These circumstances illustrate situations the place defendants dealing with the demise penalty opted for plea agreements leading to life imprisonment with out parole simply to keep away from the demise penalty. They’d fairly spend life in jail with out parole than face the danger of the demise penalty.
1. Bryan Kohberger (Idaho, 2022)
Bryan Kohberger, charged with the 2022 murders of 4 College of Idaho college students, agreed to plead responsible in June 2025. In trade, he’ll obtain 4 consecutive life sentences with out the potential of parole, avoiding the demise penalty. This choice got here simply weeks earlier than his trial was set to start.
2. James Holmes (Colorado, 2012)
On July 20, 2012, Holmes carried out a mass taking pictures at a movie show in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 folks and injuring 70. In 2015, Holmes pleaded responsible to 24 counts of first-degree homicide and 140 counts of tried homicide, amongst different expenses, to keep away from the demise penalty. Prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that resulted in 12 consecutive life sentences with out parole, plus an extra 3,318 years for tried homicide and explosives expenses.
3. Nidal Hasan (Texas, 2009)
On November 5, 2009, Hasan, an Military psychiatrist, killed 13 folks and injured over 30 in a taking pictures at Fort Hood, Texas. Whereas Hasan didn’t formally settle for a plea deal within the conventional sense, he tried to plead responsible to keep away from the demise penalty in a army court-martial. Navy guidelines prohibited responsible pleas in capital circumstances, so he was tried and sentenced to demise in 2013. Nevertheless, for the needs of this checklist, it’s value noting that Hasan’s case is an exception the place a plea was provided however not accepted attributable to army regulation. Thus, he doesn’t totally qualify, however I embody it for readability since plea negotiations had been tried.
4. Eric Rudolph (Georgia, 1996)
Rudolph was accountable for a number of bombings, together with the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing, which killed 1 particular person and injured 111, and different assaults on abortion clinics and a homosexual nightclub, leading to further deaths and accidents (complete of three deaths throughout incidents). In 2005, Rudolph pleaded responsible to federal expenses for the bombings in trade for avoiding the demise penalty. He obtained 4 consecutive life sentences with out parole.
5. Patrick Crusius (El Paso, Texas, 2019)
Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 folks in a racially motivated assault at a Walmart in El Paso, accepted a plea deal in March 2025. He was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences for federal hate crimes in 2023. The state plea deal added a life sentence with out parole, permitting him to keep away from the demise penalty.
6. Francisco Oropeza (San Jacinto County, Texas, 2023)
Francisco Oropeza pleaded responsible to the 2023 murders of 5 neighbors in San Jacinto County, Texas. By accepting a plea deal, he prevented the demise penalty and was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole.
7. Jared Lee Loughner (Tucson, Arizona, 2011)
Jared Lee Loughner, accountable for the 2011 Tucson taking pictures that killed six folks and injured 13 others, together with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, pleaded responsible in 2012. He obtained a number of life sentences with out parole, thereby avoiding the demise penalty.
8. Gary Ridgway (Washington State, Eighties–Nineties)
Often called the “Inexperienced River Killer,” Gary Ridgway confessed to 48 murders in 2003 as a part of a plea discount to keep away from the demise penalty. He was sentenced to 48 consecutive life phrases with out parole.
9. Raymont Hopewell (Baltimore, Maryland, 1999–2005)
Raymont Hopewell, who murdered 5 aged people throughout residence invasions, accepted a plea deal in 2006. He pleaded responsible to a number of expenses, together with homicide and rape, and obtained life sentences with out the potential of parole, thus avoiding the demise penalty.
10. Joseph James DeAngelo (California, 1974 to 1986)
Between 1974 and 1986, DeAngelo dedicated no less than 13 murders, over 50 rapes, and quite a few burglaries throughout California, often called the Golden State Killer. On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded responsible to 13 counts of first-degree homicide and 13 counts of kidnapping as a part of a plea discount to keep away from the demise penalty. He additionally admitted to uncharged crimes, together with rapes barred by the statute of limitations. On August 21, 2020, he was sentenced to a number of consecutive life sentences with out parole.
Case that isn’t a standard mass homicide, but it surely was a excessive profile case.
1. Robert John Bardo (California, 1989)
In 1989, Bardo stalked and murdered actress Rebecca Schaeffer and was linked to different obsessive behaviors, although just one homicide was charged. In 1991, Bardo pleaded responsible to first-degree homicide to keep away from the demise penalty, receiving a life sentence with out parole.
