Lawrence Singleton
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Lawrence Singleton (July 28, 1927 - December 28, 2001) was an American criminal.
He first gained notoriety in the late 1970s when he was arrested and convicted of raping and mutilating 15 year old Mary Vincent of Las Vegas. He picked her up hitchhiking in Berkeley, California in 1978, raped her, and then hacked off her arms with an axe, dumping her in a remote ditch outside of Modesto, California. She survived to testify against him at his trial.
Along with the particularly gruesome and callous aspects of the crime, the case became even more notorious after Singleton was paroled after serving only eight years in prison. He was paroled to Contra Costa county in California, but no town would tolerate his presence, so he had to live in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin. According to TIME Magazine, "as authorities attempted to settle him in one Bay Area town after another, angry crowds screamed, picketed and eventually prevailed." [1] In Rodeo, about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, a crowd of 500 people forced officers to move him under armed guard from a hotel room. He was removed from one apartment in Contra Costa County in a bullet-proof vest after 400 residents surrounded the building to protest a decision to place him there permanently. [2]Finally, Gov. George Deukmejian ordered that Mr. Singleton be placed at San Quentin for the duration of his one-year parole. The outrage at this sentence resulted in legislation which prevents the early release of offenders who have committed a crime in which torture is used: in 1987 Singleton's parole led to passage of California's "Singleton bill," which carries a 25-years-to-life sentence. (Harrower, 1998). The leniency of the legal system shocked and outraged many. One journalist who interviewed him remarked, "What was most surprising to me, however, was not his sentence. It was that Larry Singleton had worked his crimes around in his mind so completely that they did not warrant punishment at all." [3] Right before Singleton's parole ended, Donald Stahl, the Stanislaus County prosecutor at Mr. Singleton's trial said, "I think, if anything, he's worse now. He has not taken responsibility. He lives in a bizarre fantasy land and acquits himself each day. He doesn't accept his guilt and resolve never to do it again." [4]
Singleton returned to his native Florida, where he was later convicted of murdering a prostitute and mother of three in 1997. [5]
He died in prison of cancer. [6]
[edit] References
- ^ A RECURRING NIGHTMARE. TIME Magazine (1997).
- ^ PAROLEE SHIFTED AFTER PROTEST. New York Times (1987).
- ^ Amanda Spake. He served only eight years for a brutal rape-mutilation, and a decade later, he slipped through society's safety bars again. Salon.
- ^ Outcast Who Maimed Girl to Be on His Own Soon. New York Times (1988).
- ^ Lawyer for Rapist Who Killed Argues Against Death Penalty. New York Times (1998).
- ^ Lawrence Singleton, despised rapist, dies. San Francisco Chronicle (2002).
