Man suspected of killing mom, stepdad could face death penalty

He was in prison for 13 years.

While I think he deserves everything he gets even if it is the death penalty, and I hope he does, you should read the story and be able to comprehend what it says. It was 13 years he served in prison not 3.

i PROBABLY KNOW THIS TEACHER, AND i AGREE. i DATED GERRY IN HIGH SCHOOL. I KNOW HOW INVOLVED HIS PARENTS WERE IN EVERYTHING HE DID. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW HIM OR THE FAMILY ARE GOING TO MAKE THEIR OWN JUDGEMENTS. GERRY WAS A GOOD KID, PRISON RUINED HIM. HE WAS A FOLLOWER, AND HE WAS MIXED IN THE WRONG CROWD, THAT IS WHY HE WAS IN PRISON, GRANTED, WE MAKE OUR OWN CHOICES, BUT HE ALSO HAD MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL ISSUES THAT GO BEYOND WHAT U ALL KNOW. GERRY WAS ADOPTED BY LAURA WHEN HE WAS AN INFANT, AND HE ATTENDED SUMMER CAMPS FOR CHILDREN WITH PROBLEMS, BUT ALL IN ALL.. HE WAS A GOOD GUY. MY HEART GOES OUT TO EVERYONE INVOLVED HERE. HIS MOTHER AND jIM WERE WONDERFUL PEOPLE. GERRY HIMSELF WAS AN UNFORGETTABLE PART OF MY LIFE ALSO.

... to you and the others who say they know him (it's not meant as disrespect, but anyone with any long term experience with the internet knows to be cautious; still, I have no evidence to the contrary, so I take your words for it as being truthful). Sadly, such comments only make the issue even more confusing. Although only HE knows what his preceptions of how things went as a child and how he preceived his treatment, it still sound like he was average during his younger years. So what DID lead to this act, one can only imagine. Certainly, the other possibilities are still well open. His time in prison and his record while in prison may well be a sign of his leaving behind the person he once was and aquaintance with that younger self may not be helpful now, unfortunately. Still, it's good information to have. Even with all the information we get from past friends and relatives and aquaintances, we will still only know the barest fraction of that which was/is/will be Altman. Andrew

It is very expensive, but some examples you give aren't really big-buck items. The prosecutors are already on salary, so whether they're trying a purse snatching or a capital murder trial, they cost the same. If you've ever been on jury duty, you know what that costs us, and a few fines will cover that. You are hitting the nail on the head when you bring up defense counsel and expert witnesses, and didn't even mention the endless appeals process that will cost far more than the original trial itself. The death penalty appeals process is indeed the single most abused facet of our criminal justice system not only from the point of denying or delaying justice, but from the simple point of frustrating victim's family members and taxpayers who must pay for the nonsensical games. So the cost of execution is basically an excuse used by death penalty foes, while they are causing it themselves with their endless string of appeals on dubious grounds. It's the same logic used by your high school buddies, who set you up with a loosened salt-shaker top and then tell you, "Oh, you can't eat that burger - it's too salty!" Sure....who made it too salty? (Capital punishment....who made it too expensive?) Limit the appeals process to one shot up the state ladder, one shot up the federal ladder, and our system of capital punishment would become surprisingly affordable. In anticipation of the contention that we might put a few more innocent people to death if we limit the number of appeals, I offer this: It is a very, VERY rare case that the accused is free of any criminal history or even has a small or long-ago history. Most times the accused has a history of serious misconduct, such as we see here in this case. To put it bluntly, their loss is still society's gain, and none of us should weep for them.... ...but of course, they deserve to be treated fairly too in our legal system. Accordingly, I'd be 100% in favor of initiating a requirement for DNA, video/photographic evidence, or a positive identification provided in a dying declaration in any case before capital punishment could be ordered. I'd even be in favor of applying that standard to those on death row right now, and commuting the death sentences to life for those who didn't face such compelling eveidence. If, however, you have any one of those three elements, fire up Ol' Sparky and let justice prevail.....quickly.