Imprisoned California serial killer Juan Corona dies at age 85

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Juan Corona, a serial killer found guilty of murdering 25 farmworkers whose bodies were found buried in Northern California orchards, died on Monday at the age of 85, state prison officials said.

Corona, who had been serving a life prison term since his 1973 conviction on 25 counts of first-degree murder, died of natural causes at an outside hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.

The number of murders were a U.S. record at the time and authorities have speculated that additional victims may have been slain and never discovered or tied to Corona.

Corona, who was born in Mexico, migrated to the United States as a teenager in the 1950s and suffered a mental breakdown following deadly floods along the Yuba River in 1955, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

-snip-

U.S. MARCH 4, 2019 / 5:53 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Dan Whitcomb
2 MIN READ


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-crime/imprisoned-california-serial-killer-juan-corona-dies-at-age-85-idUSKCN1QL2B1

[oldsoftie]

1. About 40 yrs longer than he SHOULD have lived

[SCantiGOP]

3. Is that you, God?

[oldsoftie]

8. No, it's me, Society.

The same Society that has consistently supported the death penalty for people like this.
However, that law should be amended to cover only people whose guilt is unquestionable by any metric. PLENTY of those cases out there. You likely know of a few. Removes any chance of executing an innocent person. Life for any who cant fit that category.

[SCantiGOP]

11. The death penalty is and always will be

Racist, arbitrary and ineffective. It is a penalty reserved for the poor, the mentally impaired and those on the fringes of society.
And if moral don’t interest you, it is also more expensive than life imprisonment, and has on many occasions resulted in the death of an innocent person.

[marble falls]

13. Absolutely right on the money. The fact that people can find a "poster child" for the ...

application of state sanctioned murder only demonstrates how unfairly that penalty is applied.

As a society we all talk about how if something saves just one innocent life, its good for society and yet some have have NO problem executing innocent prisoners.

[oldsoftie]

17. Which is why i support the change that would do away with any chance of an innocent dying.

PLENTY of cases out there that fit. Dylan Roof comes to mind. Theres NO way anyone in a similar case could be mistakenly executed. Anything less, life in prison. Not even eyewitness testimony is reliable enough.
And truly mentally impaired people very rarely commit violent crimes. Its odd how no mental impairment is ever diagnosed until AFTER someone gets murdered. ETA: far more whites than blacks are executed.
For now, the majority still support capital punishment.

[SCantiGOP]

18. Per capita, blacks are much more likely to die

And you can’t write a law that says “people like Dylann Roof can be killed.” If we allow state-sanctioned murder, it is inevitable that innocent people will also die, and that the system cannot be fair.
Blood lust has no place in a moral society when imprisonment for life is an option.

[oldsoftie]

20. Not if its written properly. Plenty of cases that fit. I'm no lawyer, but i bet its doable.

The Atlanta Courthouse shooter, the husband fleeing the dead wife, the Aurora shooter, etc. There are so many that fit there would be NO reason to ever try to get it for cases that have ANY question. I also believe there should be a law that puts a prosecutor in jail for putting someone away knowing they were innocent. It should be used for the most heinous crimes.
And if you want to quote the per capita statistic, then you must also consider the per capita stat of who it is that commits the most violent crime. We certainly dont have to like it, but it is what it is.
I would at least want to TRY to change the existing law, because it DOESNT have the protections. I think there would be braod support for it. But right now, the majority still support the DP even as its written. So why not try to narrow its implementation?

I respect your opinion to be against it simply because you dont think the state should do it. But the other part, i believe, is a solvable problem. But we have to try first!

[efhmc]

5. If we could study these people and get some reason/idea of

what makes them killers, then it makes sense to keep them alive. Not sure if it is legal to do scientific studies on them. But to analysis their personal history, body chemistry, dna and other data might put us closer to helping these people and to preventing them and others from becoming killers.

[oldsoftie]

7. I seriously doubt its legal. Maybe a voluntary program of some sort.

But i dont know that there is a specific reason to point out why some people are just evil.

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. There have been several who have been willing

No surprise, many have narcissistic tendencies, so they are more than happy to talk about themselves.

[oldsoftie]

16. Reminds me of someone else......

[marble falls]

14. Let alone using the "data" to premptively "stop crime" goes past even thought crime.

[TexasBushwhacker]

19. Yes, but knowing the background of violent criminals

can perhaps help to prevent "creating" violent criminals in the future. For example, many serial killers have histories of animal cruelty. Now that we know that, if a child is cruel to animals his parents might be able to get him into therapy to find out why, get him to stop and to prevent his behavior from escalating to people.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. 45 years in prison and dying is tougher than a few years and dying by execution.

[Javaman]

12. +1 nt

[SunSeeker]

2. A long, horrible life. nt

[Devil Child]

4. Rest in Peace to the many victims

Shame Corona was able to live such a long life.

[efhmc]

6. Blessings to those who were left behind to bear the sorrow of losing

their loved ones.

[MRubio]

15. Assuming he had a soul, may it burn in hell for eternity. n/t