Briton (Neil Entwistle) faces extradition for double murder

[Rhiannon12866]

Paul Owen and agencies
Thursday February 9, 2006

A British man was today arrested on suspicion of murdering his American wife and their baby daughter.

Neil Entwistle, 27, was arrested in London just before midday, on behalf of US officers investigating the double killing.

Mr Entwistle's wife, Rachel, 27, and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian were found dead on January 22 under layers of bedding in the master bedroom of their home in Hopkinton, about 30 miles west of Boston, Massachusetts. They had been shot.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1706278,00.html

[Caoimhe]

1. Will they extradite him

even though he most assuredly will face the death penalty? Or do they make that part of the deal. We give you Entwistle, you agree not to electrify him? I'm curious as to how non-death penalty countries (allies) handle this issue.

[benburch]

3. Yes, that is how it works.

Criminals know this, and will flee to such a place to avoid the death chair.

[sharp_stick]

6. I'm sure they will extradite him

MA doesn't have the death penalty, I suppose they could find some federal crime but I'm not sure if any of them would carry the death penalty.

Most countries make a deal that if they send the dirtbag back for prosecution they won't face the death penalty. Although Canada sent Charles Ng back with no strings attached so who knows.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. That's what I was wondering.

It took them forever to finally extradite that horribly creepy Ira Einhorn from France, because he'd been tried in absentia, and found guilty, and faced the death penalty. The U.S. had to agree to certain conditions before he could be extradited. I wonder whatever happened to him? This may prove to be speedier, since Entwistle's already been arrested, and by British police.

[DrGrishka]

10. Actually Einhorn

didn't face the death penalty. Einhorn was originally tried in 1981 for the murder committed in 1977. In 1977 Pennsylvania did not have death penalty as an option. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court declared death penalty unconstitutional in 1977 and the new law was not passed until 1978. So although death penalty was raised as an issue in extradition process, it really wasn't.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Thanks so much for enlightening me, DrGrishka !

I figured that someone here would know more about this! This makes perfect sense, but I do remember that France's strong opposition to the fact that we have the death penalty was brought up as a reason for their reluctance to let him return here, that, and the fact that he was tried and convicted in absentia. Do you know what happened to him? If I recall, wasn't he supposed to be granted a new trial, as part of the terms of his extradition? I followed this case because I thought that this guy had gotten away with a horrible crime for way too long...:-(

And welcome to DU, DrGrishka! We're very glad to have you, and your excellent memory, with us!:toast:

[DrGrishka]

14. He was tried again and convicted

France originally refused to extradite him because their law did not permit sentencing in absentia. (Generally, US law prohibits that too, except when defendant jumps bail. So you can't try someone before you actually arrest him, arraign him, etc. But if you do all of that and he escapes, then some states allow you to proceed with trial as the defendant is "voluntarily absenting himself.")

So, once France refused to extradite him, PA passed a special law allowing those convicted in absentia to request a new trial. After that, extradition was granted. He was convicted after only 2 hours of deliberations. He was sentenced to life w/o parole.

(As an interesting sidenote, Einhorn's original attorney was Arlen Specter).

[Rhiannon12866]

18. Wow! Thank you, my friend.

I found this guy to be the worst of the worst, despite my opposition to the death penalty, so I appreciate hearing the end of the story. I looked it up, before I made my post on him, but the stories I found were from 2002, with no conclusions. So thank you so much! I know that he's no danger to me, any more than Neil Entwistle is, but his crime was so horrible, and he expressed no remorse, that I'm glad to know that his days of freedom are at an end. Thank you and welcome, again, to DU. We need to remember, since the MSM is only as good as our latest news cycle.:eyes:

Rhiannon:hi:

on edit: corrected spelling.

[DrGrishka]

19. No prob

Glad I could help. Not only did he not express remorse, he claimed that CIA and KGB framed him. he is a lunatic. BTW, there was a Law & Order episode based on this story. See http://www.entertainment-geekly.com/web/general/feb2003/LawOrder_Feb12

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Thanks! And I'm sure that some TV show would pick up on this!

