Richard Ramirez. Just the mention of his name can send shivers down the spines of those who remember and were affected by the heinous and horrific crimes he committed in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the mid 1980’s. Dubbed “The Night Stalker”, he was convicted of 13 counts of murder, 5 counts of attempted murder, 11 sexual assaults and fourteen burglaries and other various felonies and he is still suspected in many more murders, rapes and robberies. In all he was convicted on 43 felony counts with 19 having “special circumstances” which made him eligible for the death penalty and on November 9, 1989 he was sentenced to death 19 times. His crimes are just too brutal and his victims too numerous to go into detail of every crime but what I will tell you is that I don’t believe this man has any remorse for what he did and in my book, he is, by far, the worst serial killer to have ever walk the face of this earth in modern times. This man IS pure evil.
While this article is as much about the death penalty and whether it should be applied to a serial killer or anyone else for that matter, it would not be fair to anyone if I didn’t give you a very brief background on Mr. Ramirez.
Depending on which biography you read depends on which name Richard was born with. Ricardo “Richard” Leyva or Ricardo Mũnoz Ramirez was born February 28, 1960 to Julian and Mercedes Ramirez who were two hard working, law abiding Mexican immigrants. Richard’s father was his hero up until the age of 12 when he began hanging out with a cousin who had returned from fighting in Vietnam. At this young age, Richard was introduced to Satanism, drugs, and gruesome acts of violence by his cousin. I believe it was 1979 when Richard moved to southern California where he made a living by burglarizing homes. His continued drug use and his ever increasing need for violence came to a head on June 28, 1984. That’s the day Richard had begun his rape/killing rampage by raping and stabbing a 79 year old women to death. He also had slit her throat. The murders would not stop until August 18, 1985. Again I will not go into the gory details of all his crimes but suffice to say that the crime scenes he left made even the most hardened homicide detectives physically ill.
Now what do you do with a man like Richard Ramirez? My first instinct is to go along with the sentence that was imposed on him and let him die but then I think about other people on death row whose cases aren’t this clear cut. I also don’t feel right saying that one kind of killer should die and another kind receive life (I’ll explain later).There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is a sadistic killer and he’s guilty of the crimes he was charged with but is it right to put him to death because of the fact he’s twisted? Now that going to bring in a whole new argument for sparing him, not because the death penalty is wrong, but because we can’t go around killing the mentally ill, can we? I mean who in their right mind could commit these brutal acts and still call themselves sane?
But you have to think about the victims that survived his vicious attacks and what they want. You have to think about the families of the people who did not survive. These people want justice and damn it, they deserve it! Their needs should come first before we decide what’s fair and what’s not for Richard. You would be hard pressed to find any of them that would show mercy and recommend a life sentence for someone like Ramirez. I know myself that if I survived a severe attack from a tire iron to the head (which he had done to at least one of his victims) I would be begging to throw the switch, pull the trigger or whatever they do these days to execute someone and I AM against the death penalty. I’ll be honest; I don’t want to see anyone die at the hands of the state. I still think that state sanctioned murders are wrong and no one should have to die based on the lack of “reasonable doubt”. Having said that, Richard Ramirez is perhaps the most violent psychopath I have ever heard of. I don’t feel comfortable with him being alive. There are really no redeeming qualities about him other than his “good” looks. Should the surviving family members get to end his life or make the choice whether he lives or dies? That makes them killers also but if the state says it’s OK then I guess that’s different, right?
