'Legally dead' man pleads not guilty to killing girl

After he is convicted he will become legally dead again.

And why exactly was he declared dead? When you bring up something, please mention the reasoning behind it too.

I know of quite a few people who have been "dead" previously and have been returned to the living. None of them use this as an excuse to attempt to get away with murder.

So if this guy is legally dead and he get's the death penalty..What happens? Can a dead man be put to death? LMAO

Can we make sure he doesn't come back, this time?
Chop his head off or burn him at the stake... or do both, better be safe than sorry.

"But your honor. I couldn't have possibly killed her, I was dead at the time."

I know you can't be tried for the same crime twice, but I wonder if you can be tried for crimes committed while residing in the hereafter?

So, if he's still legally dead there should be no problem verifying that fact after a trial, and if he isn't legally dead then there should be no problem making sure he becomes that after the trial.

I think that, according to the law, a "person" can be accused of a crime. But, a "person" implies that he his a living entity recognized by the state. You can't convict a dead person.

That's a very weird case.

Posthumous

They can get a reward too, so why not the death penalty?

I am familiar with this case as Thomas Sanders and the girl he murdered were living in Las Vegas at the time of her abduction. It seems as though Mr. Sanders abandened his wife and children back in 1987. He has lived as a drifter working for cash and not leaving much of a paper trail. His wife and brother petitioned to have him declared dead so his children could receive survivors benefits from Social Security. This story reveals some major problems with Social Security and NCIC data bases. It seems that Mr. Sanders has had several arrests under his own name since being declared legally dead. All people under arrest are suppossed to be fingerprinted and those prints checked against a national data base to determine identity. No one informed S.S. that Mr. Sanders was indeed not dead,but very much alive.

To make matters worse,Mr. sanders is caught on videotape from a Las Vegas Walmart purchasing the handgun that he used to murder the girl with. How is that a legally dead man can pass the background check through NCIC to purchase the firearm? Some major revamping of the system,and some inter agency cooperation is definetly called for in my opinion.

If this dude is legally dead can't the state properly dispose of his remains..I would think cremation would only hurt for a little while..

If he's legally dead and walking around then he's a zombie. As zombies have no rights shoot him with a double barreled shotgun and then cut the head off.

You can't shoot a zombie!
Cutting his head of would be nice. Do you think he would walk around like a chicken without a head?

Maybe this will change the law to give rights to zombies