Wow ! Bullseye post there, FRiend ! 
Posted on 08/10/2002 4:30:06 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Well, of course. And how about frilly curtains on the windows?
In case you have forgotten, the primary purpose of prison is to punish. What's more, the people in question are on death row, where the only way they are leaving is feet first. And the only reason they are there is because they murdered someone.
Now, are you really suggesting we feel compassion for a murderer?
That would be Room temperature.
Er...yes. That's exactly what I'm suggesting. The Bible commands it. One of the measures Jesus said he'd apply to his followers was whether they visited those in prison. I admit I haven't done so in awhile, but this has got me thinking I ought to do so. They're people just like us. And Jesus said nothing about only caring about those who might not really be guilty. Even the ones who really did it deserve our compassion.
Exactly.
Wow ! Bullseye post there, FRiend !
Oh. I see.
Maybe we should start with Alejandro Avila. And Johnny Penry.
You have heard about Johnny, haven't you? He was the guy who forced his way into the home of Pamela Carpenter and beat, raped and stabbed her to death. He has continuously popped up in the news because of allegations he is "mentally retarded."
It seems to me the only people who are clearly mentally retarded are those who suggest compassion for murderers.
Why not both? I do not care.
You know, it's not unheard of for people on death row to be innocent.
And? What's your point?
You have heard about Johnny, haven't you? He was the guy who forced his way into the home of Pamela Carpenter and beat, raped and stabbed her to death. He has continuously popped up in the news because of allegations he is "mentally retarded."
It seems to me the only people who are clearly mentally retarded are those who suggest compassion for murderers.
Here is a little ditty on sweet little Johnny boy...... 
Knowing Right from Wrong
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2001-03-08/feature.html/1/index.html
Excerpt from this John Paul Penry article:
While Penry made sure no one was coming, Carpenter grabbed the pair of orange-handled scissors she had been using to make Halloween decorations and stabbed them into Penry's back. Penry then knocked the scissors out of her hand and pushed her to the floor. While she was on her way down, Penry whacked Carpenter's head on the stove. As she lay on the kitchen floor, Penry then stomped her with his work boots.
"We verified that later, because she had a perfect heel print on her side where he'd stomped her while she was on her stomach. It ruptured her kidney, and that's what actually killed her."
But Carpenter wasn't dead yet, nor was Penry through. After stomping her, he got down on the floor and raped her.
"Then he got up and went across the room and picked up those damn scissors," says Price. "Came back, sat down on her stomach and said, 'I'm sorry, but I've got to do this.' Said something about he couldn't have her squealing on him. And then he buried the scissors in her chest." That act, says Price, was a clear indication that Penry knew he had done something wrong and that he was in big trouble.
Even then, the notoriously strong-willed Carpenter refused to die.
"He thought that would kill her instantly," says Price, "but she reached up and pulled the goddamn scissors out. When she did that, it scared him and he jumped up and ran out of the house."
Carpenter managed to pull herself across the room to the telephone. First she called a friend, and then an ambulance. At the hospital, emergency room doctors were aware of only the stab wound. They mended the hole in Carpenter's chest and thought they had her stabilized. But when a catheter was inserted, her damaged kidney began hemorrhaging. Pam Carpenter immediately went into shock and died.
LOL !
Prisoner Voting
| Pennsylvania has a Constitution. Under that Constitution, everyone is entitled to vote. The Constitution doesn't disenfranchise prisoners! Of course the conservative politicians are scared to death of allowing prisoners to cast a ballot. They've gotten around the Constitution by not allowing prisoners to register to vote and by not providing them ballots. As a result, for hundreds of years, prisoners have been a political underclass. They pay taxes and are obviously subject to the laws and elected officials, but they have no representation. Their vote is given to the rural white conservatives who have long oppressed and exploited the poor and the minorities. If anyone should have the right to vote (indeed, be encouraged to vote), its prisoners. More than most other groups, they are the victims of extreme and unfair laws and officials. More than anyone else, they know what the laws and politicians actually do. If prisoners were allowed to vote, they would stop being the whipping-boys for every petty politician looking to buy a few votes. The whole political landscape and the political agenda would change. In many voting districts the Republican exploiters would be tossed out on their ears. For long enough they've been living at the expense of the poor and the downtrodden. |
What's the definition of a frivolous appeal? An appeal made by someone else. The whole purpose of the appeals process is to make damned sure we're not sending an innocent man to his death. If that means waiting a few extra years, or installing a proper ventilation system in a prison, I'm all for that. And, were you wrongfully convicted of a capital offense, you'd be for it as well.
Those who bother to actually read this will understand why Penry has been re-sentenced to death. For someone who is supposed to be mentally retarded, his behavior shows deliberate intent. Which is really the only thing that matters.
Actually, no. Intent - otherwise stated as the ability to tell right from wrong - is only one component of the issue at hand. Far more important is determining whether the accused is capable of assisting in his own defense. If you lack the ability to participate in your own defense, by definition you cannot receive a fair trial, and that's why the SCOTUS rejected the execution of mentally retarded individuals, even if the scheme by which they did so was completely crazy.
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