Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Marco Allen Chapman

Brutally stabbed a whole family, killing the two youngest children, after which he rapes their mother.

Click HERE to read the story from the Charleston Daily Mail.

Marco Allen Chapman wants to die by lethal injection after admitting he brutally killed two children and left their sister and mother for dead. Now, the Kentucky Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the legality of Chapman's request.

The case is unprecedented in Kentucky - posing the question of whether a defendant can waive all his rights and request an execution. It also has the unusual twist of putting prosecutors and Chapman on the same side - arguing for the death sentence to be upheld, while Chapman's court-appointed defense attorneys seeking to save Chapman from committing what they call "suicide by court.''

"This is a defense lawyer's worst nightmare,'' said Michael Mello, a University of Vermont law professor and former lawyer for death row inmates in Florida.

The Kentucky Supreme Court set for oral arguments in the automatic appeal on April 12. Chapman, who has declined multiple interview requests, pleaded guilty in December 2004 to killing 7-year old Chelbi Sharon and 6-year old Cody Sharon in their home in the northern Kentucky community of Warsaw. Chapman also admitted attacking 10-year-old Courtney Sharon, who played dead after being stabbed several times, then raping and trying to kill their mother, Carolyn Marksberry, during the August 2002 assault. A judge granted his request to be sentenced to death.

Prosecutors say Chapman's attack was revenge for Marksberry advising a friend to end a relationship with Chapman. Immediately after the attacks, Chapman burglarized the home and fled to West Virginia, where he was arrested later that day.

Volunteering for a death sentence is not new. Since 1977, when Gary Mark Gilmore waived his appeals and stepped before a firing squad in Utah, 124 inmates in 26 of the 38 states with a death penalty law have waived appeals and asked to die. Nevada has had a dozen executions in that time, with 10 of them being inmates who volunteered. Texas, with 26 people volunteering, leads the nation in inmates giving up the fight against a death sentence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.

One of the two people executed in Kentucky since 1976 - Eddie Lee Harper - waived the remainder of his appeals and was executed in 1999.

A second Kentucky Death Row inmate, Shawn Windsor, is attempting the same thing as Chapman. Windsor pleaded guilty in 2006 to killing his wife and son and asked for execution. He is on Kentucky's Death Row, but Chapman's case is further along in the automatic appeals process granted in all death penalty cases.

What makes Chapman's case groundbreaking, lawyers said, was his decision to waive trial, sentencing by a jury, and nearly beg to be sentenced to death. Professors who teach criminal law have found Chapman's case - and it's potential implications for future defendants - disturbing.

Michael Hoffheimer, a criminal law professor at the University of Mississippi, said a ruling giving deference to a client's decision to seek a death sentence could be troubling because it would take away multiple legal safeguards to ensure that a competent, guilty person is put to death. Without those safeguards, there's a chance someone who is not guilty, but suicidal, could be executed, Hoffheimer said.

"Permitting defendants to make decisions that increase the risk of wrongful convictions is bad policy,'' Hoffheimer said. "The rights to life and liberty are unalienable. They should be accorded greater weight than the right to control one's legal defense.''

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think everyone, especially "Christians" are missing the point, including the so-called priests. If somebody does this, they deserve to die, its common sense. This man even says he wants to pay for his crime. Has anyone reminded him Jesus Christ, an innocent man, died for this man's mistakes? The priests only want to posture for political gain. If Chapman was helped to realize this in depth, he would have peace, whether he lived or died. Jesus came, not for respectable people, but to die for criminals, outcasts and the "scum" of society.

Marco Chapman, Jesus died for you.

Anonymous said...

this man deserves to die for his crimes. whether he actually wants to do so or not is irrelevant to me.

Anonymous said...

I'm all for the death penalty on crimes such as these but I don't think Chapman should get what he demands. I've always thought life in prison with the most minimal comforts offered is worse than instant, painless death. He wants the quick way out and because our death penalty methods are so humane, he will get it. Because our society cannot inflict upon him the pain he caused for that family, the next best thing is do what he would least want: life in prison.

Anonymous said...

I agree, his life should be forfeited as the Bible saids, but I do pray that he has made peace with God and Jesus so that his spirit does not have to be eternally punished for his crimes on Earth. It is sad all the way around for everyone involved. May God's forgiving arms embrace you. Now, only if more truly guilty criminals would have the backbone to stand up for their crimes against others, accept their punishment, make peace with life, and grow from the experience.

Anonymous said...

I think this guy should burn in hell for what he did. As for "hoping he made peace".. who in
their right mind would wish that?
He hurt and killed innocent children and for that, the only
right thing to do would be to
execute him, cruelly.

fierceangel said...

How is it that he may be executed, leave this world, and the family is left behind? Their anger and hurt will not go away, but Marco's guilty conscious ends with his life. He should have to stay alive in prison.

Anonymous said...

I do not view the death penalty as a punishment. I view it as our responsibility to remove these people from society as a form of protection for the rest of us. Consider it "culling the herd". We HAVE to have some level self preservation that trumps our political correctness and allows us to remove people like this from the population. As long as there is irrefutable proof, people who commit reprehensible, vicious, violent crimes of this nature should be swiftly and mercifully put to death.

