first time. I know it's a little lenient, but it'll have to do for now. Of course the bill will get watered down.

[MakiSupaStar]

I would have rather seen him plead not guilty so we could kill him. Even if it does cost more to execute him there's a little bit of satisfaction in it. What a creep. Good riddance.

[Munjibunga]

Well, the problem was that they didn't have enough evidence to bring him to trial for the Amber DuBois case. The King family wanted the death penalty, and the DA would have gone for it, but the Kings said they wanted the DuBois family to get closure, too. So the plea bargain was no death penalty if he confessed to DuBois, as well.

There isn't any doubt he committed that crime, because he took the police to Amber's body. Part of the deal was that the DA could not use that info in court (that he took them to the body), so a conviction for the DuBois killing would not have been possible without other evidence, which doesn't exist at this time.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

...

There isn't any doubt he committed that crime, because he took the police to Amber's body. Part of the deal was that the DA could not use that info in court (that he took them to the body), so a conviction for the DuBois killing would not have been possible without other evidence, which doesn't exist at this time.

Even if prosecutors couldn't admit that he led them to the body, wouldn't they still be able to use evidence found at the crime scene? They likely would have come up with something there.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by Atoz

Even if prosecutors couldn't admit that he led them to the body, wouldn't they still be able to use evidence found at the crime scene? They likely would have come up with something there.

Yes, they could, but Bonnie Dumanis (the DA) said there wasn't any other evidence, or at least not enough to bring charges. Remember, Amber DuBois disappeared over a year ago, so any evidence is going to be pretty stale. However, they have removed pickaxes, shovels, and other items from his house in the last week. I'm wondering if they're looking for evidence in other unsolved crimes. If they were to find that he killed someone else, they could try him for that with no restriction on the death penalty. Stay tuned.

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

My only wish is that they would put him in the general population to shorten the amount of time we have to support him there.

Mungi there is a very very strong possibility that he will be in gen pop and if he does go to protective custody it really wont be protective custody.

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

My only wish is that they would put him in the general population to shorten the amount of time we have to support him there.

Yes, this...

[Menace]

I used to be a strong supporter of the death penalty, until I became a private investigator. I normally would perform covert surveillance on insurance fraud and worker's comp fraud cases, but was once hired to investigate a murder case by an attorney working pro bono. What my investigation revealed was that the 18yo defendant was innocent, but, during the defense, every possible thing that could go wrong, did go wrong. He was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Had our state had the death penalty, he would have been executed.

The dude was a complete waste, but I'm convinced he was innocent of these particular charges. The DA was willing to convict an innocent man in order to move up in ranks and improve his chance for promotion. And do it with a smile. I'm sure that the wrongly convicted defendant will never have the chance to appeal his conviction, since he lacks the financial means to pull it off.

I do not intend to compare the case I investigated with the case the OP is referring to, but I do hope that those of you that immediately call for the death penalty, place yourself, or someone you love, in the same position as the young man I was asked to defend.

[MakiSupaStar]

There's rumors that Gardner might be a serial killer and that they suspect that there are other victims.

[Unrepresented]

Eh, seems like a reasonable compromise. Families get closure. The state doesn't spend unnecessary millions to prosecute and defend against appeals, and the results for the rest of us are the same: the offender is permanently removed from larger society.

At the risk of sounding like I'm giving him credit, at least Gardner was willing to reduce the emotional and financial burden on everyone involved, which is far more reasonable than other high profile murderers have been.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Menace

I used to be a strong supporter of the death penalty, until I became a private investigator. I normally would perform covert surveillance on insurance fraud and worker's comp fraud cases, but was once hired to investigate a murder case by an attorney working pro bono. What my investigation revealed was that the 18yo defendant was innocent, but, during the defense, every possible thing that could go wrong, did go wrong. He was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Had our state had the death penalty, he would have been executed.

The dude was a complete waste, but I'm convinced he was innocent of these particular charges. The DA was willing to convict an innocent man in order to move up in ranks and improve his chance for promotion. And do it with a smile. I'm sure that the wrongly convicted defendant will never have the chance to appeal his conviction, since he lacks the financial means to pull it off.

I do not intend to compare the case I investigated with the case the OP is referring to, but I do hope that those of you that immediately call for the death penalty, place yourself, or someone you love, in the same position as the young man I was asked to defend.

sadly the motivation for da's to gain a conviction is not always justice....smokin' some guy is not a problem for me,but not because a da,or governor is up for re-election or promotion.....life w/o parole at least allows for errors to be corrected.....if you saw the kind of sentences handed out here for the most savage crimes you would be very satisfied with lwop.....here the prosecutors bargain away slam dunk cases down to nothing,give 2 for 1 credit for days in remand ,statutory release after 2/3 time served,good time credit.....

we really don't care to inconvenience felons here.....parole for murder can be set as low as 10 years,and all but the most widely reported,sensational trials will end up with the offender back on the streets eventually.....

the cops call it hug-a-thug,or catch and release....

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

sadly the motivation for da's to gain a conviction is not always justice....smokin' some guy is not a problem for me,but not because a da,or governor is up for re-election or promotion.....life w/o parole at least allows for errors to be corrected.....if you saw the kind of sentences handed out here for the most savage crimes you would be very satisfied with lwop.....here the prosecutors bargain away slam dunk cases down to nothing,give 2 for 1 credit for days in remand ,statutory release after 2/3 time served,good time credit.....

we really don't care to inconvenience felons here.....parole for murder can be set as low as 10 years,and all but the most widely reported,sensational trials will end up with the offender back on the streets eventually.....

the cops call it hug-a-thug,or catch and release....

I call your bluff. It's a well known fact that Canadia is to crime like a fat kid is to sports trophies on the mantle.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

I call your bluff. It's a well known fact that Canadia is to crime like a fat kid is to sports trophies on the mantle.

i'm not sure what your question is....you have to read the local papers and media to get a real idea how lax our system is.....we have a justice system set up to handle 1964 levels of crime,and a ingrained liberalism that makes jerry brown look like a tea bagger....deterrence in our legal system has been replaced with some misguided rehabilitation model that does not account for crime in the modern world

[Gopherbassist]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

Legislation has been introduced to make sexual assault a one-strike offense, meaning life in prison the first time.

Too bad life in prison can mean as little as 7 years.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by JAUQO III-X

Mungi there is a very very strong possibility that he will be in gen pop and if he does go to protective custody it really wont be protective custody.

He'll go in protective custody for sure. I'm thinking he may kill himself.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

Eh, seems like a reasonable compromise. Families get closure. The state doesn't spend unnecessary millions to prosecute and defend against appeals, and the results for the rest of us are the same: the offender is permanently removed from larger society.

At the risk of sounding like I'm giving him credit, at least Gardner was willing to reduce the emotional and financial burden on everyone involved, which is far more reasonable than other high profile murderers have been.

Do some research to find out how much it will cost to keep him in protective custody every year. If this were Texas, he'd be dead soon, and there would be significant cost savings. He needs to be dead.

[drteeth]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

He'll go in protective custody for sure. I'm thinking he may kill himself.

I think anyone in protected custody will get suicidal at some point.

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

He'll go in protective custody for sure.

What makes you think he'll go to protective custody?

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

I'm thinking he may kill himself.

Originally Posted by drteeth

I think anyone in protected custody will get suicidal at some point.

Suicide for inmates in protective custody is rare.

[Happynoj]

EDIT: I was going to write more, but I feel that the face adequately sums up my feelings about this thread.

[karrot-x]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

...He needs to be dead.

+1