"To help reach pro-death-penalty Republican voters, anti-death-penalty conservatives are turning to people who can speak in ways conservatives might identify with, even if these advocates aren’t, themselves, conservative — such as Christy Sheppard, a counselor from Ada, Okla., whose cousin, Debra Carter, was murdered in 1982. A few months ago, Sheppard traveled to Nebraska to tell the story of what happened after her cousin’s death. Five years after the slaying, police arrested two men, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, and charged them with murder. Fritz received life in prison; Williamson was sentenced to death. For years the family was satisfied, even happy with the outcome — until DNA testing 11 years later proved that both men were innocent. The man eventually found guilty in Carter’s death, Glen Gore, was already in prison on other charges by the time a DNA test identified him. He walked away from a work crew after learning that he was a suspect in the 1982 murder but turned himself in a week later. He was convicted in 2006."
Would rather a thousand people convicted of murder languish in prison than to put to death one innocent person.
Justice is not a penalty and best administered by the intended victim at the time of attack whenever possible.
Ted Bundy will never harm another female. Guaranteed.
How many articles have been run about liberal, former Death Penalty opponents, now FAVORING THE DEATH PENALTY.
I’m sure there are many of them, for many reasons, but this give people a taste of the media bias - they will only report conversions to Death Penalty opponents.
Real conservatives do not oppose the death penalty. They know many crimes are so horrible that death of the perp is deserved. In addition, the death penalty reduces the number of serious criminals who commit terrible crimes against others and against society. We are better as a society without them.
Those who make the argument "Would rather a thousand people convicted of murder languish in prison than to put to death one innocent person" ignore the reality that hundreds or even thousands more of innocents die when evil murderers are secure in the knowledge that they will never pay the ultimate price for their foul deed.
It is not logical to address the very rare (and, with the discovery of DNA, even rarer) injustice of one not guilty person paying the ultimate price by sanctioning the creation of hundreds or even thousands of new victims.
And allow me to preempt what I hear constantly from fellow Catholics (not usually on this site), "If you're against abortion, it's cognitive dissonance to support the use of the death penalty..." No. The unborn are guilty of no personal crime, whereas the people I support being strapped into old sparky have all committed brutal crimes.
The “state” authorities are ordained by the Lord to punish
(even by executing) the evildoers in a society. In this
way, the earth is cleansed of those canker sores.
Yes. I agree with the Lord & also with St. Paul on this
matter. That’s why the lawyers don’t likely want me on
the jury in their murder trials.
In 1978, Mr. Otey was convicted of the murder of a 26-year-old Nebraska woman, largely on the basis of his graphic description of how he had stabbed and smothered her and then hit her a few times with a hammer just to be sure she was dead. Later he said the confession had been coerced, but his volunteer lawyer, who is at the center of tonight's account, does not take that tack. Granting that his client might have done the deed, Victor Covalt argues that Mr. Otey should live because in his years on death row he studied philosophy and wrote poetry and was now a different man from the one who murdered Jane McManus.
So there are a few "real conservatives" who have a problem with it.
With no death penalty you declare open season on the guards inside. There are no consequences for a lifer deciding to off a guard
With the knowledge of DNA and the strict rules of evidence today, this is history...
If convicted of first degree murder, then the death penalty is acceptable...
Pro criminal republicans are traitors.
So essentially, his opposition to the death penalty is based on a childish emotional response.
Read the whole story of "Walkin' Willie" Otey and Jane McManus.
Hang the bastard, hang him high.
Hoist his body to the sky.
It’s as nice as a day can be.
Won’t you come to the hanging with me?
Hang the bastard, hang him high.
Hoist his body to the sky.
It’s as nice as a day can be.
Won’t you come to the hanging with me?
Hang the bastard, hang him well.
Send his sorry soul to hell.
When his neckbone snaps we’ll know.
When the cannibal won’t be killing anymore.
His face will turn red,
Then purple, then blue.
We’ll watch from up here
To get a good view.
And when his eyes bug out we’ll know,
It’s the end of him
And the end of the show!
So hang the bastard, hang him with cheer.
We’ll make some hot dogs
And drink a few beers.
And when his tongue rolls out we’ll know,
It’s the end of the show
And we all can go home!
But not till we hang the bastard, hang him here.
The most exciting thing this town has seen in years.
When his body stops jerking we’ll know,
It’s the end of him, it’s the end of him,
It’s the end of him,
And the end of the show.
[Cowbell solo]
So hang the bastard, hang him high.
Kiss his guilty butt goodbye.
It’s as nice as a day can be.
Won’t you come to the hanging with me?
His veins will pop out all over his head.
We’ll tickle his armpits to make sure he’s dead.
And when his tongue rolls out we’ll know,
It’s the end of him and we all can go home!
But not till we
Hang the bastard, hang him high.
Hoist his body to the sky.
When his body stops jerking we’ll know,
It’s the end of him, it’s the end of him,
It’s the end of him!
Let’s get on with the show!
Hooray!
1. Identify five innocent persons put to death recently and we can talk. Or even one, if you can.
2. These people who sit in prison convicted of crimes are almost always “known scumbags” with a a long criminal history. It is extremely rare to see someone with no criminal history at all convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.
That is not the set of alternatives we face. We have a choice between:
- executing the worst of the worst, and occasionally, perhaps, getting one wrong, or
- life without parole for the worst of the worst, and occasionally having them kill a fellow prisoner, arrange the killing of someone outside, released in error, released intentionally for political pandering, or escape.
The innocent are at risk both ways. Having been a juror, and having been targeted by violent criminals, I know which risk I will choose. I would rather take the risk of a juror who knows how serious it is getting it wrong, rather than the much greater risk of a criminal beyond redemption hurting an innocent person because the judicial system refused to do the right thing.
Not only do I support the death penalty, I think it should be vastly expanded. Rape a child? Death. Kidnapping and rape? Death. Forcible rape using a weapon against a stranger? Death. Attempted murder, when a success would have earned the death penalty? Death. Terrorism? Death.
Gettin' goosebumps here! Was anyone playing More Than A Feeling on their car stereo?
In Illinois in 2 adjacent counties County States Attorneys, establishment figures of opposite political parties, knowingly prosecuted, framed and convicted young men of crimes to which the prosecutors knew they were innocent.
Those States Attorneys did it to appear to be tough on crime and to advance to higher office. The voters backed them and they did rise to higher office. Cheating benefitted them.
The problem is us voters. As long as we back our establishment candidate in a form of identity politics where being of the right political party automatically gets our support, then we get the government we deserve.
As long as we who do not automatically support our identified party a allow ourselves to be pandered to by obvious pandering and twisting of the truth by the politicians we get what we deserve.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!