Anonymous said...

You F*#king Jesus freak....up top. are you absolutely out of your mind.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Sarah. Cull the herd.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how each of us would feel if we were in this position? How can we make judgment about what is right or wrong for this man without being in his place? The judicial system is in place to make a decision about his guilt, and once that is done, who else has the right to question his wish to die?

Anonymous said...

Don't KIll him...for him that is the easy way...leave him in this world or send him to a jail in Dominican Republic or any other latinamerican jail...there he will be in true hell...or if you want transfer him to Puerto rico, rigth here the Association will take a very good care of him...but don't kill him make him dream everynigth with the faces of those kids...torture him...hell is in here

Anonymous said...

It's so funny that people who believe in mercy are always "Jesus Freaks" and such. I believe that some people can be reformed and some people are just insane criminals. This guy obviously knows that the death penalty is justice otherwise he would be fighting it. However, I do not believe that our judicial system should be used as a suicide tool. What if (not that this would happen in this case) he was actually innocent and the real killer gets away because this maniac wants to be put to death? You can never truly know. I think that the juducial system should be let to do it's job in it's time and this guy should not have a say in any part of his sentencing. He has lost all of his rights because of what he did. Throw him in solitary confinement until the courts come to a decision.

Anonymous said...

This guy committed the UNPARDONABLE sin as so states in the scriptures. He created his own damnation. He should SWIFTLY be put to death. Leave mercy in the hands of the Almighty. We need to deliver him up before that to happen.

Anonymous said...

Everyone can say what they want. Bottom line is that we do not know what the poor families feel. I honestly think that they cannot bare to imagine Chapman being in prison for the crimes he committed. They want him dead and have every right to feel so. Think about it (for all parents here): What would you feel if your son/daughter was brutally murdered and your entire family was victimized? I know that I would be angry and full of rage and that I would probably kill the man or woman responsible, myself.
There's no right or wrong here. The biggest loss suffered here is the Marksberry family. No-one else.

Anonymous said...

I mostly agree with the first post. I believe his immediate targeting of Christians and priests is unnecessary since I don't recall seeing them mentioned in the article, but as far as this man needing to find the crucified Jesus is pretty critical for himself. Believe or not but a person like this deserves God's mercy more than any of us considering what he's done. Hopefully if and when he learns that Jesus died for the godless he'll repent for his sins and trust fully in God's mercy.

Anonymous said...

I think the last poster got it right on the nose. And for all the posters that said something to the effect of 'don't kill him, make him live the rest of his days in a miserable prison somewhere', I agree. It really is the worse punishment he could get

Common Sense! said "I think this guy should burn in hell for what he did. As for "hoping he made peace".. who in their right mind would wish that?"

You're probably right, he should burn in hell for what he did. But if he has asked his God for forgiveness and dies in a state of grace, then it's heaven to which he'll be heading. And as for your question "..who in their right mind would wish that?" A Christian.

Anonymous said...

don't knock the jesus freaks....we will be in heaven in peace while you burn in eternal hell...you still have time to make him LORD of your life..laugh if you want...but think if you're wrong...how bad eternity will be!!

Anonymous said...

Let him have at it! If he wants to die, fine, save the taxpayers money and time keeping him alive. I don't believe any form of death is humane and I don't think we should leave him alive to "think about his crimes"...quit dreaming! The surviving victims will live with the recurring horror for the rest of their lives, that poor child, what kind of life will she have. For those who believe it is not for us to judge but to leave it to God...he can ask for forgiveness before he receives the injection...then it's between he and God! I believe his punishment fits the crime. Maybe some peace will come to his victims and they can close a horrible chapter in their lives!

Anonymous said...

Wow, all of this is nuts. My husband worked with this guy. We spent time with this guy. We knew his girlfriend. We met the family he did this to. All throughout this last day, my husband and I thought about what and how Marc must've felt knowing the end was coming. He got time to reflect on what he did and time to fear his end. Cody and Chelbi got to fear for their lives in their last minutes. Courtnee played dead while telling her brother she'd be back to help. Carolyn got to be duct taped and raped during the time this was happening to her kids. For those of you who sympathize with this monster, you should have your heads examined!!! If you say the punishment fits the crime, you are crazy!! Life in prison doesn't bring any closure to the family. Now that he is gone, the family can start to heal. Nothing will bring back Cody and Chelbi, this is true. But letting admitted killer live doesn't bring justice to the family who has sacrificed the most.

Anonymous said...

I knew the people (through friends of mine outside of Warsaw KY) and they were a nice family. If you had known everything he did to this family, and the reason why he did it, which was really stupid, then you would not have any disagreement with him dying. The only thing I have against the way he died is I believe that he should have been killed the same way he killed those two children.

Anonymous said...

kill them all, let god sort them out

Unknown said...

You know he is my cousin all of you rot in hell he has paod fpr his mistake sp fuck u in realiry non of yall give a damn