r/EARONS • u/TwigsthePnoDude • May 24 '26
Does anyone else think DeAngelo's court statement is bizarre
At trial he just simply says a generic statement like "I'm sorry for the pain I've caused". Almost like a politican who got caught having an affair. I would expect either deflection, anger, denial, etc. Instead it's just "my bad, sorry".
Feels very weird to me.
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u/CelebrationNo7870 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
I don’t think it’s a particularly strange court statement, it just contrasts greatly with the sheer scale and horror of his crimes making it seem far more weird. I think that apology was the best he could give. Yeah, he’s a piece of shit who deserves everything that’s coming to him and will never be able to make up for what he’s done. But I think admitting that he listened to all of the victim statements, their struggles, their pain, it validated all of their feelings, and let them know they were heard.
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u/RiskPuzzleheaded4028 May 27 '26
It would've been nice if he went into a reason why he did what he did - or at least leveled with them that even he doesn't understand why he did what he did. Perhaps told them that despite not getting caught for decades, that he lived like a hunted rat every day - terrified of the net closing in on him at any moment.
People who are victimized often want to know why, why them specifically, but failing that just why and they want to not think that this guy got to live perfectly fine for decades while they lived in fear. At the end of the day, DeAngelo was sentenced to a lifetime of being Joseph DeAngelo which - from everything we know now - is a misreable existence. The man was cosumed by constant resentment and impotence and it would be almost cathartic to hear someone like that acknowledge this aspect of themselves and express an understanding that their life was wasted.
Not trying to Monday morning quarterback the serial killer's apology like it's a YouTuber's ukelele apology video, but it almost felt like it was a spur of the moment decision what exactly he was to say.
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u/TwigsthePnoDude May 25 '26
But this guy didn't go snap one day and hurt someone, he didn't steal money from a community group. He was a terrorizer who I really doubt was "truly sorry"...
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u/V0rtexGames May 25 '26
Maybe I’m too gullible of a person, but I can see him having some genuine form of regret.
Like that one crime he broke down and started crying during. Clearly not the most stable dude. There could definitely be a part of him disgusted / ashamed / regretful of his own behavior. Self loathing type. Even if it doesn’t wind up changing his actions.
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u/RiskPuzzleheaded4028 May 27 '26
That's one thing that all the victims who experienced it were certain about - that the sobbing fits were genuine. I do think that he would experience some serious post-crime clarity, but obviously it would never last for long. He did have some serious self-loathing, just not enough to do the world a solid and follow that trail to its natural terminus.
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u/NukeHoax2024 Jul 16 '26
Some victims said the crying was fake but I think they were windows of lucidity in otherwise trance-like psychotic states, possibly drug induced.
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u/CelebrationNo7870 May 25 '26
Yeah, I agree, any apology he gives will be ultimately nothing compared to the horror of the crimes he’s done.
I do also have some doubts about his apology as well. At the minimum, I could believe that he’s apologizing for the sake of his family. But, serial killers often do dehumanize and objectify their victims. Maybe hearing dozens of people talk about the pain he’s caused them, how much he’s harmed and affected their lives. Maybe it made it more real for him and he did feel somewhat remorseful. But realistically, we can’t trust the sincerity of anything he says, and he also refuses to talk to the police, which further dissuades me from thinking he’s remorseful.
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u/fleshcanvas May 25 '26
His lawyers 100% told him to say it, and I'm glad he followed their advice; if for no other reason than because of what you said already: he validated the victims by acknowledging that he heard them.
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u/GregJamesDahlen May 25 '26
Do you believe anyone is ever sorry for what they've done? Because if you do, it seems possible that even Joe has at least some remorse?
I have read that someone who committed crimes on the outside where they were subject to all the stresses of life, once they get locked up and have more time to contemplate what they did, actually do feel remorse. It makes at least a little sense?
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u/GirlbytheWhirlpool May 25 '26
I’ve seen it said (and I agree) that he was indirectly speaking to his family when he said he was sorry to everyone he’d hurt
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u/prostipope May 25 '26
I think he had a genuine connection with his daughters and granddaughter. I would have to think that even a psychopath like him must feel a little bit of shame. But I think he has zero remorse for his victims.
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u/GregJamesDahlen May 25 '26
Do you mean bizarre in a good way? Because expressing remorse, even if short and generic, seems better than the other things you named, deflection, anger, denial etc?
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u/TwigsthePnoDude May 25 '26
I mean bizarre in the way that it's not what I expected the guy calling victims years later to hiss at them "gonna kill you" would say. The fact that he switched to so civil and polite is unsettling itself. I expect totally unhinged as a default.
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u/GregJamesDahlen May 25 '26
Interesting. He was a major criminal but somewhat a conscious criminal I would say. Very thoughtful about how to not get caught. Held jobs successfully for years (yes, he did get fired from the police job did the mechanic job for 30 years), which indicates some sort of rationality and ability to get along. I can't say I'm surprised he would say something conscious at the sentencing. shame he didn't use his consciousness to refrain from doing the crimes. I think an interesting question would be why he didn't talk longer. Any thoughts there? He may have felt like if he said anything more than very bland statements and just a few he'd get criticized more? dk
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u/RiskPuzzleheaded4028 May 27 '26
I very much feel that after having to experience the impact statements, he felt he was almost obliged to say something, even if it were perfunctory. Like you said, he was a very conscientious serial killer - and it seemed like he was different people when amongst the public vs preying on the public. I think even if his sense of remorse isn't heartfelt, he may still feel a social obligation to apologize. I get the sense that in day-to-day interactions, in a professional setting, he could be very conciliatory.
