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User:Jean Po/sandbox2

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This page is about the executed kidnapper. For photograph, see Billy Monk.
Billy Monk
Born
Billy Wesley Monk

1934 or 1935
Died (aged 26)
San Quentin State Penitentiary
Cause of deathGas chamber
OccupationSign painter
Known forTwo kidnappings, being the last to die in the United States for a non-fatal kidnapping
Criminal statusExecuted
MotivePecuniary, sexual gratification
Conviction(s)September 17, 1960
Criminal chargeKidnapping, robbery, Crime against nature
PenaltyDeath
Details
VictimsTwo known (Rose Schaeffer and Katherine Sorena)
Span of crimes
1960–1960
CountryUnited States
State(s)California
Location(s)Los Angeles
Target(s)Women
KilledHead (1951)
Imprisoned atSan Quentin

Billy Wesley Monk, father of three, was the last offender to suffer death for a non-letal kidnapping in the US and the last non-murderer to be executed in California, a few months after Caryl Chessman, also executed for kidnappings committed in the same circunstances.[1][2][3][4]

Background edit

On June 24, 1951, when he was 16, him and his brother Lester were driving a truck. Lester fell asleep and Billy's head felt on rocks.[5] Six months after he began getting blackout spells and then became moody.[5]

Parallelly he started to have trouble with law: he forged checks in 1954, and the same year he attempted to hang himself; he got two years in 1957 for stealing in telephone booths and, in Chino, wrote a letter to his mother accusing her and Lester to having attempted to kill him in 1951 before sending her another letter full of affection.[5]

Kidnappings[2] edit

On March 14, 1960, in the city of Los Angeles, Monk threatened Mrs. Rose Schaeffer, 48, with a gun, robbed her from more than $16, forced her in a car and then told her he wanted "what [she had] between her legs"; Schaeffer then threw herself out of the vehicle at a red light, sustaining injuries needing an one week stay at the hospital.

On April 19, 1960, in this same town, Mrs. Katherine Sorena and her 3-years-old son were in her car when she had trouble with the lights; Monk then came over and told he couldn't fix the car. She thanked him but he kidnapped her in his car, beat her and forced her to fellate him[Note 1] under her son's eyes before penetrating her vaginally with his fingers and his penis; he then robbed her of $6 before leaving her at her home.

Trial and execution edit

Billy Monk pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in account of his head trauma and made several outbursts during the trial, where he was tried by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Brandler.[6] On September 17, 1960 he was convicted of rape and kidnapping with intent to rob occasioning bodily harm, then a capital charge under the state "Little Lindbergh Law";[Note 2][7] on 29 September 1960 the judge then sentenced him to die[8] and confirmed this death sentence in late October 1960.[9]

On 20 July 1960 the California Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.[10] Described as "the only man on Death Row not convicted of murder",[4] Billy Monk died on November 21, 1960 in the San Quentin gas chamber after nine and a half minutes.[1][Note 3] Before being executed, he was converted to the Assemblies of God by Rev. Jack Epperson, former Van Nuys photographer.[11]

Signifiance edit

Billy Wesley Monk was the last offender to die for non-lethal kidnappeings, seven months after Caryl Chessman died, on May 2. On January 11, 1961 Rudolph Wright was the last to be executed for an offense other than murder, in his case assault by a life-term inmate.[10]

On May 8, 1964 Ronald Wolfe died in the Missouri gas chamber for rape and, on September 2, 1964 James Coburn was Electric chairin Alabamafor robbery, and was the last offender to die for an offense not having caused death.

Between 1950 and 1967 nine offenders such as Edward Wein.[12] or Richard John Jensen[13] were sentenced to death for violating the Section 209, even though only Jensen was executed for kidnapping, robbing and raping a U.S. Marine[2]

In 1976 the Supreme Court of the United States forbade the use of the death penalty in the cases of rape of adult women in Coker v. Georgia and, in 2008 extended this ban to any non-fatal crime not involving the State in Kennedy v. Louisiana.

See also edit

Internal edit

External edit

  • People v. Monk, 56 Cal. 2d. 288 (Cal. 2d July 20, 1961).
  • Brandler, Mark (1993). "People v. Billy Wesley Monk". The Death Penalty-View from the Bench. Vantage Press. pp. 12–28. ISBN 9780533104246.

Notes and references edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The People v. Monk ruling spoke about Sorena being forced to "commit an act denounced by section 288a of the Penal Code", section refering to oral sex, then called "sex perversion".
  2. ^

    "... any person who kidnaps or carries away any individual to commit robbery, ... is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall suffer death or shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole, at the discretion of the jury trying the same, in cases in which the person or persons subjected to such kidnaping suffers or suffer bodily harm. ..."

    — Section 209, California Penal Code
    (Italics added.)
  3. ^

    Billy Wesley Monk, executed on 21 November 1961, was described by a San Quentin Correctional Officer as "thrashing about in search of oxygen very much like a fish out of water." Ex. 3 at 1 (Decl. of Michael William Basten).

    — Fierro, Ruiz, Harris v. Gomez, 94-16775 (U.S. 9th Circuit 1996).

References edit

  1. ^ a b López, Ernie (2010). "Condemned". To Alcatraz, Death Row, and Back: Memories of an East LA Outlaw. University of Texas Press. p. 188. ISBN 9780292778191. Retrieved 22 November 2013. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c Hamm, Theodore (2001). Rebel and a Cause: Caryl Chessman and the Politics of the Death Penalty in Postwar California, 1948-1974. University of California Press. p. 57. ISBN 9780520925236. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  3. ^ Sheila, O'Hare (2006). Legal executions in California: a comprehensive registry, 1851-2005. McFarland. pp. 556–. ISBN 9780786421107.
  4. ^ a b "Attacker of two women executed san quentin". The San Bernardino County Sun. AP. 22 November 1961. p. 14. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  5. ^ a b c "Tragedy in Curtain Call for Sad Mother". Mirror News. April 27, 1960. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  6. ^ (Brandler 1993:20)
  7. ^ "Monk Convicted Of Kidnap, Rape". Redlands Daily Facts. UPI. September 17, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved 24 November 2013. Billy W. Monk, facing a possible death penalty under the state's Little Lindberg law,...
  8. ^ "Kidnaper Convicted". Pasadena Independant. September 20, 1960. p. 2. Retrieved 24 November 2013. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Brandler yesterday ruled that Billy Wesley Monk, 25, convicted of kidnap and rape attacks on two San Fernando Valley women, must die in the San Quentin gas chamber.
  9. ^ "Slayer Laughs At Death Sentence". Lodi News-Sentinel. UPI. October 26, 1960. p. 3. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  10. ^ a b People v. Monk, 56 Cal. 2d. 288 (Cal. 2d July 20, 1961).
  11. ^ Rieder, Ron (26 November 1961). "Cleric Tells Strange Story of Death Row Conversion, New Faith". Valley News. p. 1. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  12. ^ Harnisch, Larry (April 23, 2007). "The bad dream". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  13. ^ People v. Jansen, 43 Cal. 2d. 572 (Cal. 2d October 26, 1954).

Category:1930s births Category:1961 deaths Category:People executed for kidnapping Category:American people executed by gas chamber Category:20th-century executions by California Category:20th-century executions of American people Category:Criminals from California Category:American rapists Category:San Quentin State Prison Category:People with brain injuries Category:Assemblies of God people Category:Converts to Pentecostal denominations Category:American Pentecostals

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