no shiat this guy is living in hell. that's why he desperately tried to get his death sentence moved up with that letter.

Ha - LOSER!!

/good for her

jaylectricity: He's probably trolling his sister for sympathy.

Or a sympathy fark (we are talking NC after all)

Someone in the first thread said he was trolling to get his death expedited, whether through the state or an angry person. Looks like they may have been right.

Why are we reading about something printed in a NC newspaper in the Boston Globe? Why not read the actual article?

Sheesh.

The paper in question is a fish wrap and should be publicly shamed for printing the inmates letter, but their searchable database for the current residents of county lockup is pretty nice.

IF HE DIDNT KILL EM THEN WHY DOES HE WANT TO DIE?

MAKES NO SENSE.

AT LEAST STICK TO UR STORY.

Hembree is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh for murdering Heather Catterton, 17, in 2009. He's also accused of the 2009 killing of 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana, whose burned remains were found near Blacksburg, S.C.


who farking cares what he thinks or wants.

If there is one thing that most people have a strange compulsion to believe, it is that people (especially bad people) are laughing up their sleeves at them. When this story first broke ("serial killer mocks his victim's family with tales of death row high-life") I thought, yeah, sure, somebody who is stuck in a room in isolation 24/7 is having a grand time. That's why he wrote an open letter. I mean, what could go wrong there? It's not like the letter could backfire and bring unpleasant attention to him and the jailers. He's a perfectly cool, rational, sensible guy gaming the system and taking advantage of everything. He's not a crazed psychopath cooped up in a small room by himself, trying to poke needles into people. He takes naps! He reads books!

If you've ever seen a documentary on what death row is really like, it drives people insane. They do stuff like smear excrement all over the walls, because they were not terribly mentally stable to begin with, and now they're in isolation, and they know they're never getting out. They're caged animals, like a tiger that constantly paces the eight feet back and forth in its cage. The tiger is not laughing. The tiger is not exercising.

This story reminds me of the media outrage over Charlie Manson some years ago--"he's in love with a fellow inmate and boasts of how happy they are together!" Yeah, Charlie Manson is just as happy as a clam, and snickering at us. You can see the joy and inner peace radiate from his face every time he gives an interview.

But people have a weird, compulsive desire to believe that murderers are snickering at them. I don't get it.

Why has God forsaken me?? I only killed whores that deserved it!!!

FTFA: Referring to God, he adds: "I can't tell he even cares about me anymore."

No, dickhead. God hates you. Everybody hates you. Cuz you suck total ass.

/This is the kind of Followup I like...
//anti-death penalty

"I want this stuff to be over for good once and for all," Hembree wrote. "I try to put on a nonchalant attitude for you guys, but it is overwhelming and depressing to look at these at these walls and electric doors and bright lights 24-7 and digest the fact that I'm never going to leave here until they murder me or I just die."

And this is why life in prison is both a far harsher and far more humane sentence than capital punishment. Those in prison would rather it just be over with one way or another, and the wrongly convicted get a fighting chance beyond exonerated from the grave.

The death sentence: Having zero redeeming qualities, even from those who purport to be tough on crime, since forever.

lohphat: FTFA: In that letter, Hembree boasted of being a "gentleman of leisure" watching color TV and taking frequent naps, and wrote, "Kill me if you can, suckers."

Since when do they still make b/w TVs?


Beat me to it. Damn you prisons! Make those guys watch their HD sports channels in black and white.
I always find it odd which details some people think are interesting enough to include. Oh, it was a color TV. I was curious about that.

FTFA: In that letter, Hembree boasted of being a "gentleman of leisure" watching color TV

That cinches it. I'm gonna find a way to get on death row.

FTFA: After Hembree's letter ran in the paper this week, District Attorney Locke Bell said it illustrated the reason that many people in North Carolina are frustrated that a tangle of legal challenges has created a de facto moratorium on capital punishment. No one has been put to death in the state since 2006.

Yeah, if you have a problem with this, you're a terrible person and a worse American. "No! We're being too careful about state-sponsored murder! Justice will only be done when we can recklessly knock off anybody who we're pretty sure deserves it!"

This is pretty farking obviously a situation where we need an overabundance of caution. And just so we're clear? This guy is so close to rock bottom he's resorted to writing letters to his hometown newspaper just to keep himself amused. It's not a farking Hilton in there.

OldManDownDRoad: I LOLed when I read the original story in the Raleigh paper. The guy's in Central, a prison built in the late 1880s and only modernized occasionally and then only when compelled by federal judges. It's a hell hole by any measure. Did anyone really think he was living the high life? Trolled indeed!

