Death penalty: To ease a family, spare a beast?
EUGENE, Ore. -- By striking a deal with murderer Joel Courtney, prosecutor John Haroldson said he was able to give the victim's family what they wanted most: the remains of their daughter Brooke Wilberger for a proper burial -- and what the victim's mother calls justice.
"It is not an easy decision," Haroldson said, "but in this case I stand by that decision."
By pleading guilty and telling investigators where he left Brooke's body, Courtney avoided the death penalty but received a sentence of true life.
"We are thankful that justice was served," Cammy Wilberger, Brooke's mother, "and he will not have the opportuity for parole."
Hear Cammy Wilberger in her own words:
The national average for death sentence appeals is about 12 years, but in Oregon where every death sentence is automatically appealed, the process can take 20 years or more.
"The death penalty in Oregon presents a lenghy process involving appeals and draws out closure for a family that has suffered as much as the Wilberger family has," Haroldson said.
Only two Oregon death row inmates have been put to death since the death sentence was reinstated in 1984. Currently, 32 people are on death row in Oregon. One inmate has been there for 17 years
Haroldson was chief deputy district attorney when Wilberger disappeared in 2004. Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed him district attorney in 2007; he was elected by voters in 2008. He had sought the death penalty in the case.
Courtney will live out his life in Oregon prisons after completing an 18-year sentence in New Mexico prisons.
