32 CommentsThe Daily News reported at 4:00 AM and Spec picked up later that the prime suspect in last Saturday’s brutal rape was apprehended in Queens at about 5:45 PM yesterday. Barnard students were notified by e-mail at 9:00 AM.
According to the article, “Robert Williams, 30, is a violent ex-con who attempted to kill his neighbor, beat a stranger on the subway and threw feces at prison guards.”
Read all coverage here.
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32 Comments
@ABC i’m just astonished that the media doesn’t pay attention when the crime is committed by blacks against whites.
and unless you’re from tennessee, you’ve probably never heard of this gruesome incident:
http://mitchieville.blogspot.com/2007/04/horror-story-msm-has-tried-to-bury.html
sounds like hate crime to me.
@they should wrap him tightly in wet leather then leave him out in the desert
i also still like the whole “cut off his penis, make him eat it, kill him” route too
@fugh LLik them all and let Dog sort them out.
@Punishment They should tie him up, throw him in a ditch, and drown him by filling the ditch with the contents of city outhouses.
@jimmy donuts Glad to hear they caught him. Here’s the outcome I would prefer for this guy: I’d arrange for him to be released to a certain vicious group of Albanian thugs I know in Central Jersey. After they’d be done with him, an e-mail would be sent out to the student body:
“To the Columbia Community:
This is to inform you that rapist Robert Williams is dead. He died slowly, in an extremely painful manner, and alone. His remains have been disposed of in the Department of Sanitation incinerators.
Acta est fibula.
Burn in hell, filth.
@Yay? I mean, I suppose it’s a positive thing for the majority of people that this guy’s segregated from the rest of the population for the rest of his life, but the truth is that this is nothing to cheer about. Even if you cut off his dick and made him eat it before you cut off his head, it’s not going to set shit straight in the victim’s head. Sure, it might make her feel good for a while, but ultimately she’s gonna have to work some serious problems out on her own, and I’m not sure it’s clear that any punishment (official or prison-style) would or even could make her feel better. Even this guy was raped for the rest of his life, I don’t know if it would be enough for her, nor do I know if it would ever actually let her achieve some measure of mental healing.
This is a situation, like most legal situations, where nobody wins. Cheering about whatever physical punishment he may get is childish oversimplification and likely a villianization which helps us deny similar (although hopefully less extreme) capabilities within ourselves. But saying that this guy could be a rehabilitated, remoseful, and eventually “productive” member of society is also unlikely and probably criminally naive.
The legal system took a stupid chance by giving someone it could never really accurately judge a second chance. The person probably didn’t deserve it. But there’s no way a judge, parole officer, or likely any human being could ever really know for sure that this guy, or any other person for that matter, wouldn’t commit another crime.
In the end, it’s just sad that a person can do this, just like it’s sad that nothing we can ever do will magically solve everyone’s problems and make everything like it was before the attack.
The two options, punishment and forgiveness (i.e. rehabilitation), are ultimately lacking, and therefore, there is nothing to cheer whatever the outcome. Yay.
@Pro-Death The problem is what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. It’s only cruel unusual if we don’t perform it regularly.
I don’t see what the world would lose if we were to eliminate such creatures.
And for the record, I’m a card-carrying member of the ACLU and AI.
@yes! So glad they caught the guy! What a way to start my day!
(provided it’s the right guy)
@man are you guys really this ignorant? do you listen in your classes? This is unbelievable.
@Um...? Exactly which comments are you considering ignorant and why?
@umm....? Are my engineering classes supposed to teach me that rapists don’t deserve punishment?
@ape he threw feces at prison guards…they should lock him up at the Bronx zoo with the rest of the apes. Except that would be far too humane for him, and far too inhumane for the apes.
@Yeah... …and I’d be very curious to know who the absolute moron was who, after that disgusting display, would determine that he was completely worthy of being put back out in the world…
@agreed but my guess is that he served his entire sentence. correct me if i’m wrong, but i don’t think he was ever granted parole. clearly jail did not rehabilitate this rabid animal.
