Posted on 11/11/2005 4:49:43 PM PST by Graybeard58
Steven Van McHone was put to death at Central Prison early Friday morning, 15 years after he killed his mother and stepfather at their Surry County home.
McHone entered the execution chamber on a gurney at 1:50 a.m., and he appeared to say "I'm so sorry" to Wes Adams Jr., a half-brother whom McHone almost killed the night of the parents' deaths. McHone then exchanged smiles and laughter with his attorney and with two friends, who were among nine people who served as official witnesses.
At about 2 a.m., executioners added a sedative to McHone's intravenous lines. He closed his eyes within two minutes and appeared to be asleep. Two lethal chemicals were added, and at 2:05 McHone's torso shook quickly and his face became pale. He appeared not to move afterward.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the order of the court has been carried out. He was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m.," Marvin Polk, the warden of Central Prison, announced to the witnesses.
Wes Adams Jr. and his wife, Wendy Adams, released a statement afterward reiterating their support for the execution.
"We have sympathy and pray for comfort for those who will grieve Steve's passing," they wrote. "We do, however, feel that justice was upheld, and that this fate was sealed many years ago."
Some other relatives had opposed the execution, saying that they had forgiven McHone and wanted him to meet their families.
McHone's court appeals ran out late Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined, for at least the second time, to intervene in the case. Gov. Mike Easley declined to grant clemency.
"Given the facts and circumstances of this case, I find no compelling reasons to invalidate the sentences recommended by the jury and affirmed by the courts," Easley said in a statement.
McHone's last meal at 5 p.m. consisted of Porterhouse steak, steak fries, chocolate cheese cake and a 20 oz. Mountain Dew. He did not release a final statement. His body was taken to the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill.
-Matthew 5:38-39 (Good News Bible)
Should have been a hanging.
The eye for an eye was in the Law. God's instructions to Noah predate that.
Well, you've trapped Jesus, haven't you? Guess he couldn't have come out against vengeance if he wanted to. Should have sent those angels down to smite his own executioners, I suppose. Cosmic justice, if you will. (And so I don't have to post later, YES, I AM BEING SARCASTIC BECAUSE I THINK THIS KIND OF 'CHRISTIANITY' IS A SIMPLISTIC DISTORTION.)
Hmmm. Laughing and joking with friends and lawyer, halfwit relatives who want to take him home is just sad.
This is the problem with executing someone 15 or 20 years after their crime. The horror is forgotten.
I'm all for the murderer to relive the horror he brought upon his victims in the minutes before his execution.
These Hannibal Lectors have no business living in a civilized society.
<<<< Not that I am unsympathetic to the victims, but I feel execution is barbaric >>>>
How do you think the victims felt?
Good riddance, another POS gone!
"Hasta la Vista, Babyee" as the gubernator would say.
Lev. 24:19 and Deut. 21:24 refer to the eye for an eye in direct reference to a man injuring his neighbor. Just before the Flood, the Earth was filled with violence and "Every intent of the thoughts of his heartwas only evil continually" (Gen 6:5 NAS), and God wiped out (death penalty) the human race except for Noah and his family. Afterwards, He gave Noah those instructions for what I believe was to prevent the Earth from getting to that state again. Turning the other cheek is something done by the individual who was wronged and cannot be done by others. That is why I believe that the death penalty has Scriptural support and that outside the Law.
And Christ didn't disagree, or say to him, "OK, come down from that cross." He said, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise." Earthly and spiritual consequences are quite different.
Temporal punishment and temporal authority is acknowledged by John the Baptist, St. Paul ("the magistrate beareth the sword"), and others throughout the New Testament.
Even the Catholic Church acknowledges that (though on admittedly rare occasions) capital punishment is just and correct.
BTW, I've spent some time working with prisoners and in prisons, too . . . and all I can say is that they appear relatively harmless in that context. Justified or not, one feels "safe" because they are more or less defanged at that point. You wouldn't want to meet them outside (I've done that too and didn't care for it much.)
Until murderers die by the same method used to kill their victims, the murder rate will not drop significantly.
That refers to an individual who is a Christian being instructed in terms as to how he was to live with his neighbors. The apostle Paul stated that "governments are given the "sword" by God to execute justice on the Earth.
There is a difference between what God sanctions governing bodies to do verses what individual Christians are to do!
That is Romans 13:4
English: New American Standard Bible
Romans 13 [Context] [Commentary]
4. for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
You hit the nail on the head with that one. Liberals don't seem to understand that their "Oh the poor prisoners, let 'em out" policies are what's driving the clammor for executions.
Thanks for the belly laugh!
If more people were armed with self protection, then we wouldn't need the courts to hand down the death sentence so often...the victim could do it right away and save a whole lot of tax payers money!
Yep, they whine that it isn't a deterrent. Well, it sure as hell is for the one who gets excuted. We know then for CERTAIN he/she is NEVER gonna hurt anyone ever again. So, I would argue with opponents that it is INDEED deterrent.
Imagine a BIG BELLY LAUGH on that one. :)
Huh?
His victims were killed in a much more barbaric fashion.
They get terrorized, chased around and shot in the head, while he gets to have a Porterhouse and go to sleep.
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