"As good as dead"

Question

How would you translate this sentence? "The convicted killer is as good as dead while he awaits execution on death row"? The machine translator came up with "El asesino es tan bueno como muerto mientras él espera su ejecución en el corredor de la muerte." I corrected that to "El asesino condenado es como muerto mientras espera su ejecución en el corredor de la muerte." Can anybody suggest anything better or should I use what I came up with? If you know the answer for this phrase, please add it to the phrase book as I did not find it there.

Phrase book entries are on a temporary hold ... trying to get caught up. - LateToDinner, Aug 27, 2010

Answer 1

Puede darse por muerto¡

Answer 2

"...... como si ya estuviera muerto......"

Also a good option, yes. - Gekkosan, Aug 27, 2010

Answer 3

Perhaps....el mismo como muerto??

No.. that doesn't work... :-S - Gekkosan, Aug 27, 2010

Well, I tried. - 0074b507, Aug 27, 2010

You succeed more often than not. :-) - Gekkosan, Aug 27, 2010

Answer 4

The convicted killer is as good as dead while he awaits execution on death row = El asesino condenado está más muerto que vivo mientras espera el día de su ejecución.

I don't think that conveys quite the same idea, though. Maybe: "el asesino... puede darse por muerto mientras..."

Answer 5

I suggest,

The convicted killer is as good as dead while he awaits execution on death row = El asesino condenado está más muerto que vivo mientras espera el día de su ejecución.