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[themadcowtipper]

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Confessed BTK serial killer Dennis Rader made his first public apology for the murders that horrified a community for a quarter-century, blaming a "demon" that got inside him at a young age.

"I have a lot of remorse. I'm very sorry for them. It is something I wouldn't want to happen to my family," he told KAKE-TV. The interview was conducted Saturday; some of it was aired Wednesday night with additional portions to air Thursday.

Rader, who pleaded guilty last week to 10 first-degree murders in the Wichita area from 1974 to 1991, nicknamed himself BTK, for "Bind, Torture, Kill," as he taunted media and police with cryptic messages about the crimes. He faces sentencing August 17.

"I just know it's a dark side of me. It kind of controls me. I personally think it's a -- and I know it is not very Christian -- but I actually think it's a demon that's within me. ... At some point and time it entered me when I was very young," said Rader, who was once president of his Lutheran church.

Rader, 60, said his problems began in grade school, with his sexual fantasies that were "just a little bit weirder" than other people's.

"Somewhere along the line, someone had to pick something up from me somewhere that there was a problem," he said. "They should have identified it."

Rader said he felt for Dale Fox when he saw him cry on television while talking about the 1977 strangulation of Fox's daughter Nancy -- a crime Rader has admitted -- and said his own relatives also suffer.

"I am going to pay for it with a life sentence. The final victims are my ... family," he said.

Rader told the court last week that sexual fantasies drove him to kill. He told KAKE he was "totally unprepared" for the court's request for details of the crimes.

"I just wanted to get the facts out as quick as I could, try to not get too emotionally involved," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/07/btk.interview.ap/index.html

 

[Orin GA]

Wait wait wait. He is getting a life sentence? WTF. The system has put to death for less. Whyis he just getting a life sentence?

 

[Justin Bailey]

Berkowitz said the same thing at first, then a psychologist found that it was bullshit. I also like how he's blaming "them" for not identifying the problem. He's a crafty guy, trying to get sympathy before sentencing.

 

[Tritroid]

The thing that is so disgusting about this guy is how he plays it off like it isn't really that big of a deal for the victims that he murdered or their families.

His family is the ultimate victim? While that might be true, how can anybody have sympathy for his side after what he did to so many people?

ugh, and 'it isn't very christian', 'people should have identified it'? You tortured and murdered innocent people you sick fucker, stop blaming it on other shit and take at least a shred of responsibility.

What are the odds this guy will get life? Frankly I could see him getting the death penalty.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Wait wait wait. He is getting a life sentence? WTF. The system has put to death for less. Whyis he just getting a life sentence?

I think its because he decided to plead guilty which made him escape the death penalty.

 

[Justin Bailey]

Wait wait wait. He is getting a life sentence? WTF. The system has put to death for less. Whyis he just getting a life sentence?

He plead guilty. I guess the DA wasn't sure that they'd have enough evidence to convict him so they worked out a deal.

Although if the judge was like "You've been punk'd!" and sent his ass to the chair, I wouldn't have too many problems with it.

 

[human5892]

I thought the reason he wasn't getting the death penalty is because it didn't exist in that particular state at the time he committed the crimes. I don't know, I think I remember reading that in Time. I could be wrong though.

 

[Justin Bailey]

I thought the reason he wasn't getting the death penalty is because it didn't exist in that particular state at the time he committed the crimes. I don't know, I think I remember reading that in Time. I could be wrong though.

Yeah yeah that's right, I think there were some crimes they think he also commited after they reinstated it but they couldn't prove it or something.

 

[brooklyngooner]

I thought the reason he wasn't getting the death penalty is because it didn't exist in that particular state at the time he committed the crimes.

That is correct.

 

[Gek54]

Wait wait wait. He is getting a life sentence? WTF. The system has put to death for less. Whyis he just getting a life sentence?

So we can study him?

 

[Orin GA]

Man thats BS -_-

 

[Tritroid]

Man thats BS -_-

yeah.

Hopefully he'll get BTKed in prison.

 

[Umpteen]

This guy deserves the death penalty. A true psycho would not be able to cooly diagnose himself like that. Blaming outside forces and the lack of intervention is pretty common. It tends to generate zero sympathy from juries, fortunately.

 

[Minotauro]

I think him saying there's a "demon" inside of him is just his way of rationalizing his impulses in terms of his Christian faith. How would someone who believes that people are basically good justify the urges he has? Either way, I think it's a cop out. He did the things he did because he enjoyed them...not because there's some spectre influencing his behaviour.