@Cam *gasp* The prison system didn’t cure a man of his dangerous mental illnesses!? The system, she has failed us!
Not #17, but among the things I gained from my education was an awareness of the capacity for cruelty in mankind. Dismissing the case as the work of a ‘rabid animal’ is comfortable, but it disregards the capability of the next guy to be just as cruel. Just because you’d like to believe that certain specimens don’t share your species doesn’t make it so.
Oh yeah, also we have a whole set of rules about not torturing prisoners, which we even follow when the current administration isn’t deliberately attempting to bypass them. Eye-for-an-eye is rather, you know, just a TAD out of date, and perhaps this is part of what 17 was getting at.
@listen You do realize that nobody expects the court to order the death penalty or torture, right? This is all just venting. I would love to see this man tortured at the hands of his fellow scumbags in jail. That’s why jail is punishment: put a bunch of animals together, and they’ll punish one another. The problem is that too many of them are let out. Because this horrible creature will be charged with attempted murder, he faces a max sentence of life in jail. Given the rape charge as well, and his previous history, I’m thinking no parole, either. He can look forward to torture for the rest of his life at the hands of his fellow inmates, but there is no justice for the poor woman who suffered because of him.
@Prison does not rehabilitate. ref:
http://bwog.net/index.php?page=post&article_id=3509#comments #46
Our constitution prevents the use of prison as a deterrent by limiting the use of “cruel and unusual punishment,” which is, apparently the only type of punishment that MIGHT succeed as a deterrent. As evidenced by its constant use, even the death penalty is not a strong enough disincentive for murderers and rapists. Therefore, the only function of prisons is to keep such rabid animals off the streets — a function prisons cannot adequately perform as long as convicted violent criminals are granted parole. Don’t exaggerate my claim to mean that small-time burglars ought to be given life sentences without parole. But scum like this? Without a doubt.
@I never meant that prison SHOULD rehabilitate. I was being sarcastic. I believe jail is for punishment, and this guy deserves the harshest possible. Will rape and attempted murder be counted separately, or is there a special category for rape/attempted murder combined? What’s the max sentence? I will be absolutely shocked and horrified if he doesn’t get it.
@I don't get... …why Barnard is all gung ho about announcing that they found a suspect? First, does this bring that much closure to the whole Barnard community? What about all those ACLU extremists who cry for prisoners’ rights? The victim’s life is ruined forever…
Second, how sure are they that this is the guy?
@I suspect , per the NYPD, that a quick DNA test ought to take care of that.
@that's easy He used the victim’s ATM card to withdraw 200 bucks.
@hmmm From the Dailynews: “If Williams is convicted of the rape, “the dude should be castrated,” said his former victim, who asked not to be identified.”
Courts can decide to “chemically” castrate rape convicts. They simply do this by giving them The Shot (Depo-Provera). That shot of female hormones makes them not have erections. Of course, this guy is clearly capable of violence without his penis. I vote decapitation at both locations. Thoughts?
@i know! What an idiot! I heard on the radio that he was using the victim’s ATM card at some point. But maybe I was just half-asleep and dreamt this. I wouldn’t put such stupidity past him. I’m thrilled he’s caught.
@Unbelievable... …that anyone could be that stupid (or crazy):
“He was arrested Friday in Queens by police responding to a burglary in progress.”
@yay!!!!! This is great! I hope he is raped and tortured daily for the rest of his miserable fucking life. Well done, NYPD.
@whoops t*********************8
@conviction we don’t need no stink’n convicion. i hope prisioners beat him to death as they rape and torture him for 19.5 hours.
@Right Wishing rape upon people is really what the world needs. Even rapists shouldn’t be raped.
@On the contrary I think wishing rape upon rapists is exactly what the world needs.
@I agree with this. Give him a taste of his own medicine.
@wooot this is wonderful, wonderful news. i would love to be informed of when his trial is so that i can clap and cheer for (hopefully) his conviction
@nice headline: nypd takes back the night.