Grim milestone: Texas set to execute 500th inmate

Yahoo News (AP) ^ | 6/25/2013 | MICHAEL GRACZYK

[South40]

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jim Willett remembers the night of Dec. 6, 1982, when he was assigned to guard a mortuary van that had arrived at the death house at the Huntsville prison.

"I remember thinking: We're really going to do this. This is really going to happen," says Willett, who was a captain for the Texas Department of Corrections.

When the van pulled away early the next morning, it carried to a nearby funeral home the body of convicted killer Charlie Brooks, who had just become the first Texas prisoner executed since a Supreme Court ruling six years earlier allowed the death penalty to resume in the United States.

[ExGeeEye]

GMTA.

[South40]

Leftards use the word “choice” because they lack the honesty to admit what it is, abortion.

[EQAndyBuzz]

They should serve as a last meal very bad BBQ.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Ramirez. The Night Stalker.

[Rusty0604]

I found this tidbit: “A former crack addict who was sentenced to death for the 1997 slaying of an elderly woman during a home robbery near Dallas. McCarthy, 51, is the former wife of New Black Panther Party founder Aaron Michaels, with whom she has a son.”

http://executionwatch.org/

[Marcella]

The execution will happen in Huntsville, about 20 miles north of me. I'll tell you about one time I was there on the day when one happened.

Where I was living then was about 20 miles east of there in a county that had one grocery store. I always went to Huntsville to go to the beauty shop and grocery shop. That day I went to the beauty shop, and after leaving there stopped at a Walgreens a short distance from there. There was a policeman standing at the entrance of Walgreens. That was strange, I thought.

The policeman asked me where I was going after Walgreens. Told him going to a grocery store a short distance from that Walgreens (but the grocery store was on the main street that went into downtown and then by the prison just a few blocks from the center of town), and that's where the execution would be.

He told me the New Black Panthers were in town due to a black being executed later that day and they were going into stores causing trouble. He said he was stationed at the Walgreens in case some came there. The entire center of town, around the square at the courthouse, was closed - all store owners had locked up and left and that included any bank in the whole town, not just around the courthouse.

He asked how I was leaving town. I said down the main street through town and going by the prison. He said to take another route, go around the town, then meet up with the road I needed to get home.

He said get in the grocery store and out as fast as you can and get out of town. I went to the grocery and there was a cop in front of that store. That cop said the store would close soon so get what I needed and leave. By that time, I was looking right and left for any sign of a Black Panther.

I got out of the store, watched all ways going to my Jag and locked my doors as soon as I was in the car. That black Jag was an eye catcher and I wanted out of that town fast.

I knew streets that would go around the town and bypass the prison and took those to get back to the road I needed.

The person now to be executed is a black person. I don't know if the Black Panther leader who lives in Houston will gather up his men, they will put on their black ski masks and be in Huntsville for the execution.

I do know when I was there, the Black Panthers shut down that town completely and no business was done from the afternoon until the next day. No one made any money that day.

There was discussion after the town was shut down, to move executions to another place that was not inside a town. I guess that never happened as it appears this one is still in the same place as I know others were after that day I was there.

[henkster]

There’s an old story prosecutors like to tell about jury selection on a death penalty case down in rural Texas. During jury selection, you can ask the jurors whether they have religious or moral philosophies that would prohibit them from ever voting for the death penalty. A prosecutor made that type of inquiry with an old cattle rancher, and the dialog went like this:

Prosecutor: “Sir, do you have any problems with imposing the death penalty on the defendant?”

Rancher: “Do they still execute people on Saturdays?”

Prosecutor: “Yes, I think so.”

Rancher: “Well, I’m free most Saturdays.”

Now, as a former prosecutor, that’s the kind of juror I wanted.

[Marcella]

See my description of an execution day in Huntsville, post 66.

[bgill]

They don’t get special meals anymore. It’s whatever is being served to all the inmates that day. Never understood why they should get anything special. It’s all a waste of good food and my tax dollars.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I lived in Houston for ten years and drove through Huntsville a few times, but never near the time of an execution.

The two big executions I remember while I was there were Gary Graham and Karla Faye Tucker.

Gary Graham was an animal. I'm sure he murdered a lot more people than he got credit for.

Karla Faye was a druggie who used a hatchet to kill her boyfriend and another woman in bed, if I remember correctly.

There was zero doubt about the guilt of either one.

Hasta la vista, @$$holes!

[Zhang Fei]

Given that 50,000 criminal homicides have occurred in that 30-year time span, it's indeed a grim milestone that TX is only executing perhaps 1% of the homicidal criminals in its midst, and yet has this undeserved image as a draconian avenger of its murdered civilians. Maybe the tag is meant to be ironic:

Texas Crime Rates 1960 - 2011

						Forcible		Aggravated		Larceny-	Vehicle
Year	Population	Index	Violent	Property	Murder	Rape	Robbery	assault	Burglary	Theft	Theft
1983	15,724,000	928,858	80,546	848,312	2,239	6,333	29,769	42,205	262,198	503,582	82,532
1984	15,989,000	964,128	80,737	883,391	2,093	7,343	28,540	42,761	266,074	529,518	87,799
1985	16,370,000	1,075,295	90,030	985,265	2,132	8,364	31,680	47,854	289,825	595,912	99,528
1986	16,682,000	1,235,822	109,925	1,125,897	2,258	8,607	40,021	59,039	341,747	665,029	119,121
1987	16,789,000	1,296,519	105,961	1,190,558	1,959	8,068	38,053	57,881	355,597	711,594	123,367
1988	16,780,000	1,345,369	109,499	1,235,870	2,022	8,119	39,301	60,057	361,972	739,642	134,256
1989	16,991,000	1,346,866	111,889	1,234,977	2,029	7,951	37,913	63,996	342,346	741,660	150,971
1990	16,986,510	1,329,494	129,343	1,200,151	2,389	8,750	44,297	73,907	314,512	731,224	154,415
1991	17,349,000	1,356,527	145,743	1,210,784	2,652	9,266	49,700	84,125	312,693	734,261	163,830
1992	17,656,000	1,246,148	142,369	1,103,779	2,239	9,437	44,588	86,105	268,928	689,780	145,071
1993	18,031,000	1,161,031	137,419	1,023,612	2,147	9,922	40,469	84,881	233,913	664,862	124,837
1994	18,378,000	1,079,225	129,838	949,387	2,022	9,102	37,643	81,071	214,687	623,947	110,753
1995	18,724,000	1,064,336	124,303	940,033	1,693	8,563	33,667	80,380	202,642	632,468	104,923
1996	19,128,000	1,092,002	123,270	968,732	1,477	8,376	32,804	80,613	204,390	659,414	104,928
1997	19,439,000	1,065,357	117,126	948,231	1,327	8,011	30,522	77,266	201,059	645,451	101,721
1998	19,760,000	1,010,062	111,566	898,496	1,346	7,913	28,677	73,630	194,883	606,967	96,646
1999	20,044,141	1,008,567	112,306	896,261	1,217	7,614	29,405	74,070	190,362	613,862	92,037
2000	20,851,820	1,033,311	113,653	919,658	1,238	7,856	30,257	74,302	188,975	637,522	93,161
2001	21,370,983	1,098,809	122,155	976,654	1,332	8,169	35,348	77,306	204,362	669,625	102,667
2002	21,736,925	1,130,292	126,018	1,004,274	1,302	8508	37,580	78,628	212,602	688,992	102,680
2003	22,103,374	1,138,981	122,246	1,016,735	1,422	8,025	37,017	75,782	219,877	698,644	98,644
2004	22,471,549	1,132,256	121,554	1,010,702	1,364	8,388	35,817	75,985	220,118	696,507	94,077
2005	22,928,508	1,111,384	121,091	990,293	1,407	8,511	35,790	75,383	219,828	677,042	93,423
2006	23,507,783	1,080,838	121,378	959,460	1,384	8,372	37,254	74,368	215,647	648,384	95,429
2007	23,904,380	1,107,196	122,054	985,142	1,420	8,439	38,769	73,426	228,313	662,930	93,899
2008	24,304,290	1,093,506	123,586	969,920	1,370	8,055	37,739	76,422	230,054	654,482	85,384
2009	24,782,302	1,116,766	121,684	995,082	1,330	8,311	38,022	74,021	240,058	678,455	76,569
2010	25,253,466	1,064,477	113,231	951,246	1,249	7,622	32,843	71,517	228,597	654,626	68,023
2011	25,674,681	996,372	104,873	891,499	1,126	7,439	28,395	67,913	215,223	612,938	63,338

[bgill]

It should be larger but Texas went wimpy in the 70s and did away with the death penalty so many got out because they’d served enough time to do a life sentence. We learned our lesson when they went out and killed more innocents.

[Vigilanteman]

I loved that clip so much I made it into the opening sound clip on a CD called "Hymns for Hangings." I'll send you one free if you FreepMail me with a good address.

Anybody else can get one for $5, all profits to be donated to FreeRepublic (about $2 after custom manufacturing, printing and mailing costs).

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The biggest problem to timely execution of vicious murderers is mostly at the federal level, with squeamish federal judges who are opposed to any death penalty creating endless excuses to prevent states from carrying out sentences in an expeditious manner.

The way around this is from a Republican senate and house judiciary committees, streamlining the system to overcome such efforts. Formerly, Orrin Hatch was the sticking point, as he accepted whatever status quo was created by the courts. However, the new chairman would likely be Chuck Grassley, who may push to streamline executions.

The “pendulum” has swung very far in the direction of not executing the condemned, on average taking 15-20 years to carry out such sentences, but if streamlined could reduce the conviction to execution period to about 5 years.

[South40]

Ahh...thanks. No I haven’t read any books about him. But I lived in Orange County, CA at the time he was on his killing spree. My former gf knew 2 of his victims; her elderly parents played Pinochle with them. It was an interesting time. I would leave for work before dawn and it was very noticeable that everyone was burning their outdoor lights all night long. Gun and ammunition sales soared, as did sales of large dogs. Even my gf, who lived with her sister, asked/demanded that I stay at her house every night until Ramirez was caught. As I said, it was an interesting time and it was very unfortunate that he escaped his sentence of the death penalty.

[The Great RJ]

Gosnell in his Philly abortion mill probably killed hundreds of babies and none of them had a jury trial and years of appeals let alone were convicted of any crime. The anti-death penalty folks seem to forget that each and everyone of these 500 were convicted of a capital crime in a jury trial and had years of government funded appeals to establish that their trial was flawed or that they were innocent of committing the crime.

[South40]

Exactly.

[thackney]

Texas went wimpy in the 70s and did away with the death penalty

You mean when the Supreme Court decision, Furman v. Georgia 1972, overturned all death penalty sentences nationwide.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Well, I’ll try to do the story justice. He gets off a bus from Arizona, at a bus station right next to the police station. Steps into a 7-Eleven, dazed from the bus ride, the morning sun, and a cocaine binge. So, he goes in to get candy bars for energy, he is standing at the counter and the clerk is looking at him funny. So finally, he looks around and sees the newsstand, and his picture is plastered all over the front page of every daily, right down the line. That woke his ass up, he ran like hell and was captured within 20 minutes. I would have loved to have seen the look on his face when he saw all those face shots of him plastered everywhere...

[M Kehoe]

Grim? This should be celebrated.

Only took two post, excellent.

5.56mm