I know I’m all over the place on this issue and it’s just not on paper that I’m wishy washy. I go back and forth in my mind as well when it comes to people like Ramirez, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and all of the other serial killers that we’ve read about. There is a special place in Hell for these individuals and the sooner they get there the better. We know they’re not all there mentally but at the same time we know we don’t want them around because of the outside chance of parole or escape. Yes, people sleep better at night when they know there is absolutely no chance for a sadistic killer to ever breath free air or for that matter, breath air period. The problem with the death penalty in any case is that it’s cannot be given out equally. It’s just not possible to do it that way. This is what I was talking about before. Someone who plans to kill their wife or husband and goes through with it should not get the same penalty as a man like Ramirez. You may ask why I think that way and the answer is I don’t know. Crimes of passion are usually between a small number of people(usually 2 or 3) that know each other and it’s personal. Chances of them repeating their crime is remote. Serial killers like Ramirez kill at random where no one in the community is safe and they don’t ever stop killing until they’re caught or killed. They have no regard for human life and are the worst form of evil. So why both types of criminals commit murder, the serial killer, in my view, should pay a much higher price. I’m not even saying that death is the right price to pay. I don’t know what the right answer is when it comes to Richard Ramirez. I would suggest a frontal lobotomy but that would be “cruel and unusual punishment”.
He is, by all accounts, an honest to goodness monster that needs to be destroyed. The other side of it this is that Richard Ramirez was a product of his upbringing and is a human being that wasn’t born evil, he was raised to be that way. Not all people that have bad influences grow up to be murderers but you really do have to look at why someone like him is driven to kill in such a sick, twisted manner. He just didn’t kill his victims, he tortured them. I will never make excuses for what he did and if that’s what it sounds like I’m doing , I apologize.
The reason why the death penalty is such a hot topic these days is that it will never be black and white. It will never be a deterrent for murder and most sentenced to death will never see the inside of the death chamber. OK, if you kill someone, then you should have to pay with your life. It sounds good in theory but the problem is not everyone is Richard Ramirez and not everyone who is convicted of capital murder is guilty. His case WAS a black and white case with no question of guilt and even being an opponent of the death penalty, I don’t have a good argument as to why he shouldn’t be executed. The best I can do is say if the laws in this country are going to allow the state governments to kill its citizens, then in capital murder cases the standard should be that they have to be convicted “beyond a shadow of a doubt”, not “reasonable doubt”.
One thing I want to mention is that apparently a police officer’s life is more important than the average citizen which really pisses me off. Don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for law enforcement and the dangers they face every day. I just don’t believe that one person’s life is more valuable than another’s. I will give you an example: New York State does not have the death penalty right now but there is legislation on the table to make it a capital offense to kill a police officer only. Most states that have the death penalty will charge you with a capital offense if you kill while in the commission of another felony(i.e. rape or robbery) no matter who it is. I will reiterate that I know the dangers that a peace officer has to deal with every single day but it is a profession that they voluntarily chose and they put themselves in the line of fire. The average citizen does not want to be in that kind of danger. My family’s life is just as important to me as the police officer protecting it. Serial killers like Ramirez avoid the police like the plague. The police aren’t in danger from people like Ramirez, WE ARE! There is a big difference between spree killers and serial killers. The police fear the spree killer the most because they are the ones who will shoot it out with law enforcement without regard for their own lives. In fact, some want the police to end it all for them. Serial killers are basically cowards who only prey on the weak, uninformed, unaware and unarmed.
At one point, years ago, the only part of the death penalty that was still on the books in New York was if an inmate killed a corrections officer. Well, that happened and the inmate who was serving life to begin with was given another life sentence. Not to be too graphic, but the inmate bit the female corrections officer’s breast almost off. So where was the deterrent there? I know I got off the subject a little but this brings me back to Richard Ramirez. He has been on death row for almost 20 years and there is nothing more that they can do to him if he decides to start killing again. They may take away some of his privileges and put him in the “hole”, so what!
So after all this, we are still left with the question of what to do with Richard Ramirez. He has been sentenced to death 19 TIMES! Yet he has lived for 19 Years on death row in San Quentin Prison. He is still just as dangerous to the general public today as he was 24 years ago there when he was 24 and there is no question about it. He is a mentally ill individual who can never be rehabilitated and according to the law , shouldn’t be eligible for the death penalty. We could execute him but what would be the point? Justice for the families and friends of his victims? They really do need that for closure and I’m not trying to be a smart ass.To punish him? That’s a joke. He doesn’t care whether he lives or dies as he has died a thousand times over not being able to do what he does best. Let him rot in prison and go on missing the thing he loves to do the most. K-I-L-L .Or just murder him! You Make the call because I can’t..
