Why Donald Beardslee deserves the death penalty

The tragic execution of Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin was the result of a desire for revenge by friends of Beardslee for an alleged drug debt owed by Stacy Benjamin. Beardslee actively participated in the plan to get back at Stacy and her friend Patty. The two young women were lured to Beardslee's apartment where Patty Geddling was shot in the shoulder. Patty was told she would be taken to a hospital, but instead Beardslee and two accomplices drove her to a secluded spot on the San Mateo County coast. Although she begged for her life, Beardslee loaded the shotgun and gave it to one accomplice who shot her twice. Beardslee then took the gun, reloaded it and shot her in the head twice. Her body was left at the spot where she was brutally murdered.

In the meantime, Stacy Benjamin was kept tied up for hours at Beardslee's apartment. Beardslee and his accomplices decided to take her to a remote part of Lake County. Stacy begged for her life during the drive north. Stacy was removed from the vehicle and taken to a secluded area where Beardslee and one accomplice unsuccessfully attempted to strangle her with a wire garrote. When Stacy gave Beardslee a pleading look, he punched her in the face. Beardslee then took out his knife and cold-bloodedly slit Stacy Benjamin's throat, just as he had done to Laura Griffin 12 years earlier. He then pulled her pants down to make it appear that she had been raped.

Under California law, prosecutors may seek the death penalty in a murder case if special circumstances exist. In Beardslee's case, the special circumstance was multiple murder. Beardslee was the only individual to actively participate in the murder of both Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin. Since Donald Beardslee personally killed three young women in a callous and brutal way, the application of the death penalty law to him is appropriate and lawful. This conclusion was reached by the 12 members of the jury and by the trial judge who heard the case. The California Supreme Court and every Federal Court that has repeatedly reviewed the Beardslee case over the last two decades has upheld the death verdict by the jury and the trial judge.

There are now claims that one half of Beardslee's brain does not function. It is strange that only now is such a claim being advanced, since he has been examined on numerous occasions by psychologists and psychiatrists over the years. As recently as 2000, a team of defense experts examined Beardslee and did not find this alleged brain malfunction. There has never been any competent evidence produced which would lead a psychiatrist to suspect an organic brain malfunction. Only at the end of 2004, as his execution date approached, did a defense doctor come forward and state that Beardslee suffers major organic brain damage. It defies logic that this alleged serious mental illness would not have been observed by prison staff or during the numerous psychiatric and psychological examinations he has undergone throughout the years since his arrest.

It is unfortunate that the criminal justice system has taken so long to arrive at this point. The families of the three victims have had to wait far too long for justice to be served. There is no possibility that an innocent person may be executed because Beardslee has admitted his role in these brutal murders in court and under oath.

The death penalty is reserved for the most evil of murderers in our community.

Donald Beardslee's chilling murders of Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin, committed while he was on parole for the vicious murder of Laura Griffin, fit into this category. He has asked the governor to grant him clemency. As Beardslee was executing the terrified Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin, they begged him for mercy and were shown none. Governor Schwarzenegger should conclude that the murders of these three innocent victims does not warrant clemency and should allow the verdict of the jury and the sentence of the trial judge to be carried out.

Stephen Wagstaffe is the chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County.