according to this report.

The Lebanese killer of a U.S. Navy diver was in custody in Beirut yesterday, according to U.S. officials who decried his release from a German prison last week and pledged to bring him to the United States for trial.

Relatives of the victim -- Waldorf, Md., native Robert Dean Stethem -- said yesterday they were "devastated" to learn of the killer's release and urged the Bush administration to demand an explanation from Germany.

"Just to see him free slays us," said Richard Stethem, father of the seaman whose beaten body was thrown onto a Beirut runway in 1985.

Mohammad Ali Hamadi, a member of the Hezbollah guerrilla group, received a life sentence in Germany for hijacking a TWA plane to Beirut and fatally shooting Petty Officer 2nd Class Stethem, but was paroled after 18 years and freed on Thursday.

The United States, which has been seeking Hamadi's extradition since his 1987 capture in Frankfurt, privately expressed anger at his early release, but officials said they were determined to "get our hands on him."

"We are going to make every effort to see that he stands trial here in the United States," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "We are disappointed now that he has been released before the end of his full sentence."

A life sentence in Germany ranges between 20 and 25 years, with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Hamadi, now 41, was convicted in 1989, and the two years served prior to that were deemed part of his sentence.

I suspect the reason why many American's continue to support the death penalty is due to the belief that a life sentence is anything but. If a life sentence was truly "life without parole", perhaps the popular support for capital punishment would fade. Stories like this - even though it is from Germany - don't help.