Posted on 12/18/2004 11:10:04 AM PST by SmithL
MARTINEZ - A jury brought to a close one of Contra Costa County's most horrific chapters Friday, recommending the death penalty for quintuple murderer Glenn Taylor Helzer.
The jury of nine men and three women delivered a death verdict for each of Helzer's five victims after about a day and a half of deliberations.
Helzer, 34, smiled as the clerk read the first verdict for killing 22-year-old Selina Bishop, the daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop. After the verdicts, Helzer, dressed in the blue cardigan he wore most days during the five-week trial, turned around to reassure his mother, silently mouthing, "It's OK."
Victims' relatives and friends wept after the first verdict was read. Helzer made eye contact with some jurors as they walked out of the courtroom, nodding and whispering his thanks to a few of them.
A former stockbroker, Helzer admitted in March that he, his younger brother, Justin, and their roommate, Dawn Godman, conspired to fund a self-awareness program to bring "joy, peace and love" to the world by extorting money from Helzer's former clients, killing them and running a prostitution service.
The trio called its operation "Children of Thunder" and rented a house in Concord to carry out the plan.
In the summer of 2000, they killed Bishop; her mother, Jennifer Villarin; Villarin's friend James Gamble; and Concord retirees Ivan and Annette Stineman.
Attorneys for both Helzers had tried to convince jurors in their separate trials that the men were led astray by Taylor Helzer's delusion that he was a prophet speaking the word of God. Olga Land, the sister of Villarin and aunt of Bishop, wasn't having that Friday.
"He needs to face Selina, he needs to face Jenny, and Mr. Gamble and Mr. and Mrs. Stineman," Land told reporters after the verdict. "He needs to face God."
"He is the second coming of Manson, not Christ," she said.
Public defender Suzanne Chapot left the courthouse immediately after the verdict. The death of any person is sad, she said.
"Society has reached a place where they don't realize that killing people who kill people doesn't serve a purpose," she said.
Jury foreman Bernie Rose, who said during the jury selection process that he could vote for death, seemed to have changed his mind.
"It's difficult deciding whether a person should live or die, no matter what he's done," Rose said after the verdict. "I believe that the death penalty is ultimately state-sanctioned revenge and I don't think it has any place in a civilized society.
"But I took an oath."
A jury recommended death for Justin Helzer in August. Godman agreed in July 2003 to plead guilty and serve 37 years to life in prison in exchange for testifying against the Helzers.
The severity of the crimes and Justin Helzer's verdict left many in the Martinez courthouse convinced that Taylor Helzer, the plot's mastermind, could not escape a death sentence.
Outside the courtroom, Helzer's sister, Heather Allred, said California should have a better way of treating mentally ill criminals like her brothers.
"But in some way, I think death is the kinder sentence," she said.
Prosecutor Harold Jewett presented evidence he said showed Helzer had faked his mental illness, and jurors said outside the courthouse Friday that they did not believe defense psychologists who testified that Helzer was mentally ill.
The jury's decision shows how valuable life is, not a sense of callousness, Jewett said outside the courthouse.
"The decision is a reflection of how truly precious life is," said Jewett, who prosecuted Justin Helzer as well. "He obviously values his life. That's why he put up a defense."
The families had spent all of Thursday and Friday morning waiting for the verdict outside the deliberation room. Jurors passed that scene during breaks in their talks.
Just around the corner, Helzer also waited, but in a holding cell about 20 feet from the same room, sheriff's deputies said.
Some relatives said they had a hard time believing the Children of Thunder scheme was real. Among the plot's extravagant phases were plans to overthrow the Mormon church and use underage girls to blackmail stockbrokers.
"Taylor befriended my parents and then he did this to them," said the Stinemans' daughter, Nancy Hall. "It's very hard to believe that there's a human being on this planet who could do something like this to such sweet old people."
Helzer next appears in court Jan. 7, when Judge Mary Ann O'Malley will set a sentencing date.
My wife was in the Helzer jury pool until the last possible minute before they seated the jury. In the end, it was the prosecution that cut her. She believes in the death penalty for certain crimes, but was horrified that she might be involved in sentencing another human to death. It really tore her up.
I understand that.