 

[Ruzbeh]

Sorry guys, but the death penalty is a bad thing. Nothing is going to happen if we kill the bastard. And besides, it's actually cheaper to have him live a life long sentence. I'm against the death penalty, because you can never prove someone guilty by 100%. Sure, maybe very close to that, but it's never enough. In the US alone, the past century, hundreds of innocent people have been sentenced to death thanks to the death penalty.

 

[human5892]

Nothing is going to happen if we kill the bastard.

The families get closure.

I'm against the death penalty, because you can never prove someone guilty by 100%.

I think you can, but that's besides the fact -- the point of a jury is to convict someone beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt, regardless of what the eventual penalty will be. If our system for proving guilt is too inefficient for the death penalty, then so should it be for a life sentence.

In the US alone, the past century, hundreds of innocent people have been sentenced to death thanks to the death penalty.

I'm not in the position right now to do a lot of research so I won't directly say that's untrue, but "hundreds of innocent" people sounds suspect to me.

 

[Tritroid]

Sorry guys, but the death penalty is a bad thing. Nothing is going to happen if we kill the bastard. And besides, it's actually cheaper to have him live a life long sentence. I'm against the death penalty, because you can never prove someone guilty by 100%. Sure, maybe very close to that, but it's never enough. In the US alone, the past century, hundreds of innocent people have been sentenced to death thanks to the death penalty.

...He pleaded guilty.

 

[Minotauro]

The families get closure.

Closure is fucking bullshit...they get vengence, plain and simple.

 

[human5892]

Closure is fucking bullshit...they get vengence, pure and simple.

Explain.

 

[Blackace]

I thought the reason he wasn't getting the death penalty is because it didn't exist in that particular state at the time he committed the crimes. I don't know, I think I remember reading that in Time. I could be wrong though.

# 1975, the death penalty was abolished (1). Later in 1975, the people of Washington voted for an automatic mandatory death penalty for "Aggravated Murder in the First Degree".
# In 1977, Legislature enacted RCW 10.94 This replaced the mandatory sentence and gave detailed procedures for imposing the death penalty.
# The 1977 law was declared unconstitutional by the Washington Supreme Court (2), because person who pled not guilty and was subject to jury trial might receive the death penalty, while one who pled guilty could only receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
# In 1981, the Washington Legislature voted for a new capital punishment law under RCW Chapter 10.95. This law did not have the constitutional defects of the 1977 law. It is the current law.


but he committed crimes in the 90s too... seems a little odd...

 

[Tritroid]

Closure is fucking bullshit...they get vengence, pure and simple.

Hell I think they deserve it.

 

[Minotauro]

Explain.

I don't know how much clearer I can put it. They want revenge for what's happened to them. "Closure" is just a word they use because it sounds less vindictive.

 

[Nerevar]

Sorry guys, but the death penalty is a bad thing. Nothing is going to happen if we kill the bastard. And besides, it's actually cheaper to have him live a life long sentence. I'm against the death penalty, because you can never prove someone guilty by 100%. Sure, maybe very close to that, but it's never enough. In the US alone, the past century, hundreds of innocent people have been sentenced to death thanks to the death penalty.

1) Your sources are either grossly wrong or including a lot of misleading information. I'm sure if you include the number of blacks wrongfully killed in the south over the past century you get "hundreds" of people wrongfully killed, but otherwise the numbers are much lower.

2) The whole "cheaper to have someone in life for prison" is due entirely to the appeals process death row prisoners are granted compared to other prisoners. They cost courts thousands on endless appeals (and rightfully so - we don't want to put innocent people to death).

3) The death penalty is a punitive measure meant to preemptively stop crime, not affect the person on death row in any way. The efficacy of such things is debatable, but saying "we won't accomplish anything by killing him" isn't really the point - the hope is that you're getting the point across that "if you do this we will kill you". That's what punitive measures like the death penalty are for.

 

[Blackace]

3) The death penalty is a punitive measure meant to preemptively stop crime, not affect the person on death row in any way. The efficacy of such things is debatable, but saying "we won't accomplish anything by killing him" isn't really the point - the hope is that you're getting the point across that "if you do this we will kill you". That's what punitive measures like the death penalty are for.

What is kind of odd was I was talking to my friend about this the other night... because I just finished reading about Unit 731...the Japanese biowar unit from WWII... Messed up stuff... but really get rid of the normal death penalty and make the inmates a part of some medical Experiments I am sure we'd see crime drop a whole lot!

Spoiler

btw this really just a joke

 

[DarienA]

I'm sure he meant to say a demon.... from the videogame True Crime...