Murderer says he killed prison cellmate 'because he was a child molester

[rudeguy]

SAGINAW, MI -- When given the chance, a convicted murderer had straightforward explanation for killing his cellmate in October at the Saginaw Correctional Facility.

"The reason I killed him was because he was a child molester," Steven D. Sandison said Monday, Feb. 23, in Saginaw County Circuit Court.

Speaking during his plea hearing before Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard, the 51-year-old Sandison was polite, addressing the judge as "sir," in explaining why he killed Theodore Dyer on Oct. 29 at the prison in Freeland.

At Borchard's request, Sandison first answered questions from his attorney, James Gust, to establish a "factual basis" for why he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. After answering "Yes" to several of Gust's questions, Sandison then provided his explanation.

"But," Gust then asked, "you did, in fact, kill him?"

"Oh, sure," Sandison said. "Oh, sure, of course."

Borchard later in the hearing asked Sandison how he killed the 67-year-old Dyer.

"If it's all right," Sandison replied, "I can tell you where it started."

"Go ahead," Borchard said.

Sandison said he found out that Dyer, a Grand Haven native, was in prison for a "really bad case" of child molestation.

"That night," Sandison said, "he was trying to justify why he did it, and I told him to keep quiet and that he'd have to leave in the morning, find a new cell. But he continued to talk about it, try to justify it. So, he was a little bit bigger than me, so I got down, and I hit him in his face a few times. When he fell, I wrapped a cord around his neck and I took his life."

The murder charge to which Sandison pleaded carries a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will drop an open count of murder, which includes second-degree murder and first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sandison already is serving life without parole for an Oct. 23, 1991, murder in Wayne County.

After Dyer's death, Michigan Department of Corrections personnel transferred Sandison to a higher custody setting. Sandison now is lodged at the Ionia Correctional Facility at the highest security level and is scheduled for an April 8 sentencing before Borchard.

"I assume," Borchard said at the end of the hearing, "you're not going to be leaving there, moving to another facility for a while."

"No," Sandison replied. "My life sucks, sir."

We need more high quality people like this in society.

 

[Brainonska511]

We need more high quality people like this in society.

No we don't.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Sorry if I don't shed a tear.

 

[thraashman]

We need more high quality people like this in society.

He was already in prison for another murder, so I don't think calling him a high quality person is warranted. And while I, and I'm pretty sure all of society, considers child molesters to be despicable, we have laws and rules and legal punishments in place for such things. I am against people taking the law into their own hands, I am against punishing a person without due process, and I am against capital punishment in all its forms.

 

[smackababy]

No we don't.

If by 'in society', he means in the society which both of these kind of people (child molesters and murderers) belong (prison), than I am fine with it.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think it's pretty sad that we determined that this man's crimes, while horrible, weren't enough to justify execution at the hands of the state, but we have no problem about locking him away with other violent offenders who will do the job for us so we can wash our hands of the guilt inherently associated with deciding someone no longer has the right to continue existing. If we're going to execute child molesters (which I'm not entirely opposed to), let's have the balls to do it ourselves. If we decide to imprison someone, we should also make sure that they're getting the best treatment possible, and that means not leaving them to die at the hands of a cellmate. Because while it's "just a child molester" right now, having that be the environment where we stick all our prisoners pretty much guarantees that they will never reform, and that's ultimately doing a disservice to society as a whole.

 

[Moonbeam]

Anybody who believes their own moral convictions justify the deaths of others isn't actually moral. Included in moral values is the faith that they are self evident and require no force to triumph. There is no justification for child molestation, period. Only the mentally damaged believe otherwise. This particular mentally damaged person was confined in prison as fitting of a person with his condition. No further action was required.

Society should focus on finding the origins and cure for this disease and make it clear that those who have it should seek treatment prior to acting on such impulses to avoid time in jail. The contempt shown them because of the fact that children are involved, a natural reaction, should be mitigated as much as possible, so that people who have such inclinations won't be driven underground with fear and shame. It is better to think one has a sickness for which a cure may be possible then to think of oneself as evil. Sadly, most of us don't have the perspective to see the wisdom of this. Disgust controls our thinking. It isn't enough for many of us to separate actual offenders from society. We need to punish them further. Somewhere there is a person who would kill the killer in this case because he committed murder. It might even be the courts. There is no bottom to insanity.

