No death penalty for child rape

By a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court just struck down a Louisiana law that allowed for the death penalty in the case of child rape. Arguing against the Louisiana law, Justice Kennedy wrote, "The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child" (New York Times).

I agree. The death penalty is much too merciful for someone who has forcibly raped a child; but the Constitution doesn't allow for stoning.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin provides a detailed description of what happened to the little girl who was raped in this case (warning: it is graphic and sickening. It is hard to read without crying). It is almost beyond understanding (disgusting, actually) how justice Kennedy could hear what happened to this little girl, and then write about "Evolving standards of decency" and "respect for the dignity of the person" in reference to his defense of the one who committed this atrocity!

A train in Spain

Back in 2004 terrorists bombed a train in Spain killing 191 people. Spain does not believe in the death penalty--not even if you kill 191 people--but they have other ways of getting "justice." The terrorists were recently given a sentence of 38,000 years in prison! Aren't you glad they weren't just given life in prison? A life sentence might have been less than 50 years.

I don't think it is "just" for mass murderers to get to lay around and watch TV for the rest of their lives at taxpayer expense.

U.S. soldier gets 100 years

Breaking News: CBS news just reported that "A U.S. soldier was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the gang rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family last year."

It can cost up to $35,000 per year to incarcerate a prisoner--though that can go as high as $70,000 for elderly prisoners (RecordNet). If this soldier lives for another 40 years, that comes to a least 1.4 million dollars to feed, cloth, house and provide medical attention to this one rapist/murderer all because we refuse to follow biblical principles and execute murderers.

You'd think our society would be able to find something better to do with 1.4 million dollars wouldn't you--like, say, helping homeless people who want help, or providing medical or mental health care for those who fall through the cracks?

In spite of what some in Washington (both Republicans and Democrats) seem to think, our money supply is not unlimited. When we choose to support murderers we are also choosing to deny that money to people who need help.

Soldiers on trial

Reuters reports that "A U.S. soldier under court-martial at a Kentucky military base broke down in tears on Wednesday as he described how he and others planned the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, murdered along with her family."

These soldiers should get the death penalty for their terrible crimes (or maybe we should just turn them over to the Iraqis). Whether at Abu Ghraib or elsewhere, when American soldiers are caught committing crimes, they stand trial and face the consequences. Funny, I don't recall hearing about our enemies putting anyone on trial for the atrocites they commit.

Court-martial for U.S. soldiers

I just received this breaking news from CBS News e-mail alerts:

"The U.S. military has ordered eight soldiers from the 101st Airborne
Division to face court-martial on murder charges stemming from their service
in Iraq, including two who face a death sentence for allegedly raping a
14-year-old girl and killing her and her family."

I don't know the facts of this case but my guess is that their lawyers will try to demonstrate how hard it is to tell the good guys from the bad guys in war. Even if these soldiers genuinely thought they were dealing with "the bad guys," however, there is absolutely no excuse for raping someone--not even if she is the enemy and especially not if she is only a 14 year old girl! If the soldiers really did this, they should get the death penalty.

The would-be cannibal

The more I read news reports like this, the more I think we should repeal the "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibition in the Constitution and allow for execution by stoning.

U.S. Soldiers, rape and murder

On “The Big Story” with John Gibson, Judge Andrew Napolitano just discussed the U.S. soldiers who are facing charges for killing an Iraqi family. Judge Napolitano said that the soldiers—in a crime that was pre-planned—allegedly took turns raping a 14 year old Iraqi girl in front of her family before killing the entire family. The judge says the evidence against the soldiers (which includes confessions to other soldiers) is overwhelming.

Of course these soldiers have the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law, but hypothetically speaking, if they really did these unspeakably horrible things, and if they really planned this atrocity ahead of time, how could anyone exclude the death penalty from consideration?

If I had my way, they would be stripped of their U.S. citizenship and turned over to local Iraqis for whatever punishment they might want to dish out (if we actually did that, I’m sure these soldiers would come to think of the death penalty as very humane).

A new civil right… pedophilia

An Ohio man is charged with “74 counts of rape, drugs and pandering obscenity to minors.” Far from denying the charges, the man admits that he has been a pedophile for 20 years and claims that his home “was a religious sanctuary where smoking marijuana and having sex with children are sacred rituals protected by civil rights laws.” He is charged with molesting and raping young disabled boys, some "so helpless they could never tell anyone what happened." He actually video taped some of his crimes. If convicted he faces mandatory life in prison (NBC10.Com).

