Dead Men Talking, Walking, and Choosing
Capital punishment in America, the execution by the government of a felon convicted by a jury of his peers for grievous crimes, usually murder, is widely regarded to be as barbaric as the crimes themselves. The proffered argument is that it makes no sense to kill people to show people that killing people is wrong.
There is some truth to that position, that the state is acting as viciously as the murderer and that executions serves no purpose other than societal vengeance. There is also some truth to the view that such punishment is merited based on the extreme nature of the crime and it serves as a deterrent for future murderers.
Valid points of view have been posed on both sides, none of which have resolved the issue.
In any event, in the United States and in many of the other 58 countries that still execute criminals, capital convictions have become almost farcical. Due to mandated appeals processes, the convicted are housed, fed, and afforded other perks for decades and the methods used today to execute them are usually far more humane than the murders they committed.
American death row inmates are well aware of their rights and privileges. Many flaunt them, one even got to choose his method of execution.
Danny Robbie Hendley, Jr., found guilty of killing a 17 year old girl in 2009 in North Carolina and suspected of killing two other women, knows he has many years to live. He seems to relish life on death row and utilizes his time to taunt the families of his victims.
In an open letter published in The Gaston Gazette, Hendley brazenly wrote, ”Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of lesiure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, takeing [sic] naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day. I’m housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7. . . Kill me if you can, suckers. . . Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Why Hendley sent that letter to the Gazette is obvious: He is an unrepentant snake. Why the Gazette saw fit to print his vile, sneering rant is a question which should be directed to the editors.
Another good question is why California treats convicted rapists, murderers, thieves, et al. better than it does taxpayers.
Inmates at San Quentin are not only getting free room, board, and health care. They are also indulged with medical attention many Californians, 25% of whom have no medical insurance coverage, are denied. . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=12827&preview=true.)
Showing posts with label capital punishment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capital punishment. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Who Was Troy Davis?
Who Was Troy Davis?
A sadistic murderer was executed on Wednesday. He deserved his execution for showing a blatant disregard for human life.
However, I’m not referring there to Troy Anthony Davis but to Lawrence Russell Brewer who dragged to death James Byrd, Jr. on a Texas road in June, 1998. He and Davis met the same fate of lethal injection, Brewer for using a pickup truck to kill, Davis for using a gun.
Both were very deserving and, in answer to the title question, Troy Davis was a murderer.
Brewer exhausted the usual appeals process although no one had protested the evils of capital punishment or contested the fairness of his trial on his behalf. He had no final statement other than a single tear.
Davis pulled out all stops enabling him to escape his just due for a decade longer than Brewer and had become a popular icon before he succumbed to the fatal brew of a barbiturate, paralytic agent, and potassium solution meant to send him blissfully to the Great Beyond. He declared his innocence to the bitter end.
If it means anything, Brewer was white, Davis was an African-American.
Based on all the blue tee shirts emblazoned with the words “I Am Troy Davis” outside Georgia courthouses, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and, ultimately, the Georgia State Prison near Reidsville, it would seem there were many Troy Davises but in actuality there was only one and he was a murderer as surely as was Lawrence Russell Brewer.
Davis was convicted on August 19th, 1989 by a jury of his peers on a number of charges including shooting and killimg police officer Mark MacPhail and he was executed 22 years later on September 21st, 2011, the same date as Brewer’s execution.
End of story? Not quite.
Davis’ case is reminiscent of that of Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, another convicted cop killer who has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for almost a quarter century and who also became an international cause célèbre and for the same reasons: questions as to the equity of capital punishment, whether he received a fair trial, and whether he is guilty.
Mumia Abu-Jamal either has better lawyers or his supporters have been more vocal than Davis’ since Abu-Jamal is still alive–and writing books!–and Troy Davis isn’t.
Let’s just dispense with the death penalty controversy since executing convicted murderers has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. As for the fairness of his trial and his guilt, those issues were settled long ago.
Prosecutors called thirty four witnesses, some eyewitnesses, to the stand, the defense called six. Davis’ jury consisted of seven blacks and only five whites. His conviction was upheld in various courts, even after SCOTUS, based on alleged new evidence, ordered an evidentiary hearing last year. Clemency appeals were rejected by both the state of Georgia and none other but his fellow African-American, President Barack Hussein Obama.
However, none of that matters when Big Guns . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5533.)
A sadistic murderer was executed on Wednesday. He deserved his execution for showing a blatant disregard for human life.
However, I’m not referring there to Troy Anthony Davis but to Lawrence Russell Brewer who dragged to death James Byrd, Jr. on a Texas road in June, 1998. He and Davis met the same fate of lethal injection, Brewer for using a pickup truck to kill, Davis for using a gun.
Both were very deserving and, in answer to the title question, Troy Davis was a murderer.
Brewer exhausted the usual appeals process although no one had protested the evils of capital punishment or contested the fairness of his trial on his behalf. He had no final statement other than a single tear.
Davis pulled out all stops enabling him to escape his just due for a decade longer than Brewer and had become a popular icon before he succumbed to the fatal brew of a barbiturate, paralytic agent, and potassium solution meant to send him blissfully to the Great Beyond. He declared his innocence to the bitter end.
If it means anything, Brewer was white, Davis was an African-American.
Based on all the blue tee shirts emblazoned with the words “I Am Troy Davis” outside Georgia courthouses, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and, ultimately, the Georgia State Prison near Reidsville, it would seem there were many Troy Davises but in actuality there was only one and he was a murderer as surely as was Lawrence Russell Brewer.