 

[rudeguy]

I think it's pretty sad that we determined that this man's crimes, while horrible, weren't enough to justify execution at the hands of the state, but we have no problem about locking him away with other violent offenders who will do the job for us so we can wash our hands of the guilt inherently associated with deciding someone no longer has the right to continue existing. If we're going to execute child molesters (which I'm not entirely opposed to), let's have the balls to do it ourselves. If we decide to imprison someone, we should also make sure that they're getting the best treatment possible, and that means not leaving them to die at the hands of a cellmate. Because while it's "just a child molester" right now, having that be the environment where we stick all our prisoners pretty much guarantees that they will never reform, and that's ultimately doing a disservice to society as a whole.

Michigan doesn't have the death penalty.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Michigan doesn't have the death penalty.

No, they'll just stick violent offenders in a box together and shrug their shoulders when something entirely predictable like a child molester getting murdered happens. "Don't blame us, how could we possibly have seen that coming?" That's some cowardly bullshit. You don't have the death penalty, you just put people in situations where they're extremely likely to die? Well that's reasonable.

 

[PokerGuy]

IMO the state has a responsibility to look after the health and safety of inmates, so having an inmate murder another is a bad thing. As far as this particular victim, I shed no tears over his demise, good riddance.

 

[rudeguy]

No, they'll just stick violent offenders in a box together and shrug their shoulders when something entirely predictable like a child molester getting murdered happens. "Don't blame us, how could we possibly have seen that coming?" That's some cowardly bullshit. You don't have the death penalty, you just put people in situations where they're extremely likely to die? Well that's reasonable.

I'm honestly curious: How would you handle things differently?

No trolling, no baiting, no tricks. I want to understand what you're saying.

 

[Exterous]

No, they'll just stick violent offenders in a box together and shrug their shoulders when something entirely predictable like a child molester getting murdered happens. "Don't blame us, how could we possibly have seen that coming?" That's some cowardly bullshit. You don't have the death penalty, you just put people in situations where they're extremely likely to die? Well that's reasonable.

I think its more that a lot of people don't pay attention unless there are fancy slogans and TV ads like you get when the subject of the death penalty come up. So they vote 'No' because: evil and then the memory fades from their goldfish memory and all is right in their world again

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I'm honestly curious: How would you handle things differently?

No trolling, no baiting, no tricks. I want to understand what you're saying.

I just typed up a response and accidentally refreshed and lost it. Damn. Let me try to paraphrase what I was thinking...

It seems that there's been a history of criminals who abuse children being treated particularly poorly by the general population in prison. If we're taking the steps to incarcerate these individuals, we need to be responsible for their safety, even if we think they're monsters. That means isolating them from the general prison population who would do harm to them. I don't know if solitary confinement is the best way to do that, since it seems cruel. Perhaps put them in asylums or psyche wards specifically to focus on reforming the disease rather than punishing the criminal? I don't honestly know what the best method is, but I'm pretty sure leaving them to die at the hands of their fellow inmates isn't it. It just strikes me as particularly ludicrous for the state to say "no, we don't kill our criminals... we just let them kill each other." It's an abdication of responsibility and that's not what the government is supposed to be doing. If the state legitimately wants these people dead, then institute and use a death penalty; don't get prisoners to do your dirty work for you. And if the state legitimately wants these people alive, don't put them in a situation where they're going to be killed and act like it was completely unpredictable.

 

[who?]

Many prison systems put the molesters in special needs areas. The murder victim wouldn't shut up about the case even after being warned.

 

[Moonbeam]

Many prison systems put the molesters in special needs areas. The murder victim wouldn't shut up about the case even after being warned.

Amazingly, you take the testimony of the perp as fact. I don't think you were there as witness, right?

 

[Orignal Earl]

We need more high quality people like this in society.