Why should society have to pay to feed, cloth, house and provide medical care for the rest of this evil pervert's life (which could be a long time since he's only 34)? Wouldn’t it be more “just” to execute him and use the money that would have been spent on his imprisonment to provide psychological care for his victims and their families?

There are some rare cases in which I question the constitutional guarantee against “cruel and unusual punishment.” This is one of those cases.

Sexual abuse of children

According to Meg Kinnard of the Associated Press, there is a bill making its way through the South Carolina legislature which would make capital punishment an option for those convicted a second time for sexually assaulting children under the age of 11. In 1995 Louisiana approved a bill allowing prosecutors to seek the death for those who rape children under 12 years old. Oklahoma is considering similar legislation. A House Subcommittee in Tennessee has also voted to make the rape of a child a potential capital offense.

We can only hope this is the beginning of a nationwide trend.

America, you lost!

Right after being sentenced to life in prison yesterday, Zacharias Moussaoui shouted “America, you lost, I won!” While many of us think he should have received the death penalty, let's see if he still thinks he won after 30 or 40 years in solitary confinement in a tiny prison cell. For some of us, that would be a cruel and unusual punishment far worse than death.

Michael Astorga

Michael Astorga has been committing violent crimes since he was a teenager. He was arrested in 1994 for battery. In 1996 he and his brother were charged with first degree murder—his brother was convicted but Michael walked. He has a long list of other crimes including another battery charge, property crimes, and a long list of drug crimes including trafficking—usually while carrying a deadly weapon. In fact, in 1998 he was sentenced to prison for eight different felonies—but we released on good behavior only six years later. Not long after this release, in March 2005, he was arrested for violating parole—but was released again in June 2005. Then, in November 2005 a warrant was issued for Astorga’s arrest for shooting Candida Martinez in the head. She died a few hours later and Astorga walked out of a meeting with his parole officer just a few hours after the warrant had been sworn out for his arrest. Now, just a few days ago, after being pulled over for a routine traffic stop, Michael Astorga shot and killed Deputy Sheriff James McGrane, leaving McGrane’s wife a widow and his children fatherless. (KRQE News, KOAT News, America’s Most Wanted, Albuquerque Tribune, March 28, 2006).

How many innocent people have to be assaulted, robbed, raped, or murdered before this society decides to get serious with repeat, violent criminals?

Child Porn

In the news this morning: Up to forty people have been arrested in a worldwide child porn ring that showed children being molested live over the internet. The youngest victim was less than 18 months old.

I wonder if its time for a Constitutional amendment modifying the “no cruel and unusual punishment” restriction to allow for public stoning or burning at the stake for cases like this.

Cruel and unusual punishment

About twenty-five years ago a gay man named Ricky Ortega became jealous of a relationship his male lover was having with a seventeen year old girl named Terri Winchell. Ortega decided to do something about it so he enlisted the help of his cousin, Michael Morales. Morales raped, stabbed, and beat the poor girl with a hammer and left her half-naked to die. Your tax dollars have been feeding, clothing, housing and providing medical care for these animals for the last twenty-five years. Just when it looked like the appeals for Morales were running out, concerns are now being raised over whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. An attorney for Morales said, “…the state doesn't have its ducks in a row for humanely killing a human being. They haven't figured out how to do it.”

I have a suggestion. When I was in the Air Force I once had to go through flight training which included time in an “altitude chamber.” The altitude chamber is a little air-tight room in which a flight crew sits while the oxygen is removed from the air. This probably sounds like a torture chamber in which people are desperately gasping for air but it’s actually not like that at all. Everyone continues to breath normally—and that's the problem. If you are flying at thirty or forty thousand feet and the plane depressurizes, you have no oxygen—but plenty of air. You breath just fine and, unless you are properly trained to recognize the symptoms (chilled fingers, fuzzy thinking, sleepiness, etc.) you may just die without ever realizing that anything is wrong.

My suggestion is to use a modified version of the altitude chamber for executions. We could even add a nice overstuffed recliner, a comfortable bed, a nice high definition TV with surround sound, and a delicious last meal (sleeping pill optional). We wouldn’t have to wait until the murderer goes to sleep since oxygen deprivation causes sleepiness anyway, but just so the poor guy doesn’t have to experience chilly fingers—we don’t want any cruel and unusual punishment—we could wait until he falls asleep before we remove the oxygen. In either case, he'll never wake up again but he'll feel absolutely no pain or discomfort. Just because Morales raped and beat an innocent girl with a hammer, we wouldn’t want him to be uncomfortable, would we?

