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1924: Pep, “The Cat-Murdering Dog” Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" was a black Labrador Retriever admitted to Eastern State Penitentiary on August 12, 1924. Prison folklore tells us that Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot used his executive powers to sentence Pep to Life Without Parole for killing his wife’s cherished cat. Prison records support this story: Pep’s inmate number (C-2559) is skipped in prison intake logs and inmate records. The Governor told a different story. He said Pep had been sent to Eastern to act as a mascot for the prisoners. He and the Warden, Herbert “Hard-Boiled” Smith, were friends. Pep was...

“They treat him like a dangerous criminal.” Judith Minor has had to live with that reality for the last 13 years—ever since her son Ricky disappeared behind the bars of Yazoo City Jail in Mississippi because he had drugs worth a handful of dollars on him. He was sentenced to life without parole—something his 76-year-old mother just cannot fathom. But his case is no exception in the US justice system. It could be a pair of socks, a slice of pizza—many petty thieves serve life sentences in the US. Ricky Minor’s offense was carrying one gram of methamphetamine. … “These...

Because courts can sentence murderers to life without parole, why not get rid of the death penalty? It's a frequent question posed by readers and advocates who oppose the death penalty. For years, my answer has been: If death-penalty opponents ever succeed in eliminating capital punishment, their next target for elimination will be life without parole - or, as lawyers call it, LWOP. As if to prove my point, the Sentencing Project just released a report, "No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America," which advocated for - you guessed it - the elimination of LWOP. The report...

SAN DIEGO – A pedophile who was part of the international child pornography ring that exchanged videos and photos of themselves molesting children was sentenced Thursday to more than 467 years to life in state prison. Paul Whitmore, a former counselor for autistic children, was convicted Nov. 30 of 51 felony charges, including committing a lewd act on a child, aggravated sexual assault on a child, posing a minor for pictures involving sexual conduct for commercial purposes and attempting to dissuade a witness from reporting a crime. The verdicts included special allegations of bondage, sodomy, sexual penetration, oral copulation and...

Brighton - A man who kidnapped, raped and murdered a woman in 1994 was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole. Robert Harlan was originally sentenced to death by an Adams County jury in 1995 for the murder of Rhonda Maloney, 25. But Harlan escaped execution after the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a ruling that jurors in the case improperly consulted the Bible during deliberation. "It could be said you may have avoided the death penalty by a technicality," Adams County District Judge Scott Crabtree told Harlan.

It is fashionable among death-penalty opponents to claim that life in prison without the possibility of parole amounts to worse punishment than the death penalty. For example, Bill Kurtis, host of A&E's "Investigative Reports" who has written a book advocating abolition of the death penalty, asserts that: "Life without parole is bad. Worse than [executing] somebody." If death-penalty opponents truly believe this, then why would the supporters of Tookie Williams be so avidly advocating the commutation of his death sentence to life without parole? It's hard to believe they wish to inflict harsher punishment on Williams. Isn't this proof that,...

Breaking...

HOUSTON — A man who told undercover agents he has "no loyalty for America" has been charged with trying to build a bomb and sell it to an affiliate of Al Qaeda (search), officials said Monday.

Texas May Add Life Without Parole Option By JIM VERTUNO /Associated Press Writer May 22, 2005 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- In Texas, the state that leads the nation in executions, lawmakers are considering an option already available in all but one other death penalty state: life without parole. Death penalty opponents think a sentence that would ensure murderers never get back on the streets would make a death sentence less appealing. Currently, juries in Texas capital murder cases here have two choices - death or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. A measure approving life...