Dear Sir.
My name is Marco A. Davidson, an inmate here at San Quentin State Prison since 2002, I am writing to you in response to the July 2013 San Quentin News front-page article about death row inmate David Carpenter.
First and foremost I want to say that I was appalled that your fine publication would even consider such a subject as newsworthy or interesting to your captive readers or to those who read/support the SQ News via the internet. To showcase the animal that Carpenter is reflects a callous and insensitive view and in my mind questions the integrity and journalistic abilities of the writer and the editorial board of the San Quentin News
How could you publish such a story without revealing the truth surrounding this monsters victimization of the innocent? And what about the victims and survivors, I read nothing about those good people, why is that? The truth could be that petty sensationalism of the sick and depraved may be interesting to your taste, however, to most of society the opposite is true. So let’s take a quick look at the despicable side of the monster that you failed to let your readers know about.
In 1947, at the age of 17 Carpenter was incarcerated for having oral sex with a three year old girl.
In 1950, at the age of 20 Carpenter was charged with raping a 17 year old girl.
In 1960, at the age of 30 Carpenter was shot and arrested by an MP when he was caught using a hammer to beat a woman who had spurned his sexual advances, he served 9 years in prison.
In 1969 Carpenter sexually attacked two women in Santa Cruz County, stole a car and drove to the Sierra. While there he robbed two women in Calaveras County, kidnapped one of them and was charge with rape.
Soon after he was arrested in Modesto, convicted of the robbery and kidnapping in Calaveras County and of a rape in Santa Cruz County, he went to state prison for seven years.
In 1979 he was placed in a halfway house in San Francisco three months later the first of the trailside murders occurred. He was eventually linked to 10 murders, 9 women and a man, one of his victims; Mr. Steven Haertle was shot four times but survived and was able to identify Carpenter.
This is the side of the inmate that your readers should have knowledge of, the truth is self evident, David is among the worst of all criminals, and he knows that he is a stuttering unattractive fool who had to kill because he was so easily identifiable by those very traits that spurned females. Should your readers now expect a front-page story showcasing the Murderer of the Month? Lets hope not, and by the way, you should read Robert Graysmith’s, “The Sleeping Lady” and the David Mitchell interview of Carpenter in 1985 from Death Row, it may have enlightened you to some of the more unattractive facts of your subject.
