San Diego Sex Killer Pleads:  Ellot Spagat and Julie Watson of the Associated Press report that habitual sex offender John Albert Gardner, arrested last February for the murderer of 17-year old Chelsea King, has pleaded guilty to her murder and the attempted rape and murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois a year earlier.  In the same story, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said that, so far, efforts to link Gardener to the Debois murder had been unsuccessful.  What induced Gardner to admit guilt?  Could it be that he knew that District Attorney Dumanis, one of the state's toughest, would seek his execution for King's killing?  Apparently so.  In the reported plea agreement, Gardner admitted guilt in exchange for a sentence of life without parole.  So, because California has a death penalty and Gardner did not want to die, state taxpayers were spared the expense of a lengthy trial and inordinately long appeals process and can now close the Dubois case as well.  Our February 25, 2009 post on this subject is here.  Our white paper, The Death Penalty and Plea Bargaining to Life Sentences, is here.

Justice drift is less likely in the future, concludes Adam Liptak in this story in the NYT. See also Kent's post on that issue here.