Condemned killer fought for execution

“I’m not one of the guys who (sic) is going to say: ‘I’m not guilty.’ I am guilty. If someone did to my daughter or to anyone what I did to Courtney (LeBlanc) then in my opinion they deserve the death penalty. Why should I look at it any differently for myself?”

— Gerald Bordelon, a convicted child killer

Gerald Bordelon wants to die. He's about to get his wish.

Bordelon is scheduled Thursday to be the first person executed in Louisiana in nearly eight years. He'll also be the state's first-ever death row defendant to forego all appeals and proceed with execution.

Since confessing to kidnapping, raping and murdering his 12-year-old stepdaughter in November 2002, Bordelon actively has sought his execution and vigorously defended his right to waive all appeals.

That quest has made Bordelon exceptional among his fellow death row inmates, who usually fight to stay alive through a lengthy appeal process. It's also put him at the center of one of the nation's most contentious death penalty debates.

On one side are capital punishment foes who say death row defendants should not be allowed to waive appeals, which are an essential element of American jurisprudence. A thorough evaluation of a death penalty case is necessary to ensure constitutionality of a verdict and sentence and verify that the defendant is indeed guilty. Even more scrutiny should be applied to defendants seeking to eliminate appeals as mental illness or other psychological problems (see below) often attributed to confinement on death row may be interfering with rational decision making, they say. (Read more)

Source: shreveporttimes.com, Jan. 3, 2010. Photo: Louisiana's Death Row.

What is death row syndrome?

Death row syndrome or phenomenon refers to the psychological effects experienced by death row inmates who live for years in solitary confinement awaiting their executions. Experts say that prolonged waiting period -- in some cases, decades -- can cause mental illness that, in turn, can lead to suicidal tendencies or a desire to drop appeals to speed the execution process. Anti-death penalty advocates say the syndrome is further evidence the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. Death penalty supporters say the long waiting period is caused by the inmates' appeals. Nationwide, about 11 percent of persons executed since 1976 have dropped their appeals in order to speed their execution.