Maybe murders should start using this as a line of defense.
Yes I murdered your wife, but I killed a child molester too so we're good eh

 

[Smoblikat]

I think it's pretty sad that we determined that this man's crimes, while horrible, weren't enough to justify execution at the hands of the state, but we have no problem about locking him away with other violent offenders who will do the job for us so we can wash our hands of the guilt inherently associated with deciding someone no longer has the right to continue existing. If we're going to execute child molesters (which I'm not entirely opposed to), let's have the balls to do it ourselves. If we decide to imprison someone, we should also make sure that they're getting the best treatment possible, and that means not leaving them to die at the hands of a cellmate. Because while it's "just a child molester" right now, having that be the environment where we stick all our prisoners pretty much guarantees that they will never reform, and that's ultimately doing a disservice to society as a whole.

Prisons are not about reforming people, its a punishment. Similar to being locked in your room by your parents. It was never to make you a better person, its just a deterrent from doing whatever you did again. But thats just public prisons, private ones are entirely profit driven, they literally dont care about reform or punishments.

 

[inachu]

We need more high quality people like this in society.

That is what the local police said to me when a party of 12 police at a fast food chinese restaurant. They all turned their head with wide eyes.

I told them I am really Dexter Morgan in real life. Once I explained the logic of that statement then one of them said to me "We need more people like you."
The others agreed with their mouths full of shrimp and rice.

I just may be the very first serial killer who is famous but has never really killed in real life. #lol

 

[BurnItDwn]

We need less rapsey people in this planet.

 

[Jaskalas]

I think it's pretty sad that we determined that this man's crimes, while horrible, weren't enough to justify execution at the hands of the state, but we have no problem about locking him away with other violent offenders who will do the job for us so we can wash our hands of the guilt inherently associated with deciding someone no longer has the right to continue existing. If we're going to execute child molesters (which I'm not entirely opposed to), let's have the balls to do it ourselves. If we decide to imprison someone, we should also make sure that they're getting the best treatment possible, and that means not leaving them to die at the hands of a cellmate. Because while it's "just a child molester" right now, having that be the environment where we stick all our prisoners pretty much guarantees that they will never reform, and that's ultimately doing a disservice to society as a whole.

:thumbsup: Well said, sir!

Prison needs to be a haven from torture and harm. Not a place where we wash our hands and let them attack each other. We have a duty to protect the people in our custody.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Prisons are not about reforming people, its a punishment. Similar to being locked in your room by your parents. It was never to make you a better person, its just a deterrent from doing whatever you did again.

Deterring someone from engaging in a particular behavior is reforming them to make them a better person. The problem with your example is that when you got sent to your room, it was solitary confinement; there weren't a bunch of violent people there who would beat and rape you and teach you that violence is the only possible way to survive (either that or you had the worst room ever). It's one thing for prisoners to learn to survive that way if they're in prison forever; they're never going to have to reenter society, so what does it matter? But what about someone who commits a crime that is bad, but not bad enough to lock them away forever? They get out a few years down the line having gone through the gauntlet that is modern prisons and they basically have no chance to become a productive member of society again. The violence in the system is creating repeat offenders instead of focusing on trying to make sure people learn from their mistakes. What good does that do anyone? All this "tough on crime" bullshit has led to terrible prisons and terrible recidivism rates because we're so focused on punishment that we neglect to teach the lesson of why certain behaviors are unacceptable.

To repurpose Lincoln's quote about enemies, the best way to destroy a criminal is to teach him to follow the law. The threat of rape or murder at the hands of prison gangs doesn't seem to be working. Maybe we should try something new.

 

[Fern]

-snip-
It seems that there's been a history of criminals who abuse children being treated particularly poorly by the general population in prison. If we're taking the steps to incarcerate these individuals, we need to be responsible for their safety, even if we think they're monsters. That means isolating them from the general prison population who would do harm to them. I don't know if solitary confinement is the best way to do that, since it seems cruel.

From what I've seen many prison have special wards/cell blocks/wings etc where these types are held together. I.e., they're separated from the general population.

I'm guessing this prison is old and doesn't have that ability (separate building and exercise yard) . I'm also guessing MI correctional officials aren't very smart as they haven't worked out an effective solution addressing this problem.

Fern

 

[soulcougher73]

I'm trying to shed a tear, but i got nothing. Sorry guys.

 

[brianmanahan]

and nothing of value was lost

 

[Jaskalas]

I'm trying to shed a tear, but i got nothing. Sorry guys.

A tear for him, or for us? A society still savage enough to thumbs up murder.
Do we not believe in our own laws?