Candidate For Capital Punishment

Poway High is my alma mater.  I graduated in 1995.  This hit me hard.

From CNN.com:

On Wednesday, John Albert Gardner III, 30, a registered sex offender, was charged in the rape and murder of Chelsea, who lived in the San Diego area. Gardner, who is being represented by a public defender, was also charged Wednesday with assault with intent to commit rape in an attack on a jogger in December 2009.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges. Gardner, of Lake Elsinore, California, will not be allowed to post bail.

If convicted, the charges against Gardner make him eligible for the death penalty, the San Diego County district attorney’s office said Wednesday. The prosecutor’s office said it has not determined whether it will seek capital punishment.

For the Kings, there’s no question.

“I think the death penalty is a very appropriate punishment for this case,” Kelly King.

Brent King said he had “100 percent agreement” with his wife.

Chelsea King was a student at Poway High. That might not make the news stories nationally, but it made it into some of the stories.  Quite a few bloggers picked up the story, but I think Lex had a pretty good post.  Though I never knew her, I still feel a connection and her loss hurts.

If found guilty, I fully support the removal of her killer from the realm of the living.  Her parents are 100% correct on that one.

May God be with her, her family, and her friends.