Victims' Families Set to Confront Killer

Associated Press ^ | 1/1/6

[presidio9]

This could be the week that Marie Romero finally gets to look Charles Cullen straight in the eye and tell the former nurse and admitted serial killer how much pain he caused by killing her sister.

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Romero's sister, Catherine Dext, was killed with an injection in June 1996 at Hunterdon Medical Center, where she had been admitted with a ruptured spleen.

"She's going to talk about how this deprived her of her sister and (how) it was a totally senseless, pointless death," said her lawyer, Anthony Macri.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin Thursday for Cullen, who pleaded guilty to 29 murders and six attempted murders during his 16-year nursing career in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Cullen, 44, has told investigators he might have killed as many as 40 people, but authorities say that estimate appears to be inflated. Most of the victims were given an overdose of heart medication, usually digoxin.

The former critical care nurse was able to move from hospital to hospital, despite suspicions he was killing patients, because the institutions did not report their fears to authorities.

The sentencing may stretch out over two days because so many victims' relatives want to give victim impact statements.

"It has been a long and difficult process for these families," said Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest. "They see this as the end."

Cullen had filed papers to waive his right to appear at his sentencing, a move that outraged many of the families.

However, authorities had something Cullen wanted: the right to approve his request to donate a kidney to a relative of Cullen's ex-girlfriend. With that leverage, authorities persuaded Cullen to agree to appear at the sentencing.

"It is important that he be made to be there," said Macri, who represents the families of several of Cullen's victims. "That's something all the families want, to be able to confront him. They want to look him in the eye and tell them what they think of him and how much he hurt them. There's a cathartic value in that."

He faces life for each of the New Jersey murders and won't be eligible for parole for at least 127 years. In exchange for his plea and agreement to help identify his victims, he escaped New Jersey's death penalty.

State Attorney General Peter Harvey said he hopes to have all 22 New Jersey cases against Cullen resolved in this week's sentencing. However, the sentencing could be postponed by a week or two if no decision is made on whether to also bring charges in several open cases in Essex and Morris counties.

He also escaped death in Pennsylvania, where he still faces sentencing. A judge there already has ordered him to be present.

Harvey, who extensively interviewed Cullen, said the defendant attempted to rationalize his actions.

"He thought he was easing the suffering of people who in his view were going to die fairly soon anyway," Harvey said. "That's how he viewed the world. The question he found difficult to confront was who gave him the right to play God."

Johnnie Mask, Cullen's public defender, did not return calls last week seeking comment.

[ncountylee]

General prison population for this scum I hope.

[presidio9]

Actually, I was hoping that the doctor would just take BOTH kidneys, in case there is somebody more deserving who needs one.

[Fiddlstix]

Tall Tree!
Short Rope!
'Nuff Said!

Click the Pic J
....in a few short weeks it will be spring. The snows of winter will flow away, the ice will vanish, the air will become soft and balmy.

The annual miracle of the years will awaken and come to pass.
The rivulet will run its soaring course to the sea.
The timid desert flowers will put fourth their tender shoots.
The glorious valleys of this imperial domain will blossom as the rose.
From every tree top, some wild songster will carol his mating song.
Butterflies will sport in the sunshine.

But you will not be here to enjoy it. Because I command the sheriff of the county to lead you away to some remote spot, swing you by the neck from a bough of some sturdy oak and let you hang until you are Dead, Dead, Dead!
You cold-blooded, blood-thirsty, throat-cutting, murdering son of a bitch.

.....Judge Roy Bean

P.S. Before anyone "flames" me. There are several versions of this story about Judge Roy Bean. I've use a somewhat condensed version here.

[Criminal Number 18F]

I was just about to type the exact same thing.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[peter the great]

I have been following this case for a while and I am furious. If there ever was a case that cried out for the death penalty this is it. The fact that this animal carried out his crimes in two different states and escaped the death penalty in both is a shame. One question that I would love to have answered is why couldn't the prosecution cut a deal with him in one state and pursue the death penalty in the other?

[OldFriend]

An acquaintenance of mine, a man who was tremendously admired and respected in our town, was murdered by this animal.

The shock of his sudden death has now been compounded by the fact that some subhuman took his life.

[cyn]

Agree. How about others who knew or suspected something, yet did nothing?

fiddlstix -- good Judge Roy Bean quote, thanks.

[cyn]

Harvey, who extensively interviewed Cullen, said the defendant attempted to rationalize his actions.

"He thought he was easing the suffering of people who in his view were going to die fairly soon anyway," Harvey said. "That's how he viewed the world. The question he found difficult to confront was who gave him the right to play God."

[VeniVidiVici]

Guy kills 29 people and New Jersey Democrats negotiate a deal with the guy to avoid the death penalty.

Unfreaking believable.