February 23 will be the 27th anniversary of the date I witnessed William Bonin executed in San Quentin. I am the last surviving member of the defense firm that represented him in both the Los Angeles and Orange County trials of killing more than 30 young boys.
Bonin was the only execution that I witnessed but not the only death penalty case our office represented. Among our clients was Larry Bittaker and Roy Norris otherwise known as the Toolbox Killers because they executed their young girl victims with pliers, coat hangers and ice picks. Neither Bittaker nor Norris were executed. They lived their lives on death row enjoying the memories of their murders and fantasies of murdering others.
I say this only because my perspective is more knowledgeable than the typical soft on crime liberal. I am a firm believer in the death penalty. It just isn't carried out fast enough.
There are killers to whom there is not only no question that they are killers but no question that they will kill again. They kill because they enjoy it and the pleasure is so orgasmic that killing is a pleasure seeking compulsion. They are addicts. They cannot be helped. They cannot be rehabilitated. There is no humanity left.
Bonin wrote a 50 page confession. In that confession he described his increasing pleasure with each boy he killed. The urge was so strong that he salivated and his hands shook just upon seeing a young boy on the street.
Mary Neiswender was a journalist. Her son worked in our office. She intended to write a book about Charles Manson. I went with her to one of her interviews. Manson was also sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted by operation of law. He was always regretful that he didn't do more. More killing that is. Why wasn't he there when Sharon Tate's pregnant belly was gutted. How glorious that would have been.
These people have forfeited the right to live, at all, not even among criminals. Every day such as these exist they get to relive their crimes and dream of new ones. Those who kill for pleasure should be put down as a rabid animal is put down. It should be done without feeling, without consideration. That's what the death penalty is for. Use it.
