This is stupid in so many ways.
First of all, it was stupid of him to burn down his house.
Secondly, 20 years in prison benefits no-one. Rather, it would punish innocent people by forcing them to pay tax money to keep him there, as well as ruin his life. Wouldn't it make infinitely more sense for everyone involved to allow him to remain semi-free in society, but required to pay down the damage he had done over the rest of his lifetime?
The way the "justice" system works under government is so horrid it's unbelievable. Given the situation, however, I do not believe that taking cyanide was irrational ( when the alternative is to most likely remain in a rape cage until you die... )
Sorry, and with respect, no it doesn't make sense to leave him free or semi-free in society. He is a dangerous criminal with no demonstrated will to follow the normal social proscriptions against doing very dangerous things, like- burning down houses, and attempting to add massive amounts of cost to others to satisfy his own desires. How would he pay down the damage? By getting another mortgage with insurance and living there? No, the world is a better place without idiots like this. What if he decided next time to up the life insurance on the wife and kids to really hit a payday when he burns the house down? Cyanide is just fine for this fool, if he didn't think about the consequences until his verdict day, too freaking bad- actions have consequences. Apparently he was able to plan his own demise, as he had both the means and the will to commit suicide in the courtroom, so he was clearly capable of thinking ahead when it really mattered. Nope, the fewer imbeciles like this polluting the planet the better.
