Following the recommendation of the grand jury, David Alan Gore was put on a death penalty after an 11-1 vote for the crimes he had committed which were murder of six women in the Vero Beach area of Florida, kidnapping and rape (Commission of Capital Cases, n.d.). Fred Waterfield who was David Gore’s accomplice as well as his cousin received a sentence of fifteen years in prison and two additional life sentences due to the roles he played in the crimes. Despite Fred Waterfield participating equally in the series of killings they did with his cousin Gore, the prison sentences they received were different. David Gore was killed by lethal injection in 2012 while Fred Waterfield was spared the death penalty. The reason behind this is that there are certain justifications for criminal punishments that should be considered by judges during the case trials and when giving sentences.
One of the justification for the outcome of the court cases is what is considered as the deterrence theory. Deterrence theory insinuates that when the risk of apprehension and punishment is increased in society it prevents members of society from engaging in crimes (Muhlhausen, 2010). All throughout the case hearing Fred maintained his innocence and denied any involvement in the killings. He asserted that David was trying to incriminate him for the murders. A witness testified seeing David shoot and drag a lady towards the house thus David was the criminal. The second justification is the circumstances of the psychological theories of a crime (Thornberry, 2018). This theory puts into consideration the personality factors of an offender. David was under the influence of Fred, he fulfilled Fred’s command thus being put in a compromised position as his actions put him in the crime scenes. He did the kidnappings, killing and disposal of bodies and Fred payed for the services.
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References
Muhlhausen, D. B. (2010). Theories of Punishment and Mandatory Minimum Sentences. Testimony before the US Sentencing Commission , May, 27.
Thornberry, T. (2018). Developmental theories of crime and delinquency. Routledge.
Commission on Capital Cases. (2019). Case Summary: David Gore.
