Otto Delaney never had a chance to leave jail throughout his whole stay on Sons of Anarchy since he committed so many crimes.
Many of the members of the titular club were seen entering and exiting jail on Sons of Anarchy at various points, but only one of them, Otto Delaney (Kurt Sutter), remained in jail from the start of the series and continued to be a member of the club while in prison. Otto Delaney was in jail and never left, and this is why. Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy introduced viewers to the titular motorcycle club and the numerous disputes they got into, both inside the club and with other gangs, in the fictitious town of Charming, California.
Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), SAMCRO’s vice president at the start of the series and the child of John “JT” Teller, one of the club’s original members, served as the show’s leader. The first episode of Sons of Anarchy begins when Jax discovers JT’s manifesto, in which he stated his thoughts and ideals for the group, which were extremely unlike from those of Clay Morrow, the group’s current president and Jax’s stepfather (Ron Perlman).
Jax is faced with a number of challenges inside the club as a result of these and other problems, which causes him to reflect on his relationships, family, and position within the club. Due to their way of life, many SAMCRO members eventually found themselves behind bars; at the time of the Sons of Anarchy events, only Lenny Janowitz (Sonny Barger) and Otto Delaney—the latter of whom continued to be an active SAMCRO member even while behind bars—remained behind bars.
Otto Delaney was a full-patch SAMCRO member, the spouse of Luann (Dendrie Taylor), the owner of her own pornographic firm Cara Cara, and a close friend of the group, notably Gemma. Luann was a former porn actress (Katey Sagal). Otto was incarcerated prior to the events of Sons of Anarchy and was never released since he continued committing crimes while he was behind bars, which increased his sentence and finally landed him on death row.
How Did Otto End Up in Sons of Anarchy?
Otto was sentenced to six years in Stockton State Prison after being caught for second-degree murder and car theft in the middle of the 1990s. Once there, though, he continued to commit crimes—both personal and club-related ones—because he was a dedicated SAMCRO member and wanted to make sure Luann was always protected. Before the events of Sons of Anarchy, Otto committed a number of crimes, including slashing an informant, shattering a man’s collarbones and two ribs, and trying to negotiate a deal with GN that went awry and left him with a sliced left eye.
Otto smacked Luann’s skull on the table to demonstrate that he wasn’t a rat after ATF agent June Stahl (Ally Walker) used Luann to extract information from Otto and bring down SAMCRO, lengthening his already lengthy sentence. Otto stabbed a member of the Aryan Brotherhood in Sons of Anarchy season 2, and this specific event was used to win him the death penalty. He was formally condemned to death in season 4.
Otto continued to commit crimes despite this, including the murder of a Russian mafia member. After learning the truth from Tara and continuing to defend the club in whatever way he could, Otto committed the subsequent crime of killing a nurse while yelling “Sons live, Redwood bleeds” after giving up information on SAMCRO after the club failed to protect Luann.
Otto’s last act was the murder of Lee Toric, an ex-US Marshal and the brother of the nurse he killed, who gave Otto the order to be raped every day if he didn’t tip off SAMCRO. Otto was immediately shot dead by prison guards after killing Toric. Otto was originally supposed to die by gas chamber or lethal injection, but Sutter decided that he couldn’t allow Otto commit another crime without punishing him, so he made Otto pay for what he done (though maybe not everything he did). In Sons of Anarchy, Otto’s tale is confusing because he deserved to be in prison for all he did both inside and outside. However, even though most of his acts inside the prison were taken to protect Luann, ultimately it wasn’t enough to save both him and her.
