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I agree with Logan Jenkins and his perspective in this column about the interview CBS8 did with John Gardner. He didn’t blame the television station for running the interview — he blamed himself for watching it.
But Gardner did say a few interesting things in the interview. He says, for instance, he didn’t care about whether he got the death penalty. You might have taken that two ways: It’s just part of his overall creepy bravado or he has a death wish.
But there’s a third way to read it. As he says in the interview, death row might actually make him feel safer. Death row inmates are held in isolation. Gardner speculates that, with a death sentence, it would be 20-30 years before they executed him. (The U-T explored the hollow threat that is a death sentence a few weeks ago.)
Let’s assume, for a second, that he was indeed somewhat rational about this. What are the implications involved when a guy, who has been in prison, believes that the death penalty is actually an easier punishment to take?
It’s been assumed Gardner confessed to Amber Dubois’ killing to avoid the death sentence to try to save his life. Could he have been trying to get the death penalty to, ironically, stay alive and more comfortable?
— SCOTT LEWIS