A man is slated to be murdered by the state in revenge for the killing of an old woman. His sister has liver disease and he applied for some extra time in order to donate part of his own liver to her. This might seem like a reasonable request. Most people spend years and even decades on Death Row, what’s a few extra months, especially when it might save an innocent life. Not to the Indiana Parole Board, according to this Reuters story, appearing, appropriately, in the Oddly Enough section.
Indiana officials recommended on Friday that a man facing execution next week should not get clemency, a decision that could end his attempt to donate part of his liver to his sister.
[snip]
A spokeswoman for the Indiana Parole Board said the panel’s four members voted unanimously to recommend that Johnson be denied clemency. There was no separate vote on a stay, she said.
Update [2005-5-25 6:33:35 by Athenian]: “Gregory Scott Johnson died by injection at 12:28 a.m.” according to this AP story. The governor denied Johnson’s request and released letters from doctors supporting his position:
The governor’s office released a letter Daniels received from two transplant doctors who said the presence of a hepatitis B antibody in Johnson’s system and his heavy body weight made him unsuitable as a donor.
Given the sister’s condition and the fact that she likely will need a kidney as well, she would be better served by obtaining a full liver and kidney from the same donor through customary channels, the letter said.
May he rest in peace.
The above is sickening enough but it was the final paragraph in the story that prompted this diary:
In a Florida case, an inmate was denied a request to donate a kidney to his brother. The condemned man was later exonerated and released from jail, but his brother died waiting for a transplant, Dieter said. [executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center]
The entire criminal justice and penal system in the United States is a blight upon the country. People have been executed even though their defense counsel was asleep or drunk during the trial. But to cause, even indirectly, the death of innocent relatives because of unnecessary and spiteful cruelty in an unseemly rush to kill prisoners, is flat out disgusting. What is wrong with these people?
With this kind of cruelty and injustice at home, is it any wonder what is happening overseas to people our soldiers probably see as even less human than a death row inmate?
I had read the article about the man in Indiana and was horrified but had hoped this was some bizarre isolated atrocity.-for truly is what it is. Silly me. I see from the rest of your diary that this only gets worse regarding the man in Florida and relative. Pretty damn sickening to say the least.
What sort of people literally condemn someone to death by denying them an organ transplant when it would cost them nothing at all to do?(and harping on my recurring them of so called christians, I would bet that the members of these boards are fundie whack jobs)
Certainly inhuman sons of bitches.
They death penalty is what is viewed as the ultimate punishment, but in truth it speaks more about the society that values it and the people that support it. Clean, systematic legal killing and the desire for it is a sickness. It solves nothing, it returns nothing, and in the end the death row inmate is not subjected to a lifetime of punishment. His family is.
Man, that’s the best summation against the death penalty I’ve ever seen…and you did it with just a few very astute words and insight into the whole issue.
Brilliant I say.
Thank you, thank you. (low bow)
What I never understood is that it is, more often than not, the religious that value this. Considering their view of death, hellfire and so on, wouldn’t this deter them from wanting any part of this? I mean aren’t they subjecting themselves to the bowels of hell?
ought to take a dim view of capital punishment given how Jesus died.
the death penalty is arbitrary, unfair and racist. I hope that even supporters would be disgusted if they truly understood how capricious it is.
It makes no sense except in the eye for eye, life for a life sense. It is actually more expensive in the US to condemn a man to death than to put him away for life and throw away the key. And it is certainly no deterrent.
“the death penalty is arbitrary, unfair and racist. I hope that even supporters would be disgusted if they truly understood how capricious it is.”
Texas kills the most people, of the states that do that in the US. One of the most terrible polls I’ve read is one taken there, in Texas… a majority of people, when asked, favored the death penalty. A majority of people also, when asked, thought that innocent people had been put to death.
Death penalty supporters know how capricious it is, and the more honest among them admit they know how racist it is… most do truly understand. They just don’t care.
Would the poll have similar results across the nation, do you think?
Among supporters, yes. Oh, you’ll get some who will say that they would prefer for the justice system to be better, and for all to have good representation and all that, but in the end, people who support the death penalty do so knowing full well about all the drawbacks and injustices. Even if they say they don’t believe that there are any or that innocent people haven’t been put to death.
It’s just that, to them, it is worth it.
And all of the above, as well. I was just referring to it as a concept, rather than it’s practical application.
I remember, you introduced me to this site with your diary on the use of nuclear weapons – it just reminded me because the issues are not so fart apart, in terms of how civilized a civilization is.
er…. that would be: far apart
Cool!
I met a resident of Bulgaria in the Eurovision diary over a dKos and invited him over. Hope he shows up. It would be nice to have more people from my neck of the woods.
You are absolutely correct that the death penalty tells you a lot about how “civilized a civilization is.” Take a look at the other countries that still practice it. Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Sudan, etc. It’s strange how often the US finds itself closer to such nations than to its supposed allies in Europe.
“It would be nice to have more people from my neck of the woods.”
Hi Athenian, I am originally from Patissia and Poros (Saronikos). Close enough for you?