Society has been at that place for as long as there has been a society. On this, and so many other social issues, we briefly tried it the Left's way in the late 20th Century and are now returning to where we were before. They persist in calling this a new low, rather than the end of a blip. I wonder if this woman is young enough to believe it's true...?
Its just too bad he can't be executed five times.
IMHO
The details of this are sick, sick, sick. He deserved the penalty he got.
Some People Just Need Killing™.
Why hasn't the media been covering this one more? I don't even know what this guy looks like. Enough about Kobe and Scott, etc. This guy was the worst.
You should have added a subheadline: 3rd Bay Area Death Penalty This Week
It serves one. You cannot be sprung by the ACLU or somebody to kill again and again if you are dead and buried.
Pic on the source link.
A surprising statement from the perps own sister.
Yes, it is a most difficult thing to do, for a jury to impose the sentence of death, but sometimes it is the only JUST sentence on behalf of the victims and society. There is a reason for it to be tough and agonizing because it is the ultimate penalty, until we meet our Lord and His sentence for eternity.
I also happen to believe that the death penalty is a deterrence to those who would even consider such crimes. Since the 1st degree murder charge involves premeditation, it provides time for the perpetrators of such evil to consider the personal consequences and perhaps stop in time.
There is also a case to be made that those who have little in the way of a moral conscience (for whatever reasons) might be given to pause because of that natural motivation factor of self-preservation. Even the most evil, such as a Ted Bundy, deeply fear their own death and mortality. Recall that Bundy did everything he could to deny the earthly justice which would bring him to GOD before a so-called natural death. Some evil such as apparent in this (above) case deserves the ultimate punishment and I hope that it is carried out sooner rather than later to provide peace and some closure to the victim's families and friends.
I happened to have had the occasion to meet Elvin Bishop and hope that he is recovering to the extent possible for this horrible tragedy. My prayers are with all concerned.
Don't worry, sweetheart, California doesn't really kill people on death row.
They killed his daughter and her mom, which must be Elvin's wife or x-wife. I remember Elvin Bishop's songs. To bad he can't do like a line in one of his songs say's "take a baseball bat and tenderize his head"...to a pulp. Poor guy.
NY Slimes article today says the leading cause of death on CA death row is old age and suicide.
My Father is a compassionate Father. He even gives sinners what they ask for.
FMCDH(BITS)
I'm OK with the death penalty where there is direct evidence, but I'm not for it in cases where the case is almostcompletely circumstantial. This guy sounds like he got what he deserves, but the Peterson verdict still bugs me. (I do, however, think that he did it) I just think that one has to be careful with things that cannot be reversed or amended if later proven incorrect.
If I ever have to serve time in a California prison, I hope it's on Death Row.
You're right, but we did address that issue yesterday:
I agree with you definitely on that. Peterson would never have gotten the death penalty if it weren't such a high profile case. Where there is no direct evidence, there shouldn't a death penalty. Plus, like Helzer's sister said, death is the easier punishment. And I so believe that. However, as you know, he won't be seeing that fate for quite a long time.
Or an average pace for Texas for a four or five month period.
Eleven- but true enough.
I'm guessing that it's the liberal courts in California simply sitting on appeals from the condemned. It's sort of a judicial veto of the CA criminal code.
If California doesn't believe in capital punishment, they can abolish it. But right now, it's kind of a joke when being executed is the least likely way to die on Death Row.
Circumstantial evidence is "direct evidence." Recall it is "beyond a reasonable doubt" and, as we all know, the death penalty has many more procedural safety valves (added criteria required on the crimes (premeditation, lack of mitigating circumstances, etc.), second penalty phase, jury weighs evidence, judge who can then overrule, appeals after appeals, etc.). There is not a problem, in my view, for the imposition of the death sentence based on circumstantial evidence. We don't have restrictions on any crime that brings circumstantial evidence forward. Or should we now have a separate measuring stick for other crimes as well?
But, what most people don't understand is the jury does not kill the convicted. They only vote. The judge does not kill the convicted. He hands down the sentence and may have other options. The state kills the convicted.
Ever hear of Kenneth Allen McDuff?
Try this one more time, sorry for the glitch:
http://www.geocities.com/verbal_plainfield/i-p/mcduff.html
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