Florida sports fan sentenced to death Posted: Friday August 5, 2005 12:55AM; Updated: Friday August 5, 2005 12:55AM
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) -- A man who got angry with his wife because she wanted to cuddle after sex when what he really wanted to do was watch sports on television was sentenced to death for killing her with a claw hammer.
Christopher Offord, 30, was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge Dedee Costello, who said the brutality of the crime outweighed any mental problems Offord may have had.
"The defendant struck his wife approximately 70 individual blows after spending a happy interlude with her," the judge said. "Her desire to cuddle after sex does not justify the extremely violent, brutal response of the defendant."
Offord pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 slaying of Dana Noser, 40, at his apartment.
He confessed to a bartender at a sports bar before his arrest. He told investigators that his wife had been nagging him to come back to bed. Offord did not speak in court but said in a jailhouse interview in June: "I figured I killed her so I deserve to die."
on a side note, i thought if you plead guilty you get a reduced sentence. if he's getting the death penalty, he might as well have plead not guilty and fought for murder 2 or something no? it seems like he could've lowered it to a murder 2 as well, since the killing doesn't seem to have been predetermined.
on a side note, i thought if you plead guilty you get a reduced sentence. if he's getting the death penalty, he might as well have plead not guilty and fought for murder 2 or something no? it seems like he could've lowered it to a murder 2 as well, since the killing doesn't seem to have been predetermined.
I think you mean premeditated and getting a rock hammer qualifies as premeditation since it's pretty unlikely he just had it lying around in his bedroom and picked it up in the heat of passion. Also, in a case like this where he issued a verbal confession to someone and shows no contrition he likely confessed to police as well, possibly even written by the looks of it. Once that happens, it doesn't matter how he pleads. It goes to the judge and he just has to have his fingers crossed. Doesn't look like he showed contrition or apologies or anything to give the Judge any leeway in reducing his sentence based on the guilty plea. With a rock-hard case and no contrition from the defendant the prosecution probably never offered him a deal and the judge had no room to give him a lesser sentence. Especially considering the nature of the crime.
<--------------- Criminal Justice Degree from U of Maryland.
Surprisingly I learned a couple things in college.
on a side note, i thought if you plead guilty you get a reduced sentence. if he's getting the death penalty, he might as well have plead not guilty and fought for murder 2 or something no? it seems like he could've lowered it to a murder 2 as well, since the killing doesn't seem to have been predetermined.
I think you mean premeditated and getting a rock hammer qualifies as premeditation since it's pretty unlikely he just had it lying around in his bedroom and picked it up in the heat of passion. Also, in a case like this where he issued a verbal confession to someone and shows no contrition he likely confessed to police as well, possibly even written by the looks of it. Once that happens, it doesn't matter how he pleads. It goes to the judge and he just has to have his fingers crossed. Doesn't look like he showed contrition or apologies or anything to give the Judge any leeway in reducing his sentence based on the guilty plea. With a rock-hard case and no contrition from the defendant the prosecution probably never offered him a deal and the judge had no room to give him a lesser sentence. Especially considering the nature of the crime.
<--------------- Criminal Justice Degree from U of Maryland.
Surprisingly I learned a couple things in college.
yeah my mistake, i meant premeditation - little brain spaz there. yeah, i suppose most people don't have a rock hammer just lying around.
on a side note, i thought if you plead guilty you get a reduced sentence. if he's getting the death penalty, he might as well have plead not guilty and fought for murder 2 or something no? it seems like he could've lowered it to a murder 2 as well, since the killing doesn't seem to have been predetermined.
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by AT » Fri Aug 05, 2005 11:50 am 
Wow that was crazy
