Also, I second #2. I've been reading your coverage from Chicago, Eli, and you've done an excellent job. I almost started crying when I read the headline.
I will be haunted by the images this reporting has left me for the rest of my life. Hopefully, if nothing else, I will be a better person for it. Hold my loved ones a little tighter, fight for peace when I can. Excellent work Eli. Truly, deeply affecting writing.
Whew. Thanks to the prosecutors for working so carefully and hard, to the defense for doing their best, to Hayden for keeping it fair, to the witnesses for their bravery. Thanks especially to the jury, ordinary citizens like any of us, asked out of the blue to bear such a huge responsibility throughout the whole process . And to Eli, thanks for watching their work so closely and describing it for us so well.
Since Butz couldn't testify as to the lack of consent (because the motherfucker murdered her), I'm assuming the prosecutor didn't bother charging Kalebu with her rape.
@18 But charging, say, a serial killer with rape and murder isn't unusual. And unlike a typical rape/murder, there's a witness who could testify that the deceased didn't consent. But perhaps it might have opened the tiniest door for reasonable doubt, and the prosecutor felt whatever additional sentence imposed for the charge wouldn't be worth that?
I couldn't be wrong, but I don't think they can charge him with rape if the felony murder is based on the fact that she was killed during the commission of the rape.
Also, I think that it was aggravated first degree murder (as opposed to just first degree murder, which doesn't carry mandatory life w/out parole) because of the rape. I think double jeaopardy prevents charging aggravated murder and the rape.
@15: there are a whole bunch of potentially appealable issues, but it is also quite possible that Kalebu will refuse to file an appeal. It is his decision, not his defense team's to make and he's been in constant conflict with them from the very beginning -- most notably, not allowing them to put forward an insanity defense, and then taking the stand to testify. Maybe it was all some kind of intricate trial strategy to set up an appeal, but I doubt it.
Eli, it's clear from your passionate reporting that this tore a chunk right out of your heart, too. Thanks so much for your outstanding, compassionate and intuitive take. Your talents are deeply appreciated.
@22 Yeah I think the merger doctrine would apply. The rape is part of the felony murder. The jury may have had the option of convicting him of rape alone.
I am thankful and grateful that the verdict came in the way it did, but I must admit - it's just too damn bad the fucker's mentally ill, because that precludes us, as a civilized society, of rendering capital justice. Which is the justice that would be most fitting for this man's crimes, IMO.
Didn't he also burn down his aunt's house, killing someone inside?
@31 Would you say the same thing if someone had a seizure while driving and killed someone?
Without a doubt he needs to be taken out of society and confined for the rest of his life. Illness or no he is a threat to others. However I think that we can do that without exacting pointless revenge on a person not in control of their actions.
Also, giffy, if you carefully read what I wrote, I did say that the mental illness is what precludes us from killing him. I agree, we can't execute the mentally ill and remain a civilized society.
In Washington State, a conviction for first degree premeditated murder comes with a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
I hope that means: Yes, we're serious. Not even the possibility of parole. We will make absolutely certain that it remains away from the rest of society until it dies.
Personally, I hope he dies of a brain embolism or something similar as soon as possible, because I honestly don't want to pay to keep this piece of human garbage alive any longer than is absolutely necessary.
I've had nightmares about this case but continued to read every one of your articles; to bear witness seemed like the least I could do for Teresa, her partner, and their loved ones. Thank you.
It's good to see justice done, and all of Seattle can breathe a sigh of relief. He is manifestly dangerous and putting him away for life makes everyone that much safer.
And the Typical Seattle Mindset dies naked, bleeding & dead in the street. Everybody rants about the death penalty. Seattle "breathes a sigh of relief". Please!. Kalebu Is Legion. He walked the same streets as Jesus Mezquia, Gary Ridgway,Ted Bundy,Kenneth Bianchi...& dozens more. I ran into a couple Walla Walla parolees the day Charles Campbell, Your Death Penalty Posterboy, was hung, & they remarked "he was an asshole inside, too". I cringed when the victim testified "We did everything he told us to do & he still stabbed us!" They're the killers & you're the prey. Darwin has entered your home. Read Gavin de Becker & Sanford Strong-they will save your lives. Every hope Teresa & her partner had was been destroyed & you're all toothlessly rooting for prison rape. What progress has the LBGT community made when a lesbian is stalked & stabbed viciously to death by an implacable AA rapist in the middle of the night in one of the most progressive cities in the world-or have you all forgotten Kitty Genovese?
