Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
In the given case, Christopher Watts, a 33-year-old man residing in Frederick, the state of Colorado, was a defendant. Before the incident, he worked for an oil and natural gas company until August. The victims include Shanann Watts, Christopher’s 34-year-old wife, and his two daughters, namely, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste (Dickson, 2019). Herewith, it is also worth noting that Shanann Watts was carrying a child for 15 weeks at the time of her death. Other prominent figures in the case were Michael Rourke, Weld County District Attorney, Sandra Rzucek, Shanann Watts’ mother, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigations. In particular, Sandra Rzucek supported the decision not to sentence Chris Watts to the death penalty.
Background
The reason for the murder was the partial motive of Christopher Watts. In particular, the defendant had an affair with Nichol Kessinger, a 30-year-old co-worker, and wanted to leave his family. According to Steven Lambert, the attorney for Shannan Watts’ family, during the conversation, Shanann Watts told Chris Watts that he would never see his children if divorced, provoking the latter to strangle his wife (Dickson, 2019). As a result, Christopher Watts was charged with murder, falsifying the body of a dead person, and wrongful pregnancy termination (Madani and Ford, 2018). Watts pleaded guilty to all the sentences that were passed without the chance of parole.
Pretrial
Initially, Christopher Watts rejected his involvement in the deaths of his wife and daughters. In the interview conducted outside the family’s home before the trial, he even announced, “I just want them home so bad” (Madani and Ford, 2018). However, after discovering Shanann Watts’ body on the property of the oil company and when the Investigations asserted the victims’ murder inside their home, the defendant changed his position. Firstly, Watts claimed to the police that he killed his wife after she slew their daughters, but then, he confessed to suffocating his two daughters and wife to death.
Presumably, Chris Watts decided that the confession in the murder was a much better variant since it allowed him to evade the death penalty that waited for him in the case of guilt confirmation. According to Rourke, Sandra Rzucek helped Chris Watts make this decision. In this regard, she clearly stated, “He chose to take those lives. I do not want to be in a position of choosing to take his” (Madani and Ford, 2018). As a result, Christopher Watts was charged with nine counts: five life sentences of murder, three counts of falsifying the body of a deceased person, and one – wrongful pregnancy termination
Personal Opinion
The given question is delicate indeed and requires thorough investigation and consideration of all circumstances. I think that there are particular situations in which defendants should obtain the death penalty irrespective of their readiness to plea guilty. For example, in the history of our nation, society knew various serial and vile killers who spared neither women nor children and killed them only for pleasure or amusement, not even for personal gain. Such manifestations of utter and loathsome sadism should be punished with the extreme penalty of the law. This strict should serve as a social preventive measure that aims at cautioning and scaring others against similar actions. Moreover, some arrant murderers can even genuinely repent and, at least partly, ease their conscience in the face of death.
References
Dickson, E. D. (2019).What drives a man to kill his own family? Inside the psychology of family annihilators. Rolling Stone. Web.
Madani, D., & Ford, S. (2018). Christopher Watts pleads guilty to killing wife, children — Will be spared death penalty. NBC News Digital. Web.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.