They have so little imagination that they rely on news items for their storylines. I used to write about TV, and they never fail to disappoint me.:-(

But I appreciate the additional info on Ira Einhorn. He is indeed a lunatic, and deserves whatever he gets. I was totally amazed that he'd managed to make a life for himself, without detection, let alone found an attractive French wife. I mean, who would marry this homicidal creep?! But, like nothingshocksmeanymore, very little shocks me anymore. I appreciate the information, since I had really wondered about the end of his very unpleasant story... Thanks.:-)

Rhiannon :D

[wicket]

11. Massachusetts has no death penalty- unless this will be a federal case?

Because he fled the country?

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sharp_stick]

2. I saw a picture of that little girl

and I want to personally choke the life out of whoever killed her. It doesn't help that I have a daughter of about the same age.

[gauguin57]

4. What in the FLOCK took them so long?

I yelled Guilty Guilty Guilty the night this story broke!

[Atman]

5. Thanks. We care why?

Does he have the WMD?

Perhaps he knows where Natally Holloway is...that'll distract us for a month!

Oh, and did you hear? I think the Iraq war ended! I haven't heard a word about it for a few days now, except for Bush bleeting out his same tired refrain on my teevee all day.

Sorry, Rhiannon, I know you don't deserve flamishness, but if there is ANY news DUers can be sure of hearing without DU's help, it is tragic news involving white people. The ones not in uniform, I mean.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. Hey, I know, I know!

I get alerts from The Guardian, and when I saw this one, I really hoped it had already been posted, since I didn't want to be the one to do it. I had visions of Rita Cosby in my mind! I'm already sick to death about all the news on this guy and I am also dreading how the MSM will turn this into another Natalee Holloway/Runaway Bride case, to the exclusion of real news. But, to be fair, this is a real news story, there's evidence that this guy did commit the most heinous of murders, and this one, hopefully, will have an end to it. But, if it makes you feel better, I cringed when I hit "post," since I expected this, and I feel the same way that you do.:eyes:

[Atman]

13. I'm not upset at you or anyone else for posting this stuff

I know it is being spoon-fed to us. I also know why, as you apparently do, too. But I guess this is my point, when America has so many other important constitutional issues on the table...



(This is from 2002. I thought I had 2005 handy, but don't. But it still illustrates my point pretty well.)


So, why is this guy's murder so much more special to us than all these other people? I promise you, if I did what the MSM is doing -- showing baby pictures, family vacation photos, etc, -- you could be made to feel sympathetic towards just about any of these victims. So again, why these people? My answer? White with cute baby. It is tragic, and makes boffo headlines, and they know full well that people will be talking about it around the water cooler, instead of a talking about MURDERED SOLDIERS AND INNOCENT IRAQIS, whose lives were cut short by Bush's illegal war.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. Believe me, I completely take your point and agree with you.

That's the reason I wasn't thrilled to be the one to post this, but it is in the news. This story has replaced Natalee Holloway (except with Rita Cosby, who's still hanging in there :eyes:) and the Runaway Bride as a major news story, ahead of the fact that four more U.S. Marines were killed in Iraq, just yesterday. We aren't hearing the details on that, no names, nothing about their families and possibly equally cute babies, now doomed to grow up without a father.;(

I always used to wonder why some stories made the news, when there are literally thousands more, of equal importance, but now I know: distraction.