Though I have to admit to living in China for many years to make ends meet.
China does indeed still execute people for a large variety of crimes. Sometimes the execution is technically illegal but that doesn’t stop them. The main weapon is still a bullet in the back of your head sometimes in public, but lethal injection is being praised for being cheaper and less messy…
87 in one black day, 2001, Texas eat your heart out.
.
Did you also live in the Republic of China, or have you always resided in Hong Kong?
Tell is some more whereabouts in HK and about yourself. How did you stumble over the tiny community of BooMan Tribune?
Read abour Oui.
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
Are you still in the PRC?
I did my Navy boot camp on Poros. Beautiful island and so much nicer than the other boot camp, Palaska.
Indeed, they way that China practices capital punishment is the only way to make it work as a deterrent. I remember in one year back in the eighties China executed more than 5000 people. Crime did indeed drop.
Γιεα σου to the both of you. Thanks.
I’m in Hong Kong for work but I spend weekends in neighbouring provinces and try to travel as much as my work allows. My putongxua stinks though.
Poros boot camp, hee that brings a few memories..(goes red)..I went to school with one of the doctors there.That’s a story for another time tho.
Yes crime drops but certain crimes that bring a death sentence bring way more brutality and bloodshed as desperate men and women take care of all witnesses too..Murder breeds murder breeds…endless cycles of violence…
Glad to say HK took it’s lead from the colonial British and stopped hanging people years ago. Most people here are happy with that, showing education and example can change age old culture.
Quiz: Who wrote the following?
Answer: Albert Pierrepoint, the most ‘productive’ executioner in British history, in his memoirs Executioner: Pierrepoint (London: 1974).
And kudos for bringing up the point about the family. To me that is one of the strongest arguments against the death penalty, but it isn’t getting much play – apparently because many feel it is refuted by arguments about the victim’s family ‘deserving’ the execution.
In reality, I believe the victim’s family usually is also hurt by this institution, because it leads to unrealistic expectations. Either the family is frustrated by a ‘mere’ life sentence, or else they will be waiting for years or decades for the ‘consummation,’ only to find that it’s not such a catharsis after all, but leaves behind a great emptiness.
I’ve been trying to find a review about the book you mentioned. I’m not sure I have the stomach for it – is it very disturbing?
I have only read some excerpts about the hanging of Nazi war criminals. Those weren’t so bad, but it depends on your stomach I guess.
Probably not for me, but I am curious, beyond the quote you posted, if he had problems coming to terms with his job – or not. I just find it mind it mind-boggling that there are people who make this their life’s work.
When the method of execution was hanging or beheading it took a lot of skill to get it right. The human neck is surprisingly tough and not a few high-profile executions were mangled (sorry for the visual), including one of Henry VIII’s wives.
Despite my strong opposition to capital punishment the subject fascinates me, possibly because my own father was sentenced to death by the occupation forces during WWII. He and I used to have long and convoluted discussions about which was the best method. For him the absolute worst part of it was the waiting. He considered the years or decades that US prisoners spend on death row to be the absolutely worst form of cruel and unusual punishment.
I agree that the wait is torture – but it also allows for hope (albeit not much) with further court filings, new evidence and so forth.
I would figure firing squad would be the most humane and the quickest – give everyone a bullet though, not 2 out of ten. There’s something really weird about having many executioners that may or may not be the actual killers – just so they can sleep at night.
I’m glad your dad made it – I assume. This was in Norway? What reason?
He was captured by the Italians during an undercover mission (out of uniform=spy=death) but he and his men managed to strike up a friendship/business relationship with the warden who kept on putting their names at the bottom of the stack when their turn came to face the firing squad. Then the Italians capitulated and the prison was left unguarded for a few hours before the Germans managed to take over all the positions the Italians had held. My father and his men made a break for it. The scariest part came when the taxi he was in was stopped by a German officer, who fortunately never took his nose out of his paper.
As far as I know, usually all but one of the rifles in a firing squad is loaded with live rounds. Thing is, you can tell if the shot is live or not so it’s a pretty empty gesture.
My favorite method of execution is the old Indian one. Place head on block, elephant stamps on it. All over in a fraction of a second. Even the guillotine has its drawback. Apparently the cut is so clean that the brain is NOT knocked unconscious and may be able to realize that the head has been separated from the body. In any case, during the French Revolution there were reports of heads in the basket mouthing words.
Hope I haven’t freaked you out too much.
Hanging by long drop is actually remarkably humane; if competently performed it leads to instant unconsciousness followed soon after by death. It is definetely the method I’d choose. That the US prefers lethal injection is due, I suspect, to its ‘audience friendliness’ – an execution is supposed to be a show and a ritual, after all.
Unlike lethal injection, which typically takes something like 45 minutes from the client is fetched in his cell to death is pronounced, long drop hanging is swift. The aforementioned Albert Pierrepoint has the official world record: On May 8 1951 he executed James Inglis in only 7 seconds from entering his cell.
