Sunday, September 24, 2006

In 2000 letter, Rolling blamed prison, abuse for killings




Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006


In 2000 letter, Rolling blamed prison, abuse for killings


Associated Press


GAINESVILLE, Fla. - In a 17-page letter sent to The Associated Press in 2000, serial killer Danny Rolling attributed his murder of five Gainesville college students to the abuse he suffered as a child and his treatment in prison.


Rolling, who was scheduled Friday to die Oct. 25, said he killed one person for every year he spent in prison. He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. He was accused of three murders in Louisiana but never prosecuted.


"A mangy dog gets more consideration than what I received in Parchman (a Mississippi prison). Imagine ... being forced to dwell in a prison cell that floods out two to three times a week with putrefied raw sewage, and having to exist in such filth for over eight months till it drives you crazy as a loon."


The letter ended with an apology of sorts.


"Any complaint I may have pales in comparison to the terrible wrong I inflicted upon good people. I stand in the shadow of their suffering. If it is to be mercy, then I shall be eternally grateful. If it to be the wrath of vengeance, then God grant me the strength to face what I must. For I owe a debt I cannot repay ... not even with my own life."

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