The defense attorneys for the alleged kidnapper Castro in Cleveland spoke this week to a local TV reporter and this seems to have had little national attention. (HuffPo had a follow up to the first interviews on Wednesday. The original interview is here. The media has made him a monster, the attorneys say. I'm sorry, but on this one the media didn't need any help. But since this is my first diary, I'll tell you that I really want to talk about the proper punishment for him, so follow me below the orange ornament.
Before I get to my point, I just need to say: the attorneys talked to him for three hours and he didn't seem to be as the "media" portrayed. Really? Three whole hours with him in a small room where YOU are the ones in control and you're SURE he's not a "monster"?
That said, on to my thoughts.
"I can tell you that Mr. Castro is extremely committed to the well being and positive future for his daughter, who he loves dearly," said Schlachet. "And if people find that to be a disconnect from what he's alleged to have done, then the people will just have to deal with it. We just know how he feels about his little girl."
I don't know if the attorneys know it, but statements like that makes me more likely to desire a death sentence for him, not less likely. Get him out of the poor six-year-old's life for good!
However, I'm against the death penalty. My online alias is Mayor Hardin, in homage to SF and science fact author Isaac Asimov's character Salvor Hardin, the first Mayor of the future Foundation. Hardin was a man of many quotable statements, and his most famous is "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." I can't help but feel that statement applies here.
When I first went to college in the Seattle/Tacoma area in 1974 front page warnings read: "Don't go with Ted!" This was, of course, Ted Bundy. He was a major story for years, but his eventual execution just didn't seem to solve anything.
So here I am. I don't care if he loves his daughter; he has forfeited his right to live in
free society; he has proven himself a danger. Certainly he deserves a rigorous defense, except I can't think of one, even conceptually, that would mitigate his crimes enough for release into society. Now, since I'm "The Fairest Man In The Galaxy" the prosecutor is also over the top, threatening to file thousands of charges for every rape and act of violence to the victims. I hope, sooner rather than later, that a deal will be struck to leave him in prison for the rest of his natural life with no contact with the minor child except that permitted by the mother and the child themselves. (This assumes that the victims agree - I hope they have representation of their own, by the way. If they want to go for the death penalty regardless of the difficulties, then the prosecutor should go for it.)
One last note on the video - I love the way the female anchor does her best to be objective: "Well, they're defense attorneys, trying to defend their client in the court of public opinion" while her voice and gestures shout out "what a load of crap!"