BTK Suspect Trial

[rick521]

KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
Friday, June 24, 2005

The trial of BTK suspect Dennis Rader is scheduled to begin Monday morning, but will it?

No-one is answering that question, but Rader has some options.

1. He can choose to proceed to trial as scheduled which means jury selection could begin Monday or the judge could delay it up to 30 days.

2. Rader's attorneys could ask for a continuance, pushing back the trial.

3. Rader could plead guilty. In that case the judge would ask him to admit to his crime.

4. Rader could enter a no contest plea, giving the district attorney a chance to present the case to the judge. That could take days or even weeks.

5. A bench trial is the final option, which means a judge would decide the case instead of a jury.

Special coverage of the court proceeding begins on KWCH 12 Monday at 8:25am.

This should make for some interesting scanner listening. Hope Wichita feed is up.

 

[Buckskinner33]

Judging him on his recent conduct in jail I will bet he will go to trial. It has been rumoured that he is quite the show boater. He gives away autographs to inmates and he will answere any letter he recieves. If he pleads guilty he could avoid the "HARD 40" and begin his book and movie deal that has been offered to him.

I think the guy is looking find away to put an end to his story. He meets with his attourney everyday and has been given special privlages due to his status. Sedgwick County SO is still trying to figure out how he manage to get out a phone interview to KSNW.

On another note, Derick Cheeters the perp that shot Greenwood county SO Matt Samuals was put into Isolation again for fighting with deputies while in custody. It has been rumoured that he also seems to be a show boater and is extreamly violent.

 

[rick521]

Been listening to scanner. All ready hearing traffic from the court house reference transport van and EMS for standby.

 

[dfndr13]

Rick,
Are you in Wichita or just have a really big antenna set up?

Matt

 

[rick521]

Not in Wichita, no big antenna, listening to internet feed.

Feed is shoutcast and can be found here.

http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/?s=wichita&numresult=25

 

[rick521]

Raider pleads guilty.

 

[rick521]

Court is over. There was very little, almost no traffic except what I mentioned before, radrio traffic. Might have missed some as Wichita Scanner was very active this morning with normal traffic.

The above link does make for some interesting listening and I want to say thanks to the person who put it on the net.

 

[Buckskinner33]

WOW...I didnt see that one coming....I never would have thought he would be so open about it.

 

[n0lqt]

WOW...I didnt see that one coming....I never would have thought he would be so open about it.

Actually, I'm sure he thinks this was his best option. Even if they had moved the trial to lower Slobovia, there was no way he was going to be found not guilty or even NG by reason of insanity.

This way he avoids the "Hard 40" on all counts. The "Max-Minimum" term will be 17½ years on each count. Although he can not appeal his Guilty plea, there other appeals and motions coming from Mr Rader over the next several years. Geez, even Charles Manson shows up for his parole hearing every year.

This guy is way too much of a "show boat" to stop now. I am sure he has plans to terrorize Wichita for many years to come. All it will take is one slightly brain damaged Judge or Governor (and lord knows we've had more than our share of both of those) to change the sentence to Concurrent from Consecutive and he is out again by the time he is 80 years old. Far better chances of that than a NG verdict.

In the mean time, there are the book deals and movie rights and interview fees. He has said he wants to take care of his family still. Don't forget his house is going up for auction soon. Want to make a bet on the price? $80k market value, I am guessing it goes for no less than $250k now with the guilty plea. As soon as the first book hits the stands, that person will resell it for $300k+.

Dennis Rader may be a monster, but his is a smart monster.... And I am sure he has a "plan" that will keep him in the news for years. Which is what he has wanted all along. Otherwise, why would he have contacted the media directly, even from jail....n0lqt-.-

 

[Buckskinner33]

But he doesnt avoid the hard 40. His last murder was when the hard 40 was enacted, so since he has now confessed to all of the murders he will now recieve 175 years with no chance for parole. If he didnt confess to the one commited in 91 he would have recieved 135 with some small chance for parole.

Either way I dont see him surviving 5 years in general pop.

 

[n0lqt]

Doesn't the "Hard 40" penalty apply to only one of his victims because of the dates of the crimes? And since he plead guilty to all ten at once, there is case law that could be used to show these were all first offenses. I'm not sure if Nola will be able to make "aggravating circumstances" for the Hard 40 on just that one case standing on its own. It is possible he could side-step the Hard 40 either directly at sentencing or on one of, what is surely to be, many appeals. Not saying that it is likely, but.... "IF THE GLOVE DOESN'T FIT, YOU MUST ACQUIT..."

He won't likely be in general population ever. He will be what KDOC calls, "Special Management" custody level. This level includes those like the Carr brothers, Douglas Belt, Gary Kleypas, Gavin Scott, ect. ....n0lqt-.-

 

[Buckskinner33]

Doesn't the "Hard 40" penalty apply to only one of his victims because of the dates of the crimes?

Yes!
I would be suprised if he is able to "sidestep it" as you would say. I am sure that is why they are pushing the Hard 40 so he wont have a chance to appeal with in that 40 years span.

there is case law that could be used to show these were all first offenses.

What case law would that be?

 

[n0lqt]

disclaimer: I am not an attorney and don't even want to try to offer anyone legal advice. I'm sure both the defense and the prosecution are spending far more research on these issues than we ever could (or would want to...)

Well, I suppose you could start with KSA 21-4715 et seq., then State v. McCurry, 32 Kan. App. 2d 806, 89 P.3d 928 (2004), Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000), State v. Coleman, No. 83,923 (Kan., July 13, 2001)(might be this one could be used by both sides. The question will hinge on whether the other murders are prior "bad acts" or prior "convictions" and if this was all one continuous series of crimes

You see this issue used frequently in DUI cases. (I know, not quite in the same league...) One particular that comes to mind is a guy who was arrested 5 times in four days. Four DUIs and one Flying While Intoxicated. All of them except the FWI ended up being first offenses under KS Law, since he had not been "convicted" of any prior offenses. The FAA didn't care, they just "threw the book" at him and made him fofeit the airplane.

Will it happen in this case? Not very likely, but it is always a possibility. I just enjoy taking the "devils advocate" side of things sometime to "juice up the conversation....n0lqt-.-