Davis was convicted on August 19th, 1989 by a jury of his peers on a number of charges including shooting and killimg police officer Mark MacPhail and he was executed 22 years later on September 21st, 2011, the same date as Brewer’s execution.
End of story? Not quite.
Davis’ case is reminiscent of that of Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, another convicted cop killer who has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for almost a quarter century and who also became an international cause célèbre and for the same reasons: questions as to the equity of capital punishment, whether he received a fair trial, and whether he is guilty.
Mumia Abu-Jamal either has better lawyers or his supporters have been more vocal than Davis’ since Abu-Jamal is still alive–and writing books!–and Troy Davis isn’t.
Let’s just dispense with the death penalty controversy since executing convicted murderers has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. As for the fairness of his trial and his guilt, those issues were settled long ago.
Prosecutors called thirty four witnesses, some eyewitnesses, to the stand, the defense called six. Davis’ jury consisted of seven blacks and only five whites. His conviction was upheld in various courts, even after SCOTUS, based on alleged new evidence, ordered an evidentiary hearing last year. Clemency appeals were rejected by both the state of Georgia and none other but his fellow African-American, President Barack Hussein Obama.
However, none of that matters when Big Guns . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5533.)
Monday, September 19, 2011
Justice Delayed, Denied, Subverted
Justice Delayed, Denied, Subverted
Lady Justice can be one fickle animal, at least when courts intervene.
The application of the ancient legal maxim dating back centuries that “Justice delayed is justice denied” becomes a legal minefield when activist jurists and ignorant juries delay, deny, and subvert fairness and equity in the interests of ideology or misperceived guilt.
Convicted murderer Duane Buck is an individual currently benefiting from delayed justice.
Found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection in Texas, Buck ultimately appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court of the United States which finally and tersely said it would consider his appeal hours before his scheduled execution.
Buck was supposedly praying in his Death Row cell when advised of the reprieve and said, “Praise the Lord! God is worthy to be praised. God’s mercy triumphs over judgment. I feel good,” as well he should, although he made no mention of whether his former girlfriend, another man, and his stepsister felt very good when he shot all three on July 30, 1995.
Buck’s appeal was based on his lawyers’ allegation that race had been a factor . . .
. . . I don’t know if Floridians Rodolfo Santana and Ana Mejia wanted a baby but they conceived and gave birth to one.
They had consulted Dr. Marie Morel and OB/GYN Specialists of the Palm Beaches and subsequently contended they weren’t told that Bryan Santana, now three, would be born with no arms and just one leg, horrible deformities Ana admitted they would have averted by aborting Bryan had they known in advance.
They wanted $9 million in recompense for inadequate information from Dr. Morel and OB/GYN Specialists. A West Palm Beach jury gave them half, $4.5 million, for giving birth to a severely disabled child . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5490.)
Lady Justice can be one fickle animal, at least when courts intervene.
The application of the ancient legal maxim dating back centuries that “Justice delayed is justice denied” becomes a legal minefield when activist jurists and ignorant juries delay, deny, and subvert fairness and equity in the interests of ideology or misperceived guilt.
Convicted murderer Duane Buck is an individual currently benefiting from delayed justice.
Found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection in Texas, Buck ultimately appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court of the United States which finally and tersely said it would consider his appeal hours before his scheduled execution.
Buck was supposedly praying in his Death Row cell when advised of the reprieve and said, “Praise the Lord! God is worthy to be praised. God’s mercy triumphs over judgment. I feel good,” as well he should, although he made no mention of whether his former girlfriend, another man, and his stepsister felt very good when he shot all three on July 30, 1995.
Buck’s appeal was based on his lawyers’ allegation that race had been a factor . . .
. . . I don’t know if Floridians Rodolfo Santana and Ana Mejia wanted a baby but they conceived and gave birth to one.
They had consulted Dr. Marie Morel and OB/GYN Specialists of the Palm Beaches and subsequently contended they weren’t told that Bryan Santana, now three, would be born with no arms and just one leg, horrible deformities Ana admitted they would have averted by aborting Bryan had they known in advance.
They wanted $9 million in recompense for inadequate information from Dr. Morel and OB/GYN Specialists. A West Palm Beach jury gave them half, $4.5 million, for giving birth to a severely disabled child . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5490.)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Muhammed Bites the Dust
Muhammed Bites the Dust
The “Beltway Sniper” is no longer with us. Nor are the 10 innocent people John Allen Muhammed chose to eliminate from the face of the Earth seven years ago.
As has been pointed out, Muhammed had the opportunity to bid his final farewells to those near and dear to him.
His slain victims, at best, were able to say things like, “Bye, I’m going out shopping/to work/to visit Aunt Milly,” and that was about it. They never returned. The three who survived the shootings were luckier and only have to live the rest of their lives with the memories.
Just over 24 hours ago, denied a final mercy and as hand-wringers over capital punishment were in full force . . .
(Read the rest at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1320)
The “Beltway Sniper” is no longer with us. Nor are the 10 innocent people John Allen Muhammed chose to eliminate from the face of the Earth seven years ago.
As has been pointed out, Muhammed had the opportunity to bid his final farewells to those near and dear to him.
His slain victims, at best, were able to say things like, “Bye, I’m going out shopping/to work/to visit Aunt Milly,” and that was about it. They never returned. The three who survived the shootings were luckier and only have to live the rest of their lives with the memories.
Just over 24 hours ago, denied a final mercy and as hand-wringers over capital punishment were in full force . . .
(Read the rest at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1320)
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