Robert Page Anderson

I am against capital punishment. That fact did little to ease my sense of nausea while reading Robert Page Anderson's self-righteous and self-excusing comments on his fellow-murderer, Robert Harris (Part A, April 3). How long was the moment Anderson committed murder "on the spur of"? I am old. Is it less heinous to murder me than to murder a younger man? Muteness becomes reformed murderers. FRED SCIFERS Downey

I am against capital punishment. That fact did little to ease my sense of nausea while reading Robert Page Anderson's self-righteous and self-excusing comments on his fellow-murderer, Robert Harris (Part A, April 3). How long was the moment Anderson committed murder "on the spur of"? I am old. Is it less heinous to murder me than to murder a younger man? Muteness becomes reformed murderers. FRED SCIFERS Downey

Convicted murderer Robert Page Anderson, a survivor of three execution dates whose appeal overturned capital punishment in California and spared the lives of such notorious killers as Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, holds no pity for Robert Alton Harris. More than a decade apart, Anderson and Harris committed murder in San Diego. Both were sentenced to die.

Convicted murderer Robert Page Anderson, a survivor of three execution dates whose appeal overturned capital punishment in California and spared the lives of such notorious killers as Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, holds no pity for Robert Alton Harris. More than a decade apart, Anderson and Harris committed murder in San Diego. Both were sentenced to die.

Robert Page Anderson rode the bus downtown, planning to trade a diamond ring at the Hub Jewelry & Loan Co., a pawnshop at the corner of 5th Avenue and F Street in the Gaslamp Quarter. It was 25 years ago this month. April 8, 1965. Light rain fell outside as Anderson, a puny, self-described "22-year-old man going on 15" walked through the door.

Robert Page Anderson, murderer, seven-year Death Row resident, survivor of three execution dates, legal celebrity whose case spared the lives of Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan and more than a hundred others, holds no pity for Robert Alton Harris. More than a decade apart, Anderson and Harris committed murder in San Diego. Both men were sentenced to die. In 1972, Anderson was made famous, briefly, when the appeal of his death sentence overturned every death sentence in California.

California's Supreme Court justices, realizing the reaction would be severe, took the explosive step 14 years ago this month of declaring the death penalty unconstitutional. It was the first time any American court had done so. Conservative politicians led the rush to overturn the decision and reinstate capital punishment.

The Supreme Court refused Monday to lift a federal judge's order that blocked this morning's scheduled execution of Robert Alton Harris, who would have been the first murderer to die in California's gas chamber in 23 years. The Supreme Court ruling will delay his execution for weeks, and possibly months, state officials said. It does not mean, however, that Harris is entitled to a new trial on his guilt or his death sentence.

Robert Page Anderson rode the bus downtown, planning to trade a diamond ring at the Hub Jewelry & Loan Co., a pawnshop at the corner of 5th Avenue and F Street in the Gaslamp Quarter. It was 25 years ago this month. April 8, 1965. Light rain fell outside as Anderson, a puny, self-described "22-year-old man going on 15" walked through the door.