In the end the State of Florida is empowered to decide and administer what it deems as the appropriate punishment. I won't argue with their decision no matter what they decide.
Weird to say, but they might almost be doing this guy a favor sentencing him to death by lethal injection compared to the death he'll likely face in prison.
A case as high profile as this, every prisoner in whatever prison he ends up being assigned will know his crime the day he arrives, and after that it's only a matter of time.
Before I read down the thread I was going to post the exact same thing. I definitely tear up everytime I think of that part of the story.Her body was found in a shallow hole, encased in two black plastic trash bags. She had been buried alive and suffocated, and was found clutching a purple stuffed dolphin. Two fingers poked through the top of the bags.
"I know a lot about the law and various other lawyerings."
Hitters who avoid outs are the funnest.
This thread is not long for the world, either.
When all is said and done more is said than done.
I'm not so self-satisfied to believe that had my parents not been healthy and sane people I would have turned out just fine. Or had my parents been like what this killer was like I would have been able to pull myself up by my bootstraps and been "normal." The great myth of our society is self-determination. Just thank whatever deity you worship that you had a good family or had someone in your life to show you the right path.
But don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for being sane because all that is is great freakin' luck.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
So are you saying that this fellows actions should somehow be explained or mitigated because his parents might not have done a good job?
And at what stage in a child's development do you sit them down and have the 'don't rape little girls and bury them in a plastic bag and leave them in a hole to die' talk? Is that before or after the 'birds and the bees' talk?
Certinally children can be given a huge disadvantage if their parents don't raise them correctly but in no way does that excuse their behavior later on in life.
Last edited by Ltlabner; 03-08-2007 at 05:42 PM.
I have no way of knowing how this guy got the way he did. But I know there was very little choice involved on this guy's part. He should have been locked up and hospitalized for good on the first offense. He had no business being in society. But that's a whole other can of worms.
I'd love to believe that everyone's life can be turned around; I would. Heck, I'm a teacher--my job is that very hope: to turn lives around. But I know that there are people who slip through society's cracks, vanish into obscurity, only to emerge when something like this occurs; these guys are hardwired. It doesn't excuse what he did, and he obviously needs to be removed from society. I'm just not sure that killing him after the law/society had failed to remove him once when it could was the best route to take. It's not justice. It doesn't elevate the social order. Hell, it doesn't even make it even, because making it "even" is bringing back that little girl.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
nm
"I know a lot about the law and various other lawyerings."
Hitters who avoid outs are the funnest.
nm
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
My opposition to the death penalty has much more to do with the historical evidence of its lopsidedly common sentencing to poor, minority, and mentally ill defendants. Until society can show that it's going to apply the death penalty across the board to everyone regardless of socioeconomic status, I'm against it. And I'm not holding my breath about that.
I can't really say that I'm for or against its application to Couey, given the facts of the case, but I'm with FCB that the real problem is that he should never have had another opportunity to do what he did in the first place.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'elevate the social order' but I'd say making sure he never does this again to anybody else improves society.
And you are right that the legal system screwed up by letting him out the first time. All the more reason to perminatley ensure he has no chance to slip through the cracks again.
I'm torn on the 'hardwired' part of your argument. I agree that some of these guys just ain't going to be rehabilitated. OTOH, while his temptations may be more difficult to resist, or outside societal 'norms', that doesn't excuse his decision to act on his temptations. Plenty of people have had untreated mental illnesses and gone their entire lives without burrying someone alive.
Better yet, would someone be willing to personally write the checks to pay for this guys room and board courtesy of the state for the rest of his natural days had he done this to their kid?
I'd say if someone feals this man had no choice in killing her, that the legal system is to blame and that somehow fate was just playing out it's cruel hand, then they should be willing to pay for the killer of their child's room and board out of their own pocket.
How can I answer that?
I'm sure, emotionally, vengeance would be foremost in my mind.
But it's a good thing that it's the state that prosecutes, that it's society that intervenes on my behalf to bring about justice. I don't have any desire to live in a world run by vigilantism. The law exists to take the power of vengeance from my hands.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
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