I've avoided this story when it's appeared on the news, since it just wasn't important to me, but it is news and that's the only reason I posted it. As I said, there is evidence that this guy is guilty of a most heinous crime, and, as such, we should care about it, but just not to the exclusion of more important news that affects the other 99.9% of us.:shrug:

And maybe this post is a good thing, if it serves to spark a dialogue on the serious flaws and RW agendas of our MSM. There sure is enough evidence of that out there, from the bashing of Jimmy Carter for addressing serious issues on his eulogy to Mrs. King, which were absolutely relevant to her life and work, to the criticism of Rep. John Murtha, who has devoted his life to serving this country, for coming up with a common sense solution to end the terrible quagmire that is Iraq.:grr:

I am as angry as you are, my friend, over all of this. I wrote an angry e-mail to CNN, just last week, for cutting away from John Kerry's live speech to Congress on the filibuster over Samuel Alito, to show film footage of a speech expressing the opposite view, "for balance," they said. I told them that I didn't want balance, I wanted news, and that I was changing the channel!:grr:

Anyway, thanks for posting this chart, which puts this one case into perspective. Someone should show this to CNN, as if they would get it. And thanks for recognizing that I'm on your side, and I do get it, despite my flame worthy post. I expected no less from my friends on DU.:-)

Rhiannon :hi:

[BlueStater]

7. What sort of a fucking monster would do that to a baby? n/t

[smirkymonkey]

30. What sort of fucking monster would do that to a woman?

The whole thing is tragic, both mother and baby, but it makes me sick to see how little a grown woman's life is valued in that it barely even mentioned by people in this thread.

[Critters2]

15. Damn!

This'll distract Throaty McHuskington from the important work of finding Natalee.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. I know! And what a tragedy! But, I guarantee you, she isn't about to give

up on finding the elusive Natalee. I thought of her, when I posted this, and cringed, as I said in previous posts. She may give mention to this latest story, as she did about that blonde woman's husband who disappeared from their honeymoon cruise, but she'll do it from Aruba, now her second home...:eyes:

[BlueInPhilly]

21. It's all about money $$$

How could they afford a $2,700/month rent and a BMW - when neither one of them worked!!! And from what they have been saying, the woman was really clueless as to the depth of their financial trouble. He was perfectly happy in England, he had a job there. What he did was horrible, really horrible - but they were living well beyond their means and his wife wanted to be a stay-at-home mom!

He was supposed to kill himself, but chickened out the last minute.

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Wow! As I said, I hadn't been really following this story.

But this additional information makes it more worthy of the headlines it's been getting.:dilemma:

But my question is, why didn't he take his wife and baby with him, if he had work in England? That certainly would have been better than the alternative! Yikes!:crazy:

Thanks for the info and welcome to DU!:-)

[BlueInPhilly]

23. His wife wanted to move back to the US

So they did. They both quit their UK jobs and moved in with her parents.

You know, I don't want to follow this case either, it's just there by default, since Anderson Cooper is fascinated by this whole situation and raps about it every night.

[Rhiannon12866]

24. Thanks so much for the additional info.

I can't imagine anyone deciding to commit murder, based on this, but I guess that's what makes it newsworthy. Why didn't he just assert himself and point out the obvious, that he had a job and wanted to stick with it? Jesus!:shrug:

And I am totally on board with how you feel about Anderson Cooper. I had great hopes for him, after he experienced Katrina and identified with its victims, whom he became close to, but CNN made the grave mistake of replacing Aaron Brown, who just gave us the unvarnished news, with Anderson, who already had his own show, and this is too much for him, too much for anyone.:-(

[LoveMyCali]

26. Keith Olbermann predicted

today on the Dan Patrick show that Rita and Greta would soon abandon the Natalee story to cover the gambling scandal involving Wayne Gretsky's wife, who is also a pretty white woman. How will they ever make such a tough decision on who really deserves coverage?

[Rhiannon12866]

27. They have found it, my friend, this and the guy who disappeared on his

honeymoon cruise. Forget about Iraq, Katrina and economic issues, this is supposed to be the focus of our lives...:(

[Rhiannon12866]

28. And, just tonight, Keith covered it, LOL!

Who would have guessed?!:rofl:

[bklyncowgirl]

25. He was the obvious suspect.

The only other possibility was that he'd pissed off the wrong people with his scams and they were sending him a message. That was pretty far fetched.

Scumbag kills wife and baby--tragic but sadly this sort of thing happens every day. Probably not enough meat here to keep the media frenzy going but then I thought the same thing about the Peterson case.

Hope he rots in prison for the rest of his life.