Help stop the execution of a severely brain damaged man

[Ian Beardsley]

The ACLU asks you to write governor Schwarznegger of California to help stop the execution of a severely braindamaged man. It was the great philosopher/mathematician Jacob Bronowski who said something to the effect that because we are afraid of the murderer in ourelves, we end up commiting murder. I will get the ACLU link to send a letter.
--Ian

[Ian Beardsley]

Here is the link:
http://ga1.org/campaign/clemency?rk=K1LuizK1XqNNW
The guy almost carries the same last name as me, but that is not why I write about it. Perhaps many of you already got wind of this, but I thought I would post it anyway, because I think it is awful, executing a brain damaged man who if they were a loud to bring that up in the trial, would have never been up for execution.

[FormerFundie2004]

Originally Posted by Ian Beardsley

Here is the link:
http://ga1.org/campaign/clemency?rk=K1LuizK1XqNNW
The guy almost carries the same last name as me, but that is not why I write about it. Perhaps many of you already got wind of this, but I thought I would post it anyway, because I think it is awful, executing a brain damaged man who if they were a loud to bring that up in the trial, would have never been up for execution.

I'd need more background info before coming to a decision. He is only worthy of the crime IMO if he is able to understand right from wrong, such as killing=bad. If he is dangerous even in prison, maybe the death penalty is justifiable.

[Ian Beardsley]

Originally Posted by FormerFundie200419

I'd need more background info before coming to a decision. He is only worthy of the crime IMO if he is able to understand right from wrong, such as killing=bad. If he is dangerous even in prison, maybe the death penalty is justifiable.

"maybe justifiable if..." you might have to argue that to some as there are those that don't believe in capitol punishment under any circumstance: i.e. to punish death with death is only to set the wrong example as a society, and only as such be the cause of more deaths.
--Ian

[LadyShea]

Originally Posted by Ian Beardsley

"maybe justifiable if..." you might have to argue that to some as there are those that don't believe in capitol punishment under any circumstance: i.e. to punish death with death is only to set the wrong example as a society, and only as such be the cause of more deaths.
--Ian

Not everyone is against capital punishment. The poster simply asked for more background because she is not automatically anti-death penalty and needs to apply her own values to the situation.

I have been reading about him, he had already served a prison sentence for a previous murder, was released, then killed again. Also the nature of the brain damage is not mentioned, unless it interferes with his ability to determine that murder is wrong, I see no reason not to move forward with the execution.

Rutherford strangled Benjamin with the wire and his hand before Beardslee punched her, helped pull the wire tight around her throat and then slit her throat twice. Beardslee pulled her pants down to make it look like a sexual assault.

At the time of the killing, Beardslee was on parole after serving seven years in a Missouri prison for strangling and stabbing Laura Griffin in her bathtub.

Beardslee’s defense team argue he has been a model prisoner but Murray replied it is only due to the restrictive conditions of death row. Claims Beardslee is brain damaged are also bunk, he said, citing his high school grades, completion of courses in prison and high IQ score.

“It appears that his alleged mental problems only exhibit themselves when he is murdering women,” Murray wrote.


http://www.smdailyjournal.org/articl...&storyID=38526

[Ian Beardsley]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

Not everyone is against capital punishment. The poster simply asked for more background because he is not automatically anti-death penalty and needs to apply his own values to the situation.

I know not everyone is against capital punishment, but I understood that he was saying he needs more information because maybe the guy deserves the death sentence. I am saying there are those who believe the death sentence is NEVER justifiable.

[livius drusus]

I'm against the death penalty, but it seems to me that this case has enough wrong with it to be an example of how not to implement capital punishment even for people who generally agree with it.

The overturned special circumstances alone make it a very shady call. Then there's the incompetence of his defense lawyer, the introduction of a prior conviction for murder in another state - a conviction tainted by illegally obtained evidence - the far lighter sentences for his co-defendants (and not because they were less involved), and his history of brain damage both from birth and from later injuries which the jury heard nothing of, among several other things.

Here's Amnesty International's take on the case which gives more background.

P.S. - FormerFundie2004 is a woman.

[Ian Beardsley]

[QUOTE=livius drusus]I'm against the death penalty, but it seems to me that this case has enough wrong with it to be an example of how not to implement capital punishment even for people who generally agree with it.

The overturned special circumstances alone make it a very shady call. Then there's the incompetence of his defense lawyer, the introduction of a prior conviction for murder in another state - a conviction tainted by illegally obtained evidence - the far lighter sentences for his co-defendants (and not because they were less involved), and his history of brain damage both from birth and from later injuries which the jury heard nothing of, among several other things.

Here's Amnesty International's take on the case which gives more background.

This sounds horrible, especially where a ruthless lawyer atrributed the flat personality, which is caused by brain damage, to having the personality of a murderer. Is what I can't believe is that we even should be put in a position to have to try and convince a governor to save his life. Is it not obvious that there could be something seriously wrong going on here, and to send someone to the guillatine, even if maybe they are a murderer. It is nuts. This brings out another arguement: should capital punishment be legal if it means that it could bring even one innocent person to death? I personally believe no.