And this is different -how- from cops invading homes ( warrant optional ) and killing the occupants just because? Only difference is there's no trial in those frequent cases. Just the sound of a vacuum cleaner hiding the mess. Noun! Verb! Nine-Eleven!
@44 Use a different forum to try and score political points. There is absolutely a difference between a man who spends hours raping, torturing, and killing two women, and an unwarranted home invasion by the cops. Being deliberately obtuse and downplaying what Kalebu did to make a political argument about police accountability diminishes your own message.
I hope he can get treatment in prison. Not for his sake, but because I think the mental health and law enforcement communities might be able to learn from him. Effective interventions for people like him *before* they rape and murder, for instance. Learning to differentiate between people who are mentally ill and people who are mentally ill and dangerous.
Locking him up for life and leaving him to rot means we will be safe from him. Locking him up for life and trying to understand his pathology means we will be safe from him, and we may also be safer from other people like him in the future.
" I think the mental health and law enforcement communities might be able to learn from him"
Learn what exactly? Prisons are filled with rapists and murderers. He had access to mental health care. He refused it. End of story. Thank those who made involuntary lockup so hard.
Except this was against The Stranger's key demographic. If Kalebu had done this to a black couple, or god forbid, a couple of republicans in Bellevue, no one on slog would care.
This case has haunted me. I hope he never has the chance to hurt anyone else or terrorize our community ever again. May life without the possibility of parole mean just that, and that every appeal fail and the judgement not be set aside because of some technicality.
Mentally ill, lacking in impulse control and without empathy there is no other place Kalebu should be besides death or a cell.
I have to confess that reading Eli's articles about the trial and the testimony of the rapes and murders has made me unhealthily obsessed with protecting myself and my partner. This one might be put away, but there are rapes and murders everyday since this one and more to come.
Actually, you guys, it says in the report that he WAS convicted of first degree rape. It's the second to last conviction listed in the series. And thanks for the awesome work covering this, Eli. I have been following yr reporting from Milwaukee.
Thank you for all the excellent reporting, Eli.
Since Butz couldn't testify as to the lack of consent (because the motherfucker murdered her), I'm assuming the prosecutor didn't bother charging Kalebu with her rape.
Thank you Eli.
P.S. Yes, write the book...
Yeah, actually, I think I have heard that before. Thanks for the clarification.
(Declined counseling? Shit, I would be on that like white on rice.)
I am thankful and grateful that the verdict came in the way it did, but I must admit - it's just too damn bad the fucker's mentally ill, because that precludes us, as a civilized society, of rendering capital justice. Which is the justice that would be most fitting for this man's crimes, IMO.
Didn't he also burn down his aunt's house, killing someone inside?
Without a doubt he needs to be taken out of society and confined for the rest of his life. Illness or no he is a threat to others. However I think that we can do that without exacting pointless revenge on a person not in control of their actions.
I expressed my opinion. That's what IMO means.
I hope that means: Yes, we're serious. Not even the possibility of parole. We will make absolutely certain that it remains away from the rest of society until it dies.
Personally, I hope he dies of a brain embolism or something similar as soon as possible, because I honestly don't want to pay to keep this piece of human garbage alive any longer than is absolutely necessary.
I hope there are some substantial mental health days in your future....
Now, back to your usual excuse-making for criminals ......
Just sayin'
The only conclusion: You suffer from that particular projection imagination of regressives.
Locking him up for life and leaving him to rot means we will be safe from him. Locking him up for life and trying to understand his pathology means we will be safe from him, and we may also be safer from other people like him in the future.
Learn what exactly? Prisons are filled with rapists and murderers. He had access to mental health care. He refused it. End of story. Thank those who made involuntary lockup so hard.
Except this was against The Stranger's key demographic. If Kalebu had done this to a black couple, or god forbid, a couple of republicans in Bellevue, no one on slog would care.
Mentally ill, lacking in impulse control and without empathy there is no other place Kalebu should be besides death or a cell.
I wish I knew what to do to help stop it.