Community Chat

[songbird]

The jury recommended death for Charles "Chase" Merritt in the killings of the McStay family.  Broken down was Life without parole for the killing of Joseph McStay (1 mitigation) death penalty for counts 2, 3, & 4.  Summer McStay, Joseph Mcstay Jr,(4) & little Giani McStay (3)  Those death did not have any mitigation.  The reasoning of the jury seems to indicate that Merritt came to their house to confront Joseph McStay and then it spiraled out of control, strangling him with a cord.  Then he simply had to kill the rest of the family to prevent any witness.  Using a sledgehammer. Per the maybe rape of Summer.  He hated her and perhaps wanted to humiliate her.  Her body was found with out her pants or underwear on. But her body was mostly skeleton and there wasn't away to prove that.  So the prosecution was forced to drop that charge.  Formal sentencing is for Sept 27,. 2019.  But most people think the judge will carry out the jury's recommendation of death.

As for Merritt, he's a low life, spending most of his adult life in prison. Aside from an assault and robbery in his youth, he turned the corner and committed white collar crimes. I think he had a least 3 long stretches of time in prison before meeting McStay.  Maybe he wanted to give him another chance, who knows?  He's 62 & will likely die in prison no matter if the slow as molasses death penalty is in California. 

[Caligurll]

As of March 2019, there is a moratorium on further executions, ordered by the Governor.  Not that it matters, since there are so few executions that actually happen here.  The last one was in 2006.

Life without parole is the likely outcome for him.

[Mz iMac]

@songbird "He's 62 & will likely die in prison no matter if the slow as molasses death penalty is in California."

Don't forget the 20+ yrs of the "appeal process."

[Pearlee]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

@songbird "He's 62 & will likely die in prison no matter if the slow as molasses death penalty is in California."

Don't forget the 20+ yrs of the "appeal process."

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Perhaps he'll be "taken care of" by one or more inmates.  That can happen to inmates who have been in notorious cases.  

[songbird]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

@songbird "He's 62 & will likely die in prison no matter if the slow as molasses death penalty is in California."

Don't forget the 20+ yrs of the "appeal process."

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How do you appeal 3 murders with out ANY mitigation????  His lawyers have to proof him innocent of any charges, including 1 life with out parole murder with 1 (tiny) mitigation)  If Merrit had just stopped with killing Joseph McStay, he would have gotten off with manslaughter.  Instead he committed mass murder.

[Mz iMac]

@songbird 

In this country, all criminals have "appeal" rights.  Very few waive them.  Those few want to be put to death ASAP.  If I am not mistaken, Florida & Texas are the 2 states that come to mind that will accommodatee" those few.