No question about cop killer’s punishment

As a jury considers the fate of cop killer Christopher Monfort, a question lingers: should he be sentenced to death?

A jury is determining Monfort’s fate after finding him guilty of murdering Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton in Oct. 2009.

Related: Christopher Monfort found guilty of murder

KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don said there is usually room to debate the controversial topic of capital punishment, but this is not such a situation.

“The older I get and the more I’ve learned, there seems to be a margin for error in the death penalty,” Ron Upshaw said. “There are a disproportionate number of minorities and a disproportionate number of poor people on death row.”

“However,” he continued. “There are certain categories of crimes and certain types of evidence, to me, to put somebody across the line into the death penalty. If I was a juror on this case, this would be one of those cases.”

Co-host Don O’Neill agreed, but objected to the procedure taking place in the courtroom this week.

“For everybody in that jury room to have to come to the same conclusion, I don’t think it’s fair to that jury,” O’Neill said, noting that some people are brought up with certain morals and religion that prevent them from voting for the death penalty in any case.

“It’s just a part of you, no matter what, you would never agree to take a life,” he said. “Now you put folks in a jury room and maybe there are a few people holding out.”

O’Neill said that there should be an allowance &#8212 maybe 10-2 &#8212 for such circumstances.

“Twelve-zip is just not fair,” O’Neill said.

Weighing the case

The jury will listen to a range of people involved in the case, but only one person will speak for Timothy Brenton &#8212 his brother Matt Brenton.

“[Monfort] gets to have 47 people stand up for him and beg for his life and on Timothy Brenton’s side, you’re only allowed to have one person go up there and represent the Brenton Family,” O’Neill said. “I’ve gotten to know Matt over the years and he’s doing a great job.”

Brenton’s brother spoke to the jury Tuesday afternoon and explained how the death has affected his family. The pain on his face was apparent, Upshaw noted while adding that the two bothers grew up in a single parent home; something that Officer Brenton didn’t want for his child.

“Tim made a very pointed effort that he was going to be a different kind of father, that his kids would not grow up in the same environment,” Matt Brenton told the courtroom.

Upshaw said that the facts are what they are and that the death penalty should be the outcome.

“This was a guy that was at war with police for no other reason than he felt like it was his calling to take police officers out because of some twisted sense of justice,” he said. “In my mind, if ever there was a case for a death penalty, this is it.”

Upshaw said that Monfort not only shot and killed Officer Brenton, he shot at Brenton’s partner, firebombed a police parking lot, and fired at officers attempting to arrest him.

“And he was defiant,” Upshaw said. “He came into the courtroom … defiantly talking about how in America 300 people have been killed by police this year and that somehow justifies his logic to kill Timothy Brenton. It’s a twisted mindset. It’s an evil mindset.”