Mass killer Charles Starkweather's girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, plans to ask state again for a pard

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/mass-killer-charles-starkweather-s-girlfriend-caril-ann-fugate-plans/article_ad1d1997-1091-5f37-8087-08f6c42b16c9.html





POSTED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 1:00 AM
By Paul Hammel World-Herald Bureau

LINCOLN — Mass murderer Charles Starkweather’s teen girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, is planning another request for a state pardon, and her attorney is trying to turn the request into a campaign issue.

John Stevens Berry, a Lincoln attorney and co-author of a recent book about Fugate, said he plans to submit a request soon for a hearing before the State Board of Pardons.

Along with the request, Berry said he will survey the candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state — the three offices that comprise the Pardons Board — so voters know where they stand on the request.

“People want to know how candidates stand on a lot of issues. I want to know,” the attorney said. “And I want everyone else to know.”



Handout

Caril Ann Fugate and Charles Starkweather a few months before a murder spree that ended with the deaths of 11 people. After being turned down in 1996, Fugate is planning to ask again for a state pardon

FULL story at link.

[Warpy]

1. She's in her 60s now

but she was only 14 when her boyfriend turned vicious and likely some bullying had been taking place to persuade her to go with him after he killed her family. We'll never know about that, but convicting her on his testimony was more a sign of a bunch of people trying to hit back than proof of her guilt.

I think she's likely paid her debt and his, too. Pardoning her won't change anything, it will simply acknowledge just how vulnerable a 14 year old girl can be if she falls in puppy love with a charismatic monster.

[NM_Birder]

2. When involved in the murder of innocent people,

you "debt to society" is to never be allowed back into it. "puppy love" or not.

oooopsie, I was only 14, how was I supposed to know murder was wrong ?

[Warpy]

4. I never murdered anybody at 14, either, but

I remember how easy it was to get bullied into doing things I knew were wrong by older people I looked up to.

Her age needs to be taken into account and so does the way she was convicted, on the testimony of a man who just wanted to take her down with him.

[NM_Birder]

8. LOL, I engaged in my share of mahem during my teenage years,

got away with some, got caught more often than not. Never could have been "bullied" into taking part in robbing and killing someone.

I bet the dead guy would agree with me. Or is this a numbers game ? She was actually only involved in killing One person so hey, not that bad right ?
take care.

[Warpy]

12. She was never trusted with a gun

She was never involved in a murder.

[NM_Birder]

15. neither was Manson by your rationale.

[NM_Birder]

3. I stand corrected,

i just read she was paroled in 1976, after only 17 years in prison.
I also stand disappointed that robbing people before your boyfriend murders them is only good for 17 years in prison.

[Warpy]

5. Maybe she hadn't gotten to the class in clairvoyance

Did she know for a fact that the asshole Starkweather was going to murder them?

[NM_Birder]

7. When she robbed the guy just before Starkweather killed him, she became a murderer.

Too bad she wasn't executed too. Since she was released in 1976, I guess she's had an OK life, not so much for the dead guy.

[Warpy]

11. No, she became somone whose violent boyfriend ordered her to lift a wallet

and we have only his word that she did.

But hey, let's not revisit the wrongs of the past and try to right them. It's much more fun to keep dumping on somebody who was swept up in stuff she had no way to control because she was still a kid.

[NM_Birder]

14. doesn't matter to anyone but the dead guy. So yeah, fuck it. kids will be kids.

[Eleanors38]

17. Robbery is a violent crime anyway you cut it.

[NM_Birder]

9. Manson didn't even go the to Tate house, never touched anyone.

He is still in Prison, and Squeaky Frome was already paroled.

People who can be convinced to kill are still murderers, just like people who are involved in crimes where someone is murdered, are just as responsible.

[NaturalHigh]

6. I've read a lot about Fugate through the years...

and I've seen footage of an old interview with her. In my opinion, she was a fairly simple-minded 14-year-old girl at the time.

I don't know if she should receive a pardon or not, but I think it's fair to remember that she was a kid at the time.

[hifiguy]

13. Agreed.

[Chan790]

10. She got paroled...

asking for more is asking for too much.

Do I think she served her time? Not really. 17 years is not a long time for what she did.

Do I think she deserves to life her life free? At this point, yes.

Do I support her receiving a state pardon? Hell No! She's not a victim of circumstance or unjustly convicted or even Starkweather's patsy...she's a murderer. Let her suffer the consequences of that...I would not support candidates that support her pardon.

[Eleanors38]

16. "Puppy love?" More like poor sick puppy. He stays. nt

[Jenoch]

18. What would be the point for her to receive a pardon now?

She was convicted, did her time, and lived to be a senior citizen. I don't see any claims that she was wrongfully convicted.