Michele Anderson

Michele Anderson and boyfriend Joseph McEnroe are still on trial for six murder charges, in Seattle. She is accused of having shot six members of her family (parents, nephews, brother and sister-in law) in December 2007, right on Christmas Eve. Her boyfriend is accused of aggravated murder as well.

Immediately after the killings, she admitted her guilt and she seemed to be conscious of the terrifying massacre she told the press all she wanted was to die.During the trial, it was clear that the prosecutors aimed at obtaining a death penalty sentence and Anderson initially agreed to that, but she has changed her mind since then and now she had decided to put up a fight, because she does not want to die anymore.

Her lawyer, Stephen R. Illa, will now have to work twice as hard, because on the first trial Anderson did not allow her defendants to present evidence on her behalf.

According to his declarations, he is very confident that his client will not face the death penalty. He did not comment on the only remaining option, that of life in prison without any possibility of getting out on parole.

Michelle Gardner-Quinn

After exactly two years since the tragic death of Michelle Gardner-Quinn, justice has finally been made. Her killer has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole or release on good behaviour. The prosecutors could not ask for the death penalty, as Vermont does not have it yet.

The man accused of the murder is Brian L. Rooney, a 38 year old construction worker, and he claims to be not guilty although he was condemned on DNA evidence.

The victim, aged 21, was an environmental studies senior and she came in contact with Rooney in downtown Burlington, October 2006.

On the 13th of October her body was found in Huntington Gorge, Burlington; it presented signs of sexual abuse and violence and the cause of death was suffocation by strangling.

Rooney was convicted based on a video tape which proved he and the victim had interacted the night of her disappearance and also on the semen found inside the victim’s body, which showed they had sex.

Judge Michael Kupersmith sentenced Rooney to life in prison, although the family and friends would have wished to see him on death row; unfortunately Vermont law does not allow that.

Kevin Watts

Six years ago, in a Korean restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, a 21-year-old executioner wannabe shot three people to death, and a woman was kidnapped and sexually abused.

The victims were the manager and cooks of an Asian restaurant; after shooting them straight in the back of their heads, he abducted the manager’s wife, raped her, but kept her alive as he needed a hostage in his negotiations with the police force.He tried to escape the police cars by crashing them with one of the victims’ SUV, but was apprehended and taken into police custody in a matter of hours.

The gang member was originally from San Jose, California and he moved to San Antonio when he was 14, but could not stay away from fellow gangsters, despite his mother relentless efforts.

After six years spent in jail, the Bexar Court sentenced him to death, and was faced with the defendant’s manifestation of raging fury.

Watts is the second murderer to be executed in Texas this week, and he was killed by injection with lethal drugs. None of his relatives or friends even attended the execution, and he died thanking them for their support at 18:17 CDT.