tagged w/ Cameron Todd Willingham
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Death penalty. Capitol punishment. Execution. To kill or not to kill?
Let’s face it the system is terrible flawed and doesn’t work.
The media stinks and convicts people publicly, all the time.
Wrongful execution is when an innocent person is put to death. And it happens one too many times. Yet, we fail to learn by our past mistakes.Death penalty. Capitol punishment. Execution. To kill or not to kill?
Let’s... more
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Unless Virginia Governor Tim Kaine steps in, the state will execute John Allen Muhammad the "Beltway sniper" tonight at 9pm. Yesterday the Supreme Court declined to hear Muhammad's appeal (clipped by LadybugLady). UPDATE: Gov. Kaine has denied Muhammad's clemency appeal.
Muhammad, along with his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, was responsible for a 2002 killing spree in the DC area that left 10 people dead. The shootings targeted everyday people in everyday locations like gas stations. They were all the more frightening because they were unpredictable and without motive. It had just been a year since the September 11th attacks and for the period while the shootings were taking place, it was a a new wave of terror for Washington-area residents.
Muhammad has maintained his innocence. His accomplice, Malvo, is serving life in prison without parole. (Ironically, a case that the Supreme Court did hear yesterday was on whether life without parole was cruel and unusual punishment for teenagers.)
We've been looking at the death penalty a lot in the last few weeks, mostly because of the case of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas - where the state may have executed an innocent man. With a case like that, opposition to the death penalty seems practical: let's prevent mistakes from occurring. The Muhammad case is a bit different. It falls along the line of retribution - why Obama says he's supports the death penalty, despite doubts about its efficacy: "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage."
What do you think? Is the community justified in this instance? In any instance?
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- Al Qaeda has a magazine!Unless Virginia Governor Tim Kaine steps in, the state will execute John Allen... more
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After a failed execution attempt in September, Ohio is reconsidering its execution procedures. While the state figures things out, its governor Ted Strickland, has issued reprieves for inmates facing impending executions.
The inmate in the failed September attempt, Romell Broom, was convicted in the abduction, rape and murder of a 14 year old girl, though he maintains his innocence. A court has blocked any further attempts to execute him until further notice. His experience is described in the Guardian:
Three guards stood around him as two nurses tried to insert needles into his arms. "The female nurse tried three separate times to access veins in the middle of my left arm. The male nurse tried three separate times to access veins ... in the middle of my right arm," Broom said in the affidavit. The nurses worked for 30 minutes without success and then took a break. "After the break, the female nurse tried twice to access veins in my left arm. She must have hit a muscle because the pain made me scream out loud," Broom said. "The first time the male nurse successfully accessed a vein in my right arm. He attempted to insert the IV, but he lost it and blood started to run down my arm."
Eventually the female nurse decided she could not go on and walked out of the room. A second break was called.
When the attempt to execute him resumed Broom said he was in such pain: "I tried to assist them by helping to tie my own arm." The male nurse massaged Broom's left arm and laid hot towels across it in an attempt to make a vein stand out, but it proved futile and a third break was called.
"At that point I became very upset. I began to cry because I was in pain and my arms were swelling," said Broom. "I requested that they stop the process and I requested to speak with my attorney."
But the attempt to kill him did not stop. A third nurse entered the room and hunted for a vein in Broom's right ankle. The needle hit the bone and he screamed.
After two hours the prison director, Terry Collins, contacted Strickland who called off the execution.
Death penalty opponents are hopeful that Ohio's reconsideration of their execution procedures may turn into a reconsideration of whether or not to execute at all.
What do you think? Does the Broom case make a good point against the death penalty, or is this just an aberration? Leave your opinion on Current News.
The Death Penalty on Current News
- Is Texas' Governor trying to cover up a wrongful execution?- Current News Blog
- Did Texas execute an innocent man? - The New Yorker article "Trial by Fire" on the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham
- Death Penalty - A Current.com group to keep you updated on this controversial issueAfter a failed execution attempt in September, Ohio is reconsidering its execution... more
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Unless Virginia Governor Tim Kaine steps in, the state will execute John Allen Muhammad the "Beltway sniper" tonight at 9pm. Yesterday the Supreme Court declined to hear Muhammad's appeal (clipped by LadybugLady).
Muhammad, along with his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, was responsible for a 2002 killing spree in the DC area that left 10 people dead. The shootings targeted everyday people in everyday locations like gas stations. They were all the more frightening because they were unpredictable and without motive. It had just been a year since the September 11th attacks and for the period while the shootings were taking place, it was a a new wave of terror for Washington-area residents.
Muhammad has maintained his innocence. His accomplice, Malvo, is serving life in prison without parole. (Ironically, a case that the Supreme Court did hear yesterday was on whether life without parole was cruel and unusual punishment for teenagers.)
We've been looking at the death penalty a lot in the last few weeks, mostly because of the case of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas - where the state may have executed an innocent man. With a case like that, opposition to the death penalty seems practical: let's prevent mistakes from occurring. The Muhammad case is a bit different. It falls along the line of retribution - why Obama says he's supports the death penalty, despite doubts about its efficacy: "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage."
What do you think? Is the community justified in this instance? In any instance?
From the News Blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/10/dc-sniper-john-allen-muhammad-to-be-executed-tonight/
LadybugLady's post: http://current.com/items/91414934_us-sniper-execution-appeal-denied.htmUnless Virginia Governor Tim Kaine steps in, the state will execute John Allen... more
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An amazing piece of long form journalism from the New Yorker - the case of Cameron Tood Willingham - a death row prisoner who was executed in Texas despite maintaining his innocence. Now, after his death, new evidence strongly suggests that he may have been innocent after all.An amazing piece of long form journalism from the New Yorker - the case of Cameron... more
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