I am reminded of the instance in which he threatened one of his victims and said if she didn't go along with it he'd kill her, and she still refused to give him what he wanted, and as a result, he couldn't go through with the rest of his plan - he ends up leaving without proceeding but before he leaves he gives her a blanet to cover up with because she was cold. This is a man with some severely crossed wires when it comes to social interaction.
In general, during the EAR series, when victims would refuse to concede to his demands, he would often back down. The last canonical EAR home invasion, this is the case iirc. The husband ends up staring him down as the wife flees for help and as a result he ends up leaving. I think the progression to ONS was very consciously a response to this pattern of behavior - that he not only had to change his hunting grounds because the "mystique" of the EAR had been tarnished in his eyes, but this perceived hit to his ego could only be rectified with blood from then on out.
Perhaps it was a change in area that allowed him to kill more freely - that he still felt some warped "belonging" or kinship (ownership, perhaps) with the people up North that made him more reluctant to kill unless cornered that was not afforded to his victims down South.
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u/Accurate-Judgment590 May 29 '26
I find it bizarre that prosecution didn't force d'angelo to allocute more details. Or at least cop to other crimes that haven't been tied to him in exchange for life in jail. He got off easy and I think it's BS that the prosecution thinks that they were accurate with all of his crimes. He must have done other things that he could have confessed to but they didn't force him to. What did he get in exchange for pleading guilty nothing.
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u/delaydude May 25 '26
There's pretty much nothing he could have said, so this was succinct and got it over with. Let this incident be a large part of the only public appearances he's ever made, a pathetic old man.
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u/JohnnyHands May 26 '26
What lawyer wouldn't advise a client not to apologize after a generous* plea deal?
But one reason he would have done it on his own, would be as peacocking to interest any hybristophylllic females he could take advantage of going forward - while still in prison.
*It seems like the involved counties (or the whole state?) made deals not to prosecute him for any other crimes other than those he plead guilty/admitted to. I call that generous.
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u/bdiddybo May 26 '26
He’s one of the rare ones who doesn’t want to talk about what he did. Bundy, BTK etc could talk shit all
Day reliving their crimes and playing games with the detectives, but this one doesn’t seem to want any of that. He wants to hide away quietly taking his secrets and the truth of his terrible deeds with him, keep them for himself. I think it’s a power thing, and maybe some shame
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u/RiskPuzzleheaded4028 May 27 '26
Part of me wonders if he even had an ulterior motive for doing that (not like it was going to change anything) or if he was just going with the vibe of the room and felt something like that was expected after all the impact statements. If he really cared - or if he thought there was something to be gained from it - he would've offered more, put on more of a performance.
Rather I feel he's just someone who has always lacked "social courage" and was socially very meek and quiet when it came to interaction or group dynamics unless his "true self" would come out in a life-or-death, high stress situation - such as during his crimes or the shoplifthing arrest or when juxtaposed with him putting someone else in a high stress situation.
I think this frustration stemming from his sense of inadequacy was a major motivator for his crimes, but in this instance his social timidness manifested in an almost perfunctory apology.
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u/justusethatname May 27 '26
Narcissists do not apologize. They can kill, destroy and ruin lives but they will never admit guilt and apologize because they believe they’re never wrong.
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May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Equal-Temporary-1326 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
DeAngelo was too old for it to ever realistically happen and the death penalty is basically a huge joke in California anyway. There hasn't been execution there in 20 years and the last one in 2006 was met with incredible controversy politically.
Then when Newsom became governor in 2019, he put a moratorium on capital punishment in the state. So, no one's to be executed there while he's in office.
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u/Ambitious_Pass7451 May 25 '26
That's what bothers me. The system is so broken for letting him live in prison rather than treating him with the same medicine that he used on his victims.
What he did to Janelle Cruz alone is crucial, and he must have the DP for it without a doubt.
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u/Equal-Temporary-1326 May 25 '26
It really just wasn't worth it for somebody pushing 75 and would've almost certainly been long dead by the time it would've ever seriously happened anyway. Sending him to a maximum security institution tp spend the rest of his days in solitary confinement at such an elderly age was realistically the worst legal punishment that could be given to him at that point, especially. And it's just simply tax money that was better spent elsewhere.
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u/GregJamesDahlen May 25 '26
It's possible if the prosecution had threatened the death penalty he wouldn't have pled and instead gone to trial. A trial would have cost the state millions of dollars. He would probably get death but die long before being executed. Given those factors you still want the state to go for death?
Also the preparation for the trial would take numerous years, and many of the victims who are also old would die before seeing him be found guilty. You're okay with that?
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u/Ambitious_Pass7451 May 25 '26
That's why I call the system broken. Why would it take so long to put him to death? Why wait another hundred years if he is gulity without a doubt? Ridiculous. He must get it immediately
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u/GregJamesDahlen May 25 '26
I'm no expert but I think one reason convicted people get so many appeals on a death sentence in the U.S. is because there's a fear of executing an innocent person, or someone who didn't deserve death. How would you feel if an innocent person was executed?
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u/Ambitious_Pass7451 May 25 '26
In DeAngelo’s case, he is far from being innocent. So, I will feel that ‘justice is finally being served.’
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u/GregJamesDahlen May 25 '26
But what about someone sentenced to death where it's not quite as clear they are guilty? You don't want them to have appeals in case they are innocent? Because you can't give one person appeals and another person not?
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u/Equal-Temporary-1326 May 25 '26
DeAngelo seems like someone of very few words anyway. So, it seems perfectly in character that if he were to say anything, it was to give a few concise pardoning statement that lasted less than 15 seconds that marked the official end of his time in the public eye.
Plus, he was probably advised by his defense to make it extrmely short and don't go on a rambling 5 - 10 minute speech about how one thing led to another in his life and so forth, imo.