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Convicted of murder, but not charged with a capital crime.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/os-bob-ward-trial-verdict-20110924,0,1142987.story

Even cases of first degree murder don't typically get charged with or receive the death penalty. Usually it has to be premeditated and aggravated by some other factor that makes the murder especially heinous (my opposition to the death penalty does not come from any delusion that these people haven't done bad things - reading about an average death penalty level crime is a sickening experience that I'd typically rather avoid). I'm not sure of any state that has the death penalty for non-premeditated murders. If you look at this story, it shows that in California only 1% or so of murderers recieved a death sentence, and according to wikipedia even in more conservative states like Nevada only about 6% of murders receive the sentence.
Then again, the line between second and first degree murder is sometimes blurry, and I've read stories of people unable to afford the best lawyers in the world who've been charged with first degree murder, even though it seemed to be a crime of passion, for what seems to be emotional reasons. However, I don't think that such a person would typically get the death penalty in a case like this anyway, they'd probably receive a whole life sentence. For one thing, murders in a family have tendency to divide the family up. It's pretty difficult to achieve a death penalty conviction with the victims daughters crying and begging for it to not be handed down.
...For one thing, murders in a family have tendency to divide the family up. It's pretty difficult to achieve a death penalty conviction with the victims daughters crying and begging for it to not be handed down.
Were his daughters included? That would be surprising.It wasn't even on the table in this case.
His wife was scheduled to testify in a fraud case involving multimillions. After he killed her, the fraud case went away.
He was being sued by an insurance company that accused him of taking more than $20 million from the sale of lots in subdivisions he was building in Tennessee in 2007. The insurance company, which had issued bonds for the subdivisions, said Ward should have used the money to improve the subdivisions, but instead paid off debts and went on a spending spree.
The Wards used the money to buy their 8,800-square-foot mansion in Isleworth, the same neighborhood where Woods had the notorious SUV crash that revealed his adultery and derailed his golf career.
The Wards paid off loans totaling nearly $2.5 million for two houses in Georgia, bought a house on the Georgia coast for $750,000 and purchased several vehicles, including a $140,000 Mercedes-Benz sedan.
As to the family members, there is video of them laughing and joking with Ward after he shot his wife to death.
He's going to appeal.
Check out the smirk:
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James Robert "Bob" Ward, center, is taken into custody by Orange County deputies after being found guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his wife inside their Isleworth mansion two years ago. (Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel / September 24, 2011)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=140769564
Were his daughters included? That would be surprising...
I wonder if there are any reliable statistics as to how many rich people have been executed?
Its not surprising at all.i have shat brix, watermark has posted incredibly concise and cogent arguments regarding, not only the law, but the reality of situations.