Two men sentenced to life for racial killings in Oklahoma

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

BY JON HERSKOVITZ AND KAREN BROOKS
Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:12am EST

(Reuters) - Two Oklahoma men were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday, for the race-based killing of three black people whom they shot indiscriminately from a car in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 6, 2012, prosecutors said.

Five black people, including a woman, were shot in the chest that day, and three died, in the incident which drew national attention and raised questions about racial tensions in the state decades after the United States implemented major civil rights reforms, prosecutors said in a statement.

Alvin Lee Watts, 34, and Jacob Carl England, 21, who are white, were given the life sentence as part of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, the statement said. The pair also pleaded guilty to hate-crimes charges.

"Justice is served by this result," Doug Drummond, the Tulsa County first assistant district attorney, said in a statement. "These killers will spend the rest of their life behind bars."

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/17/us-usa-murder-oklahoma-idUSBRE9BG0Y720131217

[redstatebluegirl]

1. If they had been Black or Hispanic and killed white people in Oklahoma

they would be on death row, no doubt. They execute here almost as fast and furious as Texas if you are a minority offender.

[tblue]

8. Ugh. You're probably right.

I oppose the death penalty, but it's not fair the way it's meted out.

[7962]

2. I'm sure they'll LOVE prison. But they deserve the needle. nt.

[Ed Suspicious]

3. Nobody deserves the needle, comrade.

Their sentence is just.

[duhneece]

4. Amen nt

[Ranchemp.]

5. I agree that their sentence is just,

now they'll have to constantly look over their shoulders wondering when they're going to get shanked by the black prison gang or if they're going to become they're ...........................

[Pyrzqxgl]

7. The Death Penalty is just wrong

What they got (life) is the only way to handle it.

[Ranchemp.]

9. I'm not advocating that they get murdered in prison,

but that's a sad fact of life in our prison system.

[Supersedeas]

11. pleading guilty to a hate crime

[Ed Suspicious]

12. I don't kill people. I don't want the state doing it in my name. Killers kill people. Are you a

killer? If you support the death penalty you are.

[OnlinePoker]

6. "Five black people, including a woman..."

What the hell difference does the gender of the victims make? It makes it sound like the 4 men that were shot weren't as important as the woman. They do this when a child is shot as well and it irks me.

[Aristus]

10. Put 'em in General Population.

I don't want anything violent to happen to them, but I do want them to spend the rest of their miserable pathetic lives cowering and shivering in abject terror. I want their quality of life to be so bad that death would be a blessed relief.

There's nothing about this situation that wouldn't be better if they hadn't committed those murders. But they chose to do it, so let them face some extremely unpleasant consequences...