Letting the guy rot in Central is fine with me. Given the astounding number of guys on NC's death row who were later found to be innocent (Alan Gell, for one sad example) I'm no longer a proponent of the death penalty, but letting 'em rot in a place like Central or Caledonia (originally built to "discipline" unruly slaves) is a good alternative.

/chain gangs, too

you state there is an astounding number of accused convicted who were later found to be innocent. and it's good to let innocent accused rot in hell holes, it's okay because you're not killing them.
surely the innocent accused see a flaw in your approval.

Now they're all gonna laugh at him.

I have friends that live in the county where this story takes place. Many of the residents there are incredibly angry at the paper for giving this turd media exposure.

/My 2nd greenlight.
//Today, I am a man.
///Technically.

Part of being a psychopath is the emotional exploitation of others.

He's trolling everyone. He plays up sympathy to his sister because it gets attention. He plays up anger to the general population because he gets attention.

The actual truth will never be found in anything this psycho says.

OldManDownDRoad: I LOLed when I read the original story in the Raleigh paper. The guy's in Central, a prison built in the late 1880s and only modernized occasionally and then only when compelled by federal judges. It's a hell hole by any measure. Did anyone really think he was living the high life? Trolled indeed!

Letting the guy rot in Central is fine with me. Given the astounding number of guys on NC's death row who were later found to be innocent (Alan Gell, for one sad example) I'm no longer a proponent of the death penalty, but letting 'em rot in a place like Central or Caledonia (originally built to "discipline" unruly slaves) is a good alternative.

/chain gangs, too


The original prison, which is no longer there, was built in the 1880s. I can assure you it is quite modern, with the Death Row being the most modern of the buildings there.

by death row building, I mean the area where death row inmates are housed.

KrispyKritter: OldManDownDRoad: I LOLed when I read the original story in the Raleigh paper. The guy's in Central, a prison built in the late 1880s and only modernized occasionally and then only when compelled by federal judges. It's a hell hole by any measure. Did anyone really think he was living the high life? Trolled indeed!

Letting the guy rot in Central is fine with me. Given the astounding number of guys on NC's death row who were later found to be innocent (Alan Gell, for one sad example) I'm no longer a proponent of the death penalty, but letting 'em rot in a place like Central or Caledonia (originally built to "discipline" unruly slaves) is a good alternative.

/chain gangs, too

you state there is an astounding number of accused convicted who were later found to be innocent. and it's good to let innocent accused rot in hell holes, it's okay because you're not killing them.
surely the innocent accused see a flaw in your approval.

Somebody in the last thread mentioned that Death Row is probably the best option for an innocent person. It's safer, you'll have years of legal appeals and resources offered plus various groups and media attention to highlight any discrepancies.

Life without parole however? You're farked. You'll sit with general population. Want a lawyer to appeal? Pay for it yourself. And as far as anyone else os concerned, you're just another scumbag in jail claiming to be innocent. Might as well throw away the key

karma's a biatch

Dr. Mojo PhD: And this is why life in prison is both a far harsher and far more humane sentence than capital punishment. Those in prison would rather it just be over with one way or another, and the wrongly convicted get a fighting chance beyond exonerated from the grave.

The death sentence: Having zero redeeming qualities, even from those who purport to be tough on crime, since forever.

So Right wingers are being more merciful upon the criminals by applying the death penalty and it's the Liberals who want to exact their vicious revenge on inmates by watching them suffer for decades?

Food for thought...

How could Harrison Ford allow this to happen to himself?

Dumbass should have just joined the army. He could have had an all-you-can-kill buffet and he would have got the Hero tag to boot.

I would have used the Obvious tag personally, but Follow-up works.

Summer Glau's Love Slave: I have friends that live in the county where this story takes place. Many of the residents there are incredibly angry at the paper for giving this turd media exposure.

As I said yesterday, I hope they lose a shiat-ton of subscribers over this.

And this man has only spent three years in prison. He's looking at a good 15 years before the state decides to off him.

From the article:

"I've been praying constantly about the same stuff," Hembree wrote to Ledbetter. Referring to God, he adds: "I can't tell he even cares about me anymore."

God never listens
To what I say
God never listens
To what I say
And you don't get a refund
When you over-pray

Phish: Lifeboy

Read about prisoners on death row in Japan, they don't know when it will happen, it's kept secret. That must fark with their heads big time.
Not saying it's good or bad, just saying.
Citation - Link (new window)

FTA - "...digest the fact that I'm never going to leave here until they murder me or I just die."

