CNN reports on the case of a former child actor accused of throwing a couple off their yacht bound to an anchor. Skylar Deleon has pleaded not guilty to the murders; the prosecution is seeking the death penalty.
Deleon is accused of killing the Arizona couple, Tom and Jackie Hawks, in 2004 to steal their yacht, and killing another man from whom he stole thousands in 2003.
In a surprising opening statement the defense attorney Gary Pohlson said "Skylar is guilty of all three murders," which is not the same as a guilty plea. It seems it was a dramatic way of trying to avoid the death penalty for his client. I'm afraid it might take more than theatrical performances to save Skyler Deleon.
The jury will also consider the separate murder charge in the death of a man Deleon met in a work furlough program in 2003 while serving jail time for burglary. Murphy said Deleon got $50,000 from John Jarvi, then drove down to Mexico and slashed his throat and dumped his body before coming back.
What's your opinion? Mine is that the death penalty is morally unacceptable. But this case brings up another question which we've looked at before. What's worse, the cold blooded premeditation of these crimes or the furious uber-violent killings we've looked at before, here for example? Is the calculating mafia hit man worse than the mentally ill obsessed killer?
On Kanedax Live Journal it's unclear if the author is in favor of the death penalty or not. Initially he thought Skyler had killed his own parents, but what he mainly seems to be complaining about is CNN's using the child actor angle in their article.
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