Good. No matter how evil they are, people under the age of 18 (in my view 25 but what do I really know)don't weigh consequences all that well. Life sentences for 16 and 17 year-old killers makes more sense to me.
Well, hell, I know plenty of 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds who don't "weigh consequences all that well." Should we exempt them from the death penalty, too? Should the Supreme Court step in and protect all those poor immature middle-aged murderers from those blood-thirsty state courts?
Is it really such a tough call when a 16-year-old sits down and decides whether he's going to spend the afternoon playing video games with friends or butchering an innocent human being? Weighing consequences shouldn't even come into play. It's about deciding what's right and what's wrong, and every 16-year-old I ever knew was quite aware how wrong it was to murder. They weren't "weighing consequences" of such an act because they all knew it was wrong. DUH!
There are many senior citizens who become senile and clueless at a certain age. Should the Supreme Court mandate that states not execute anybody over a certain age?
More importantly, shouldn't jurors be the ones to decide such matters on a case-by-case basis? Shouldn't elected state legislators be able to decide this issue on a state-by-state basis?
The Supreme Court has just gone out of its way to give special rights to young murderers while taking away the rights of innocent citizens and the states in which they live. I'm ashamed of Kennedy and the other four usual suspects. America deserves better than to have a bunch of wimpy Supreme Court libs who look to other countries to make sure the United States is doing the right thing.
What about gang members who do drive by shootings? You think they know what they are doing?
FACTS
¶2.Sixteen-year old Stephen Virgil McGilberry was charged with the deaths of 44-year-old Patricia Purifoy, his mother; 44-year-old Kenneth Purifoy, his step-father; 24-year-old Kimberly Self, his half-sister, and 3-year-old Kristopher Self, his nephew and Kimberly's son.Police were called to Kenneth and Patricia's home on October 23, 1994, where they found the four bludgeoned bodies.An investigation revealed that McGilberry and 14- year-old Chris Johnson had taken Kimberly's car and driven to a friend's house in another town.The next morning, their friend's mother, Brenda Smith Saucier, drove the pair back to the Purifoy home, where police were waiting.
¶3.After McGilberry was read his Miranda rights, he signed a waiver.He then confessed to the killings and told authorities that he and Johnson had committed the murders with baseball bats.McGilberry indicated that he was disgruntled because his driving privileges had been taken away and that he had bludgeoned Kenneth and Kimberly while John had hit Patricia and Kristopher.McGilberry also admitted striking his mother with the baseball bat because he felt that she was suffering.McGilberry told police that he had taken cash and credit cards from his mother and then driven away in Kimberly's car.Blood stains on McGilberry's clothing matched the blood types of the victims.
¶8.At trial, the State was granted a jury instruction which required the jury to consider whether the crimes were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.McGilberry argues that the murders were not heinous, atrocious or cruel because the victims were either rendered unconscious by the blows or were killed nearly instantly.McGilberry claims that defense counsel should have objected at trial and should have raised the matter on direct appeal.