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Post by eal22 on Sept 18, 2017 0:08:42 GMT -5
Rather frustrating that even after his capture we really have no idea what he was doing all these years.
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Post by Scumhunter on Sept 18, 2017 0:41:48 GMT -5
Yeah I was hoping they'd go into more detail or at least show a photo of him (I know we have one here) but the update was just black background and white lettering mentioning he surrendered to the FBI and was sentenced to 30 years.
Still they did do a very good job with the overall profile though
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Post by eal22 on Sept 18, 2017 9:27:02 GMT -5
I still wonder why he bothered to turn himself in.
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Post by Scumhunter on Sept 18, 2017 9:38:47 GMT -5
He might have felt the FBI was onto him or just couldn't take the pressure of being on the list. Who knows, I'm just glad he surrendered.
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Post by ninja108 on May 18, 2020 21:25:38 GMT -5
Just saw this case featured on Paula Zahn and learned a couple of new things from it.
1)The police took his blood a couple of days after the murder but someone made a clerical error with it and as a result,his blood type was ruled as not matching the suspect which initially cleared him as a suspect. Only when the cold case squad looked into the murder in the 90's did they realize the error that had been made but he was long gone by then.
2)Gary Stout,the husband of victim Laurie Stout showed up shortly after the murder looking for his wife. As a result,he was considered the prime suspect for years and was estranged from Laurie's family as they thought he did it. The victim's daughter mentioned at one point even she wondered if he had done it and has stated that next to losing her mother,that was the worst part of the murder,the hell her dad went through for years being branded as a murderer who got away with it,and he was totally innoncent.
They mentioned the plea deal and I certainly understand why many aren't happy with it given the fact he could get out someday. But sometimes,you have to grit your teeth and sign off on deals like that. Better to get someone to do some prison time instead of them walking.
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Post by pakman on Jun 12, 2020 15:23:49 GMT -5
In my experience with plea bargains, they usually come about when the prosecutors aren't convinced they'll get a conviction. So what they'll do is they'll offer a deal where the defendant will admit to a crime that they can actually prove. Prosecutors only have one shot at getting a case right. If they went to trial and Van Wisse got acquitted, that's it. They can't re-try him.
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Post by Scumhunter on Jun 12, 2020 15:31:40 GMT -5
Well the other thing is this deal for less time was part of Van Wisse's surrender and he may still be at large right now if not for that.
Also John Walsh often advises families to take a plea deal when offered to spare the pain of going through a trial, even if it's not a full life sentence, your loved one is not coming back anyway. A trial will just make you re-live everything.
I'm not saying families should agree with that advice, but it's often what he says. We just have to hope karma works out in this case with Van Wisse.
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Post by pakman on Jun 12, 2020 18:33:27 GMT -5
That's fascinating that he said that, because back when he hosted Final Justice, he called the suspect pleading guilty the "coward's way out." Which, frankly, is a bad way of phrasing it because with a guilty plea the victim's families get to hear from the perpetrator what actually happened.
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Post by Scumhunter on Jun 12, 2020 21:12:34 GMT -5
Well, I guess he can still feel a defendant is being a coward but it's the lesser of two awful options in his opinion, of course different cases may have different circumstances. Getting a little off-topic here, but overall sucks Van Wisse didn't get a tougher sentence, but for all we know he may die in prison anyway one day.
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Post by ninja108 on Jun 13, 2020 12:06:09 GMT -5
Well the other thing is this deal for less time was part of Van Wisse's surrender and he may still be at large right now if not for that. Also John Walsh often advises families to take a plea deal when offered to spare the pain of going through a trial, even if it's not a full life sentence, your loved one is not coming back anyway. A trial will just make you re-live everything. I'm not saying families should agree with that advice, but it's often what he says. We just have to hope karma works out in this case with Van Wisse. Everything I've read online about this case as well as the feature on it points to a plea deal being part of the agreement to turn himself in,as it appears(IMO) the evidence against him was solid enough to get a conviction. I will say this,I find it highly unlikely he will get paroled before his sentence expires so by the time he gets out,he'll be in his early 80's. Highly unlikely he'll be able to overpower or attack any woman the way he could before.
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