Back in my home state, cop-killer Mario Centobie was executed last night. Centobie's story has always fascinated me, and not in a good way. He seems to have been a truly disturbed individual, though not crazy in the get-out-of-jail-free sense. I like the circularity of this take on his personal history:
He was abandoned by his father at the age of four after his parents divorced. His mother sought a divorce on the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment by Centobie’s father. At the age of 20, Centobie shot himself in the stomach with a shotgun because he was distraught. He married but later divorced. His wife requested a restraining order citing habitual cruel and inhuman treatment.
Despite his being "distraught" early in life, Centobie was a decorated Mississippi firefighter by 1993, when an Amtrak train derailed near Mobile, Alabama, and killed 47 people. Centobie helped pull the bodies out of the burned-out train cars sunk in bayou mud; somewhere I remember hearing speculation that this experience traumatized the guy such that he went off his rocker permanently, sociopathically speaking. Anyway, by 1995 he was serving 40 years in a Mississippi jail for kidnapping his ex-wife and son. In 1998, Centobie and another inmate overpowered guards transferring them between jails and stole the guards' car.
Centobie and the other inmate drove into Alabama, where they were stopped by a Tuscaloosa police officer, whom Centobie shot (non-fatally). The pair escaped and fled north to St. Clair County, where they were stopped by another police officer. This time, Centobie shot and killed the officer. The two inmates split up, and the other guy was promptly captured. Centobie eluded a massive statewide manhunt. I remember some grainy footage on the news at the time of him brandishing a gun at a news helicopter (from the chopper's point of view). About this time, the newspapers started calling him "Super Mario."
He was finally caught back in Mississippi, near Biloxi, where he was trying to visit/re-kidnap his son. Back in jail in Gadsden, Alabama, Centobie managed to seduce a female guard into just letting him go. We'll probably never know what that was all about, but there was never any hint of threats or hostage-taking or anything ... he just used his Jedi Casanova powers, and the lady couldn't resist. She ended up going to jail herself for 18 months as a result. Sadly I can't find a picture of Centobie online, but as I recall he was no sexxx-bomb. Pickins is slim in Gadsden, I guess.
Centobie was finally recaptured in Atlanta, and despite another thwarted escape attempt (guards found a key hidden "on his person," which I take to mean somewhere in the nether regions), he never seemed to feel any particular remorse. He did get very agitated when an anti-capital-punishment lawyer tried to stall his execution though, as he very much wanted to die (unlike say, Eric Rudolph). He wore his wedding ring to the lethal injection, as apparently his main obsession remained his ex-wife and son. Alabama still offers the option of vintage-electric-chair death in "Yellow Mama," but few seem inclined to take a seat lately. Criminals today have no appreciation for the classics.
In Alabama, many parents still lay a huge guilt trip on their daughters, something to the effect of, "you are worthless, useless and pathetic if you don't get a man and make me some grandchildren." That's no doubt how Centobie escaped. Even busting out a psycho convict is better than having no man...
JH
Posted by: JMH | April 30, 2005 at 08:46 AM
I briefly represented Mario when his first conviction was on appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. His appeal was dismissed when he escaped. I believe his first sentence of 40 years was exceptionally large, and not appropriate based upon the actual facts of his crime and taking his background into consideration. Further, I am aware of the abhorrent treatment he received while incarcerated. I am preparing suggestions for our courts for possible adjustments in the handling of such matters, and if this case had been handled differently, at least two lives could have been saved. If anyone has any information, which you think might help, please email me at [email protected]
Posted by: michael w crosby | July 16, 2011 at 10:18 PM