Ummm, no. People get murdered, like the woman this trash killed in cold blood. Rabid dogs OTOH get put down, which is what this sleaze deserves. Eye for an eye.

Hembree admitted to taking drugs and having sex with Catterton and Saldana the day they died

Of course he admitted to that. The rest of the story is they found out he didn't have the miliion dollars he promised them, so he had to kill them.

cig-mkr: I wonder what her story is? Crimes against nature, WTF?
[local.gastongazette.com image 375x281]

Nearly always means animal sex. Ick.

Kibbler: This story reminds me of the media outrage over Charlie Manson some years ago--"he's in love with a fellow inmate and boasts of how happy they are together!" Yeah, Charlie Manson is just as happy as a clam, and snickering at us. You can see the joy and inner peace radiate from his face every time he gives an interview.

Manson is one of the few that are crazy enough that I could see him alternating between loving every minute and hating every moment. His head is is a wacky place.

For the larger point, most people can't stand being helpless, and being laughed at or lied about when you can't reach the other person in any way is forcing someone into an extremely helpless position. The deepest traumas come more from the helplessness in a bad situation than from the event itself.

Jon iz teh kewl: IF HE DIDNT KILL EM THEN WHY DOES HE WANT TO DIE?

MAKES NO SENSE.

AT LEAST STICK TO UR STORY.



He wants to die to end his pain. He's in a bad situation with no way out, so he's embracing the crazy instead of fighting it.

ComicBookGuy: How could Harrison Ford allow this to happen to himself?

No - it's clearly Bill Maher.

Dr. Mojo PhD: And this is why life in prison is both a far harsher and far more humane sentence than capital punishment. Those in prison would rather it just be over with one way or another, and the wrongly convicted get a fighting chance beyond exonerated from the grave.

I'll be more inclined to believe this when I see prisoners en masse trying to get their life sentences "reduced" to the death penalty.

JungleBoogie: Dr. Mojo PhD: And this is why life in prison is both a far harsher and far more humane sentence than capital punishment. Those in prison would rather it just be over with one way or another, and the wrongly convicted get a fighting chance beyond exonerated from the grave.

I'll be more inclined to believe this when I see prisoners en masse trying to get their life sentences "reduced" to the death penalty.

McVeigh is the only one I can think of.

/We shoulda kept him locked up forever.

I have, as a volunteer, been inside NC's Central Prison numerous times. It's a place no human wants to live in. The walls are painted in industrial grays and greens. The few windows are narrow slits, reinforced with diamond pattern wire. The view from the windows is of multiple rows of chainlink fences, wrapped from ground to top with multiple rows of razor wire. The two gymnasiums have horizontal slit windows at the top, about 20 feet from the floor.

I've seen Death Row. It's a frightening place of isolation and despair. The only redeeming quality of it is that the solid steel doors are painted bright red.

The solid steel doors have two openings. One about a foot wide and three inches high at eye level. The other is wider and slightly narrower at belt height for passing food trays through. The cells are small and hold only one inmate. There is a bed and a stainless steel toilet and matching sink. Everything (plastic utensils, cups, used napkins, straws, etc.) has to be returned or there is hell to pay.

The inmates there are on lockdown for 23 hours a day. They are taken out for just one hour a day to 'exercise'. Only a medical urgency gets them out of that cell otherwise.

Visits from outsiders are highly restricted. The process for approval can sometimes take up to 3 months. Even then, the visit is from behind reinforced glass and communication via microphone and speaker. These are usually limited to no more than 20 minutes.

Their only other 'gift' is that they are given one, monitored phone call at Christmastime.

As for the food, it's terrible. I've eaten in the Central Prison inmate cafeteria. 1960's frozen dinners had more flavor and substance. Non-death row inmates are given 20 minutes to eat their meals there. That time begins the moment they walk in the door until they walk out. 20 minutes isn't much when there are 50 people in line ahead of you.

What this guy is saying about color tv and three nutritious meals a day is total bullshiat.

It's the closest thing to hell on earth that a civilized nation like the USA has ever come up with for incarcerated, condemned prisoners.

Yeah. He was trolling to the mistaken beliefs of the death penalty zealots. And did it magnificently.

If you're going to do something that has a good chance of getting you on death row or life with no chance... go out guns blazing. Start a war and die in it.

Take as many with you as you can.