by jane on Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:06 am
I would have had no problem at all sentencing Richard Speck to death.
He systematically tortured, raped, and murdered eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital on July 14, 1966.
However, his death sentence was reversed :
On June 28, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court (citing their June 3, 1968 decision in Witherspoon v. Illinois) upheld Speck's conviction but reversed his death sentence, because more than 250 potential jurors were unconstitutionally excluded from his jury because of their conscientious or religious scruples against capital punishment.[4][35] The case was remanded back to the Illinois Supreme Court for re-sentencing.
On November 21, 1972, in Peoria, Judge Richard Fitzgerald re-sentenced Speck from 400 to 1,200 years in prison (8 consecutive sentences of 50 to 150 years).[36] He was denied parole in seven minutes at his first parole hearing on September 15, 1976, and at six subsequent hearings in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1990.[37]