Witness to an Execution

[vincent_vega_lives]

One of the things prosecutors always tell witnesses and families of victims and witnesses in cases like this one is that they do not need to be afraid. The killer is in jail, and he can't do any more harm to them. Retaliation like that happens only with organized crime or on television or in the movies. It isn't part of real life. That's what I told the family of Bryon Schletewitz. That is what I told Bryon. That is what I believed. I was wrong.


http://californialawyermagazine.com/index.cfm?sid=&tkn=&eid=881958&evid=1

[sui generis]

1. yes, well I have to disagree with the sentiment

sorry.

My views on this are well known.

"we owe" the victims nothing, unless we somehow own them. If we want to punish murder by taking a life, we are deep into the absurd when we make a claim of moral superiority. If we're doing eye for eye stuff, why do we think murder is the worst crime? What other "eye for an eye" punishments can we think of. Well, an eye for an eye, certainly. Also, if your guy kills my brother, I think it's only fair to kill his brother. Oh wait, that's Iran and some parts of Pakistan.

However, I am not at all against locking someone up for life that we would normally give a DP sentence to, throwing away they key, and giving them a friendly little pill to use on themselves whenever they feel like it. Somehow that horrifies us more than killing them. Absurdity.

Pain? We are such a weak and terrified of pain society. We need to grow a pair. Pain isn't the worst thing you can endure. We worry more about causing physical pain while we kill someone than about the fact that we're killing someone. Absurdity piled upon absurdity. Dead is dead, no matter how you get there. A bolt gun works just as well as long as we're trying to avoid pain, therefore I read accordingly this lawyer would have given the victim's family some real closure, exploding eyeballs, a Jerry Bruckheimer ending, plus no pain for the criminal.

Oy.

[bluerum]

2. Interesting. I wonder how many lifers would elect to take that pill? nt

[mikdalesh]

3. One of the problems is trying to simulate

a safe environment. It is too much make believe that courts and law enforcement intend to deter violence and to make people have a healthy world view that is safe. If court is a simulation of justice designed to create an image of safeness then you have to look for foriegn enemies to bring you back to reality. We all make mistakes. Sometimes that mistake comes from trusting others rather than trusting ourselves.