LOTD
And a bloodthirsty one it is:
Death row punishment should be immediate
This letter is to the heads of our justice system and all the shyster lawyers who circumvent the system to keep murderers and rapists on death row for years, keeping them from receiving their just desserts for the crimes they were convicted of.
The Supreme Court has opened the gate so we can start the gas chamber back in operation. Let’s reduce the population on death row as quickly as we can roll the gurneys in and out of the chamber.
Get rid of these people and pass a new law that makes it mandatory to execute a person within 30 days of his conviction. I think you would see a drop in violent crime. Let the state quit paying these lawyers who use technicalities to keep perpetrators alive for years. Let’s do it now!
John W. Britt
Hope Mills
And in a rather impressive bit of juxtapositioning, it appears on the same page as this editorial.
Levon “Bo” Jones is the third in four months. He is the third man in four months to walk off of North Carolina’s Death Row and into freedom. The third man in four months who will be spared execution after charges against him were dropped… Jones spent 13 years in prison after being convicted of the 1987 murder of Leamon Grady. Then in 2006, federal judge Terrence Boyle vacated Jones’ conviction and death sentence after finding that Jones’ trial attorneys “utterly failed” to investigate the crime.
At first, Duplin County District Attorney Dewey Hudson, who tried Jones in 1993, vowed to retry him. Then last week, the prosecutor said he had no evidence against Jones and asked the court to release him.
If John Britt had had his way, an innocent man would have been executed 13 years ago.
The death penalty is immoral. The State should not have the power to kill people.
5 Responses to “LOTD”
 Comment by Manning Shaw May 6th, 2008 at 5:10 am |
Funny, I use Britt’s point (“Let’s quit paying these lawyers…”)to arrive at the opposite conclusion. The system spends SO much of our money (and other resources) trying someone going after the death penalty that it bogs the system and short-shrifts the prosecution of many other types of crime/criminals. I have NO sympathy for murderers, rapists, etc… but their cases get all the headlines and attention for mostly political and ratings reasons. I say let’s take the death penalty off the table freeing up resources to help clear the backlogged dockets…justice delayed is justice denied…AND we can sleep at night KNOWING FOR SURE no innocent is put to death. |
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Comment by Manning Shaw May 6th, 2008 at 5:14 am |
And BTW, if Britt had his way not only would an innocent man have been executed 13 years ago, but we in all likelyhood would never have found out…. |
 Comment by Toni May 6th, 2008 at 7:34 am |
It seems to me that rogue prosecutors ought to be serving some time (behind bars) for some of the cases we’ve been hearing about around NC. When is that going to happen? |
 Comment by Rob May 6th, 2008 at 12:34 pm |
“The State should not have the power to kill people.” Who should? |
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Comment by Elisabeth May 16th, 2008 at 7:34 pm |
The words ‘gas chamber’ sends nasty shivers down my spine and reminds me quite effectively of WW2. Having a Jewish friend makes me all too aware of the follies of the human race. I don’t like the idea of killing people, because an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. Even if the murderers DO deserve dying… |