By the way anybody know what this guy did?
From the article you posted...
"It's worth remembering that Patterson's mind had broken down long before the murder in Palestine of Louis Oates and Dorothy Harris, ..."
On 25 September 1992, Patterson, then 38, walked out of his home in Palestine to Oates Oil Company, which was about a block away. The owner, Louis Oates, 63, was standing on his loading dock when Patterson walked up behind him and shot him with a .38-caliber pistol. After shooting Oates, Patterson began walking away. Dorothy Harris, Oates' secretary, walked out of her office and onto the loading dock, saw Oates' body lying on the ground, and began screaming. Patterson returned and shot Harris, 41, in the head. Patterson then walked back home, told his roommate what he had done, laid down his weapon, and removed all of his clothing except his socks. When the police arrived, he was walking up and down the street, naked. He later explained that he removed his clothes because did not want police to think he was hiding a gun.
Patterson had been previously involved in two shootings. In May 1980, Patterson shot Richard Lane, a co-worker, for no apparent reason. In 1983, he shot another co-worker, Kevin Hughes, again for no apparent reason. On both occasions, Patterson was found incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state mental hospital. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. After receiving treatment and having his competency restored, the charges in both cases were dismissed because he was insane at the time of the shootings. Patterson was again admitted to a state mental hospital in 1988 after threatening his family. He was treated and released.
Why should we keep this nut around? Why should the guards risk their lives? Why should we have to worry that some shrink will make his bones by believing he's cured and get him turned loose?
Jeez..after reading this..I think society and the killer was done a good thing..society is now protected from this deranged individual..and this sick scumbag killer is now out of his pain...
Well, is anyone going to miss him? I will not. Money is tight nowadays, and keeping him in jail for 40 yrs would cost a million, while in jail unless he were to be kept in solitary confinement or under constant supervision in medical ward (much more expensive) there is no way to tell whom else he might attack - guards, or other inmates? It is one of those sad cases when "the fewer of him, the better for us".
Don't care who pardoned him, as long as they did it after he got juiced.
Austin sounds like the Ithaca of Texas.
(steely)
"...I agree with Perry on this one. What are your thoughts?"
I'm kind of shy of the death penalty. The problem, as I see it, is that I just don't like the possibility of government to pass laws and lay down the death penalty as a consequence to lawmaking gone wrong.
Now, don't get me wrong. I understand the need for killing a real bad man (or woman). It's just that giving the state the license to do so on the justification of their legal whoredom is troublesome.
As an alternative, I suggest that upon conviction of Murder 1, the guilty is refered to the victim's surviving kin for thumbs up or down.
If thumbs up, the guilty spends the rest of his/her life in the Joint - no parole. My idea of prison is 6 days of work in 10 hour days. No TV, movies or phone. Three hots and a cot and adequate medical care but no weight rooms, special diets or heroic medicine. The prison population should sustain itself through industry.
If thumbs down, the family would select a member of it choosing to deliver the injection of the lethal cocktail.
In this way, all manner of justice would be served:
1) Society would be protected.
2) The guilty would pay for their crimes with their lives.
3) The wronged would have justice and, if they wish, revenge.
4) Lethal power would be restricted to the people.
5) Mercy would be an option for those of merciful inclination.
6) Life imprisonment would be assured if the death penalty were not invoked.
7) Life imprisonment might be worse than death for many criminals.
8) Society would be freed from the cost of prisoner support.
9) Revenuse might actually acrue from prison work and go towards aiding victims of crime.
10) The certainty of death or a lifetime of work would, in fact, deter crime.
By the way anybody know what this guy did?Here is the thread and an excerpt:
Texas Puts Mentally Ill Killer to Death
Excerpt
Patterson was condemned for the 1992 shootings of Dorthy Harris, 41, a secretary at an oil company office in Palestine, and her boss, Louis Oates, 63.
Evidence showed Patterson left his home in Palestine, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas, shot Oates in the head with a .38-caliber pistol and then shot Harris when she began screaming.
Then he went home, took off his clothes and was arrested walking on the street.