Essay On Westley Allan Dodd

On January 5th, 1993 at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Westley Allan Dodd was executed by hanging for the killing of three boys, ages four, ten and eleven. Dodd became the first prisoner to be hanged in the United States since 1965, when two inmates were executed in Kansas (Egan). Before The Governor of Washington suspended the death penalty in 2014, the State of Washington executed 78 prisoners between the years 1904 and 2010 (WA DOC). Westley Allan Dodd began exposing himself and molesting children at the age of 13 and was arrested for the first time at age 15. Throughout his teenage years and into early adulthood his obsession for young children grew and his fantasies became more sadistic which resulted in multiple run-ins

The bodies were found 15 minutes after the attack and the younger boy, while still alive at the scene, died at the hospital of his wounds. Law enforcement officials had no leads and Dodd was not tied to the crime. He seemed to grow more brazen after the incident and on October 29th he travelled to Portland, Oregon where he abducted a 4 year old boy at a local playground. Dodd took the young boy back to his apartment in Vancouver, Washington where he tortured and raped him while he took photos and documented the assault in his journal. The next morning Dodd hung the boy in his closet to die and went to work. He later dumped the body near the Vancouver Lake where it was later found on November

Dodd initially denied any knowledge of the murders but after repeated interviews he confessed to killing the three boys. After he confessed and gave law enforcement officials his diary, photographs of his third victim and other pertinent evidence, Dodd was charged with three counts of first degree murder and attempted kidnapping. Although he initially entered a plea of not guilty, Dodd eventually plead guilty to all charges filed against him. The prosecution presented damning evidence against Dodd during the trial and his defense lawyers attempted to claim he was insane. In the end Dodd was sentenced to death in 1990 for his crimes and he chose to be hanged stating wanted to experience what his victim had (Montaldo). He refused to appeal the decision and was executed at 12:05 am on January 5th, 1993 while a small group of protesters held