Personally, I think stoning would be a more fitting punishment but since I don't believe in re-interpreting the Constitution to fit my preferences, I think a modified altitude chamber should help rip the mask off all these challenges to the death penalty--which are really just smoke screens. Death penalty opponents know they can't win by arguing that the death penalty itself is cruel and unusual, so they come up with smoke screen arguments to protect murderers like Morales.

Steve Groene and Level 3 Sex Offenders

Last night on CNN, I watched an emotional plea from Steve Groene, the father of the children who where kidnapped and molested by Joseph Duncan. Duncan had a long history of violence and child rape, and was classified as a level 3 sex offender (the most violent kind). He was actually out on parole when he kidnapped Shasta and Dylan Groene and killed their mom! Mr. Groene appealed to the audience to ask their congressional representatives to ensure that people like Duncan are never released into the public again. I agree. Shasta and Dylan didn’t get a second chance. Why should people like Duncan have a second chance?

To contact your representatives click on: http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.html or see the “Thomas” link in the left column of this blog. (Hint: when writing to your representatives, 1) always be respectful. 2) be concise and get to the point. I doubt that long, preachy messages get read even by congressional aids). For example, I sent the following e-mail to my congressman:

“Last night on CNN Shasta Groene's father made an emotional plea for congress to put a stop to the release of level 3 sex offenders into society. I agree. Please consider proposing legislating that would make the kidnapping and molesting of children a federal offense punishable by death or at least by life in prison without possibility of parole. Thanks for your good work!”

BTK and the death penalty

Last night ABC news played sound-bites of the confession of the BTK killer (Bind, torture, kill). He calmly explained how (to satisfy his sexual fantasies) he selected his victims, gained access to their homes, and killed them. The people of the state of Kansas will now get to spend tens-of-thousands of dollars to pay for this monster’s food, shelter, clothing, and medical expenses for the rest of his natural life. When the Kansas legislature voted against a death penalty many years ago, did they think it was a better use of tax-payers’ money to support monsters like this rather than to feed poor people, help struggling farmers, or to provide college scholarships for their kids? Someone responding to one of my earlier posts pointed out that the appeals process actually makes a death penalty more expensive than life sentences--but surly a more efficient appeals process for cases like this is possible, isn’t it? The State of Kansas has since re-established the death penalty--but not soon enough to apply to BTK.

Jerry Hobbs and the death penalty

In the news last night was the story of two little girls who were beaten and stabbed (one, over 20 times) in the neck, abdomen and eyes! Jerry Hobbs, the confessed killer, is a man with a long criminal record who had once chased neighbors with a chain saw! Authorities think the death penalty may apply (y’ think?). Even in this horrific case, however, there will undoubtedly be those who oppose the death penalty as being too cruel.

The movie, John Q, staring Denzel Washington, was the story of an uninsured laborer whose little boy would die without a heart transplant. Hypothetically, given the choice between paying for a heart transplant, or supporting a convicted murderer for this rest of his life, virtually no one would support the murderer, yet we make similar choices all the time by rejecting the death penalty.

There is only so much money to go around and yet, by rejecting the death penalty, we spend millions of dollars each year to provide lifelong food, clothing, housing, and medical care for convicted murderers, when that money could be spent on education, the homeless, the mentally ill, drug rehabilitation, cancer or AIDS research, etc. Personally, I think it’s cruel to rob the innocent in order to support murderers.

Right Wing Extremists

For over 200 years of American history, most Americans have been opposed to abortion- on-demand and to homosexuality, but have not been opposed to prayer in public schools, plaques of the Ten Commandments in courthouses, or nativity scenes on public property. For over 200 years most Americans have supported the death penalty and a citizen’s right to own guns for hunting and protection. Regardless of where you stand on these issues, it should be carefully noted that recently the phrase “right wing extremist” has been regularly applied to people who still believe things that most Americans had historically believed. Whether most Americans were right or wrong on these issues is beside the point. The point is that when you hear the phrase “right wing extremists” you are on the receiving end of a political propaganda ploy designed to vilify and demonize people who hold opinions that the majority of Americans had believed for over 200 years!