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Karl Eugene Chamberlain — Scheduled for Execution Tomorrow

Karl Chamberlain

UPDATE: He’s dead. And thus the 9-month pause in executions is over.

_______

Karl Eugene Chamberlain is scheduled to be executed tomorrow evening shortly after 6 p.m.

If his execution is not stayed, it will be the first execution in Texas since Michael Richard was executed on Sept 25, 2007.

Karl’s Crime

Karl Chamberlain entered neighbor Felicia Prechtl’s apartment (in Dallas) on August 2, 1991, and forced her into a bedroom. Chamberlain taped the 29-year-old Prechtl’s hands and feet and raped her. He then took ther into the bathroom and shot her in the head with a .30 caliber rifle.

Police questioned Chamberlain the night of the murder, but he was not arrested until July 17, 1996, after a fingerprint search returned his name as a possible match. Police arrested Chamberlain, who gave investigators a written confession. He also directed them to a weapon of the same type used to kill Prechtl, and provided DNA samples that matched the profile of samples taken from Prechtl’s body.

________

Raped her. Then executed her.

Chamberlain claims that in the five years between his murderous act and being arrested for the crime that he had cleaned up his life:

…become a sober helpful part of society … for five years, then, at the peak of success, with a good job, a fiancé, good friends, and happiness and healing, a crushing blow from his past came and swept it all away. A capital murder from five years in his past, poor lawyers, and lack of mercy find him today awaiting a date with death.

Uh huh. Poor lawyers. What did he want them to do — the prosecutor had a written confession, his DNA on the victim, and his fingerprints at the crime scene.

And as for the lack of mercy? He’s received far, far more than he showed Felicia Prechtl.

And for that the man deserves to die.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 | Trackback |

6 Responses to “Karl Eugene Chamberlain — Scheduled for Execution Tomorrow”

Chamberlain claims that in the five years between his murderous act and being arrested for the crime that he had cleaned up his life:

Sure, if you consider attacking a woman in a mall parking lot with a stun gun “cleaned up.”

Left by Anonymous on June 10th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Robbie-

Can you shoot me an e-mail at vincent@johncornyn.com when you get the chance?

I work for the Senator and would like to talk further about a few things.

Thanks!

Left by Vincent Harris on June 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

There’s more than a little misunderstanding about when an individual’s crime is death penalty eligible. Guilt of capital murder (and only capital murder) is just one factor. The other factors are future dangerousness and mitigating circumstances.

Obviously, Mr. Chamberlain’s claim that for five years he was subsequently a productive member of society does indicate a lack of future dangerousness. It doesn’t diminish guilt in any way, shape or form, but it does indicate a lack of future dangerousness.

Thus, Mr. Chamberlain’s secondary claim of poor lawyering makes sense, too. A good lawyer, one who truly understood how to present such a death penalty case as this to a jury, show have gotten less than a death sentence.

Left by Ward Larkin on June 10th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

That may be his claim but neither the jury nor the reviewing courts agreed. The jury heard the evidence of future dangerousness and mitigation and found that he was a future danger and that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating ones.

As to whether his attorney was ineffective, in the penalty phase, defense counsel called 21 witnesses, which included his former therapist, his former AA sponsor , his parents, and friends. So, that “a good lawyer” would have gotten a less than death sentence, is merely your opinion and not one shared by the appellate courts.

Left by Anonymous on June 10th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Well, at least he said the right things for the family as he was going out.

Still - rot in hell, mutherfucker.

Left by HAH on June 14th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Right things? I think he creeped the family out more than they could have ever expected.

Left by Anonymous on June 14th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

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