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Topic: Blind, almost-deaf, wheelchair-using 76-year-old executed in US
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Mr. Magoo
guilty-pleasure
Babbler # 3469
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posted 17 January 2006 12:19 PM
Is the concern for his age or physical infirmity? You may not care for capital punishment as justice, but taking it as justice for the sake of argument, what does it matter how old he is?I've read at least a few people hoping that Ariel Sharon can pull through his recent massive stroke, solely so that he can face justice at the age of 76.
From: ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø, | Registered: Dec 2002
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Crippled_Newsie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7024
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posted 17 January 2006 12:29 PM
Is the impulse somewhat akin to the notion I've seen here and elsewhere that somehow bad people 'escape punishment' by cleverly dying before facing judgement in court? I think it must be. I mean, dead is dead is dead, isn't it? I heartily disagree with capital punishment, but do so out of the knowledge that every judicial system everywhere is necessarily 'less than perfect,' not from moral objection to the idea itself. Edited because 'neartily' is not a word. [ 17 January 2006: Message edited by: Tape_342 ]
From: It's all about the thumpa thumpa. | Registered: Oct 2004
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Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308
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posted 18 January 2006 03:19 AM
I'm with Magoo here (if I understand his position, anyway)--
I don't understand what the fuss is about. I mean, I'm against capital punishment period, but it's not news that the Americans have it. If they're going to capitally punish people, well, at least nobody's suggested this old bastard didn't commit the crimes he's being killed for, and if the government is going to kill people, this calculating, vicious hirer of murders is the sort of person that it's least bad for them to be killing. So he's old; big deal. So his senses aren't too great--I've seen no suggestion his cold-blooded little mind isn't still firmly in place. There's nothing about being old or infirm or handicapped that mitigates responsibility.I'm sure there are lots of other people waiting to be killed by the US government that are way more deserving of our sympathy--kids, mentally ill people, retarded people, quite a lot of people pretty clearly not guilty but hey, it's the person they had their hands on and they were too poor to pay for a decent lawyer. People being killed because they were black in the wrong place at the wrong time and the cops needed someone. This guy? Too bad the government is debasing itself and crafting a violent, revenge-oriented society by killing people, but I can't muster a lot of sympathy for the actual guy they're doing it to.
From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002
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voice of the damned
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6943
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posted 18 January 2006 08:45 AM
quote:
I don't think elderly or frail people should be allowed to walk due to their age or physical condition, but those factors should be considered in terms of sentencing.
This guy was on death row for 23 years, since 1982. So at the time of his sentencing, he was likely a considerably-less-frail gangster, who had ordered a hitman to murder a teenager girl whose only sin was co-operating with the police in an investigation. If Dr Mengele had been arrested and shipped off to Israel, would anyone be objecting to his execution because "he's a poor old diabetic man with bad knees"? I doubt it. The most we'd be hearing is abstract, depersonalized arguments about why the death penalty is wrong, which is all that's really warranted in this guy's case.
From: Asia | Registered: Sep 2004
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Reality. Bites.
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6718
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posted 18 January 2006 11:13 AM
Harper is committed to no referendum on marriage. There isn't a movement in the Conservative party, even among the ultra-right, to restore capital punishment.Needless to say, any such move would have to make it past the Senate (which is likely 90% against capital punishment) and the Supreme Court, which in its ruling on extradition for people facing the death penalty, made it pretty clear that no death penalty law could stand up to constitutional scrutiny. Harper is going to do enough harm to Canada without worrying about the things he has no intention of doing.
From: Gone for good | Registered: Aug 2004
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 02 June 2006 04:27 AM
Wow. Such a backwards country - still debating whether it's okay for the state to murder mentally ill people, much less whether it's okay for them to murder people at all. quote:
The three-judge panel in Mr. Panetti's case acknowledged that he was mentally ill with what has been diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder and that he thus might lack a rational understanding of his fate. But the panel nonetheless ruled that he was competent to be executed because he was able to understand the stated basis for his execution. His new lawyers dispute that. "He completely scoffs at the notion that it's the State of Texas trying to execute him," said Keith Hampton, a lawyer from Austin who filed the latest appeal with a co-counsel, Michael C. Gross of San Antonio. "He thinks it's the demons and evil ones." Legal and medical experts estimate that hundreds of people with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses are on death rows around the nation.
Judging whether a killer is sane enough to die [ 02 June 2006: Message edited by: Michelle ]
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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