Dan Walters: Death penalty may play role in Whitman-Brown race

Sacramento Bee ^ | 10/15/10 | Jim Sanders

[SmithL]

Capital punishment has been the bane of the Brown family. As Jerry Brown seeks another stint as governor, it could be decisive.

When the issue arose during Brown's first debate with Republican foe Meg Whitman, he tried to massage it much as his sister, Kathleen, had done during her bid for the governorship in 1994. She acknowledged her opposition but pledged, "I will faithfully carry out our law on executions, and I'll do it with compassion, but I'll do it with great fidelity to the rule of law."

Both Browns' opposition to capital punishment stems from their father, Pat Brown, who also opposed it but oversaw 36 executions as governor.

The most celebrated case involved Caryl Chessman, Los Angeles' notorious "Red Light Bandit." His appeals exhausted after 12 years on death row, Chessman faced execution in 1960, but Pat Brown gave him a reprieve after hearing an anguished plea from son Jerry, then a 21-year-old college student.

Pat Brown asked legislators to suspend executions, but lawmakers refused. A few weeks later, Chessman was gassed. The elder Brown said later that the Chessman case "hurt me terribly" and was the beginning of his political downfall, . . .

[hgro]

When will California voters catch on to the Brown family that has been living off the taxpayers for two generations.
What a travesty to honest people who pay taxes to support these parasites.

[Little Ray]

Caryl Chessman
Born in St. Joseph, Michigan, Caryl Chessman was a criminal with a long record who spent most of his adult life behind bars. He had been paroled a short time from prison in California when he was arrested near Los Angeles and charged with being the notorious “Red Light Bandit.” The “Bandit” would follow people in their cars to secluded areas and flash a red light that tricked them into thinking he was a police officer. When they opened their windows or exited the vehicle, he would rob and, in the case of several young women, rape them. In July 1948, Chessman was convicted on 17 counts of robbery, kidnapping, and rape and condemned to death.

The fact that the “elder Brown” would object to the execution of a peace of waste like, shows how degraded we have become.
Some people need killing. Caryl Chessman is a good a example.