His assistant on that day was Syd Dernley, who went on to become Britain’s last executioner. Here is a 1994 interview with this somewhat eccentric gentleman:
http://www.simon-jones.org.uk
These grim furnishings to the boudoir fail to impress Joyce, however: “The wife calls it me bloody chamber of ‘orrors”.
Your dad’s story is amazing by the way, Athenian.
Correction: Dernley wasn’t the last hangman but the only one still alive by -94.
He also strikes me as something of an amateur. It is hard to imagine an ultra-pro like Albert Pierrepoint obsessing with paraphernalia and talking about the death penalty in public at any opportunity. Pierrepoint was born into a legendary family of hangmen, while someone like Dernley might perhaps just as well have been a serial murderer.
I suppose like in any profession, you have different personalities – this is just an extreme profession.
The ritualization of it, in my opinion, is what makes it really sick. They turn the whole thing into an event with a climax – yet, here at least, they are not made public. That indicates that there is some shame involved – if we see 55 black men being executed for every 1 white man there could be unpleasant questions to answer. Be that as it may, it is still a hidden event.
Not fully hidden as the hangings were in Britain. The families of the victim and of the condemned are invited to the show. And that, I believe, is what rules out the more humane procedure of long drop hanging, or for that matter, shooting at point blank.
Ah yes, Britain – they have a long history of unusually cruel forms of capital punishment. It took them a while to make humane, then private and then eliminate it. From what I remember it was a wrongful execution which eliminated capital punishment. That happens here, and those in favor will say that it is worth the risk. We have a long way to go.
are public, which is lost if they are held in private.
Dear Sirocco, your feelings about lethal injections?
I agree with Pierrepoint’s assessment: ‘sadistic.’
First, like I said, it takes ages.
http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk
Then there is the little matter of whether death is actually quick and painfree once the injection begins. See this diary entry by Jerome: US death penalty ‘does not even meet veterinary standards’.
And when there for good measure is an audience, the barbarism is complete.
did you get Jerome’s email?
Thanks, now I saw it. It was sent to the address stolen by neo-Nazis.
on your fatherf email address: try ‘QqZEMFcp’ and then change it.
Spaziba.
Up thread, when I speak of the skill required in a hanging, that is what I’m talking about. The whole point of a public execution is deterrence. If not, it is mere revenge. Nineteenth century Americans were right. If the death penalty is to be a deterrent then execution has to be public, indeed popular. Occupation forces have taken the same tack. When German reprisals took ten young men, they wanted the community to know why and how and where.
Sorry – I responded so quickly to the last comment you made and I didn’t pay attention to the name – Greece of course. Resistance – or officially unofficial?
Better hope that Elephant is well trained ….
British op. Those were the days when evil was clear and you had the right to actually shoot at it. Now… they are more clever.
I want to hug you all. Whether this is because of what we have been talking about or because Liverpool won the Final or because I’ve had too much to drink, who cares.
OK, I’m very happy LP won. Liverpooooool!!!!!!
Crossposted at DailyKos
I recommended over there, but little hope of this making it through all the filiblather, I’m afraid.
I think you are right but the poll did get a number of responses and so far only three out of 33 voted for “in certain circumstances” with none voting for “yes.”
I think the racism that is so inherent to our justice(use the term loosely here)system is something most people want to just stick their head in the sand and completely ignore. It doesn’t fit their myth of American justice as being one of the best in the world.
While the racism underlying the system perpetrates the myth that darker skinned people are more prone to criminal behavior…after all look how many are in prison/jail is their thinking.
Now coming to light are news stories of DNA labs that are being shut down due to extremely comprised test results due to unsanitary conditions or people who do the DNA testing not doing their job correctly. One of these labs I believe happened to be in Texas-surprise surprise.
I am shocked, yes shocked that these so called culture of lifer’s, would not at least have the decency to allow these individuals to donate their organs. But then what would you expect from two faced, unintelligent, moronic, hypocrites who talk out of both sides of their mouths. I was born in Indiana and you know I was never so glad to be rid of a place as I was when we moved from that place. How many of you know that Indiana is the only state in the union that the KKK actually controlled, yes controlled as in politically controlled the Governorship, Legislature and Judiciary during the late 20’s and early 30’s I believe. It is still one of the most racist and culpably malignant societies in the states, IMHO.
Culture of life indeed. Bushco and his stateside clones only believe in one culture of life, that is how much power and money can they accumulate.
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It is really just a modern version of ancient customs, early man made human sacrifices to the gods in hopes of receiving a benefit, and to send a message to the community that things were being done.
Today, though robed in “judicial” garb, it is not so important that the person being executed be the exact individual who committed a particular crime, he can be “representative” of the type of person the larger society perceives as someone who might commit such a crime. (Although in fairness, Scalia has not entirely discounted factual innocence as a factor to be considered)
I don’t know about this particular case, he may have been factually innocent, or factually guilty, he is now factually dead, and his sister will in all probability soon follow him.
Punishing the families of criminals also has a long tradition with human beings, a practice which has not entirely died out. Here is an interesting LTE published in a newspaper in the American midwest:
Timothy Pecsenye
Woodmont Road
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