WORLD VIEWS: Allen is executed; Europe balks

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/18/6 | Edward M. Gomez

[SmithL]

"Arnie allows a blind man in a wheelchair to be executed," a headline in Germany's Bild, a popular tabloid declared. "Chalk up one more for the Terminator," Spain's TeleCinco announced. Overseas, but especially in Europe, where the death penalty has been abolished, and many observers view America's practice as barbaric, news media focused on California's execution on Monday of Clarence Ray Allen less than an hour after his 76th birthday. (Scotsman)

"Among other things, Allen was nearly deaf, had diabetes and suffered a heart attack last September," one U.K. news outlet noted. Terry Davis, the chairman of the 46-nation Council of Europe, said: "The death penalty is always wrong, but tying a blind 76-year-old man to a chair and injecting him with poison is grotesque." (icWales) (Separate from the European Union, the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, focuses on the defense of human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law.)

Davis, regretting that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had not granted Allen clemency, remarked:

As a friend of the United States of America, I look forward to the day this great country will leave the axis of capital punishment....If moral argument is not compelling enough, the American public should compare the murder rate.... Then they would realize that executing people is not only inhuman, it does not work as a way of reducing the number of murders.(Ireland Online)

Some foreign news reports noted that Allen's last meal included chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken, "a buffalo steak, whole milk, sugar-free pecan pie and black-walnut ice cream," and that "[f]ive minutes passed from the time the first of two needles was inserted" into the prisoner's body "until a guard read his death order." (Scotsman)

[SmithL]

Euroweenies are whining, again.

[manwiththehands]

He wasn't executed. He was euthanized.

[dighton]

Balk away, me lads. Clarence Ray Allen is gone, and this state is better for it.

[winner3000]

(The death penalty is always wrong)

Consistent with the lesson Europe learned from WWII: not the need to fight evil, but that fighting IS evil.

[dead]

tying a blind 76-year-old man to a chair and injecting him with poison is grotesque

In Sweden, it's called "healthcare."

[RichInOC]

Hey...you're never too old to start a new life.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

If they had executed him when they should have -- say, no later than the mid-1980's-- then he wouldn't have been so old and decrepit when his time came.

But be of good cheer, Europeans: he got a quarter century more of life than his victims did.

[fizziwig]

And not one word in support of Allen from Mikey Farrell....guess Allen was too white eh?

[teenyelliott]

Among other things, Allen was nearly deaf, had diabetes and suffered a heart attack last September and was a murderer who deserved to die.

it does not work as a way of reducing the number of murders.

I dunno. I'll wager one gillion dollars that Allen never murders anyone again.

[mbynack]

.... Then they would realize that executing people is not only inhuman, it does not work as a way of reducing the number of murders.

After extensive research, I have been unable to find a confirmed case where someone was executed and then committed another murder. There have been cases, however, where someone sentenced to life has committed more murders.

This proves that sentencing someone to life isn't as effective as carrying out a death sentence.

[Brilliant]

"Arnie allows a blind man in a wheelchair to be executed..."


These Europeans have no idea what the facts are. To them, the only fact is that this guy was a blind man in a wheelchair. Nevermind that he murdered 3 teenagers for testifying against him while he was serving a life term for murdering someone else. They are living in a fantasy world.

[Rio]

Hmmm.. I suppose that we could send our murderers to Europe since they care so much for them.

[Bullitt]

I guess the new year bring us the 'blame Arnold' mentality from the eurotrash. I bet if we told Europe that we actually caught Hitler alive and gave him the electric chair back in 1948 after a military tribunal, they'd scream over that too.

[samtheman]

The death penalty is always wrong, but tying a blind 76-year-old man to a chair and injecting him with poison is grotesque.

If this was some kind of mercy killing or assisted suicide they'd be all for it. But when it involves the killer of 4 people (3 of whom were witnesses against him in a court case), then it's a bloody outrage.

[mak5]

In this case, it does work to reduce the number of murders. He was in prison for one murder when he ordered the hit on the witnesses against him that led to the three other murders. Prison did nothing to stop this guy.

[tertiary01]

Almost 48 hours and he has yet to commit a crime. Execution seems to work well for him.

He sure had a healthy appetite for a sickly old man, and I heard from a witness on one of the local radio shows that he stood up from his wheelchair, waved and caught the eye of some of the witnesses and sat on the gurney. It was reported by many that he was seen pacing his cell and reading letters for months before his execution.

His victims can finally RIP as they have finally been vindicated.

[ccmay]

If Euro-trash socialists are against it, I'm for it. The whole continent is a walking corpse, a shadow of what it once was, soon to be overrun by the Mahometan hordes. They haven't had any good ideas about how to organize society since the days of John Locke and Adam Smith. Ignore them, and muck out Death Row with speed and vigor.

-ccm

[HHKrepublican_2]

I find it hard to support the death penalty from catholic standpoint, because I am prolife across the board. What I havent come to realize is that executing these guys has the potential to save lives, and is therefor pro-life.

[Bernard Marx]

Hmmm.. I suppose that we could send our murderers to Europe since they care so much for them.

Wonder how they'd fare in the Netherlands? Or Oregon, for that matter... They both seem to be on the path toward state-mandated euthanasia.

[backtothestreets]

While the European press tries with wrangling a moral issue, they have hidden the truth.

This fellow was already in prison for murder when he masterminded the three additional murders. Had he been executed immediately for the initial murder, the three additional murders would not have occurred. THAT PROVES CAPITAL PUNISHMENT CAN BE A DETERENT TO MURDER.