Texas set for 300th execution since 1982 - Dallas Dance Music - Dallas nightlife, music, tickets, and more

03-10-03, 01:08 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/03/09/30....ap/index.html

LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) -- Convicted killer Delma Banks could become a historical footnote Wednesday, when he is scheduled to die in what would be Texas' 300th execution since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.

So far this year, Texas has put nine men to death, setting the state on a pace to break its one-year record of 40 executions, in 2000. Last year, 33 inmates died by lethal injection.

"It's not shocking any more," said Michael Dewayne Johnson, who was scheduled to be No. 300 until he and another death row inmate got temporary reprieves last month. He was condemned for killing a gas station attendant near Waco in 1995.

"Most people don't even know unless they're involved. There's just a vague mention of it in the paper," he said.

The Texas total is more than one-third of all the executions in the nation since 1976, when a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment.

All the people executed ... nobody knows who the person is. Three-hundred. That's all they're going to remember.
-- Death row inmate Bobby Cook

Over that period, the pace of executions in Texas has accelerated.

Almost 13 years passed between Charlie Brooks, execution No. 1, and Harold Lane, No. 100, in 1995. It took less than five years for Texas to get to No. 200, Earl Heiselbetz, in January 2000.

Now it will be just over three years to reach the 300th execution, if not Banks -- sentenced in 1980 for killing a 16-year-old and stealing his car -- then almost certainly one of 10 other convicts on the current execution schedule.

The faster pace is fueled mostly by changes in appeals procedures since the mid-1990s that have imposed stricter deadlines on court filings and allow appeals to be considered simultaneously in state and federal courts.

Also, as the death penalty has survived court challenges, fewer areas of appeal are left.

When the Supreme Court opens a new door to avoiding the death penalty -- such as last year's ruling barring execution of mentally retarded inmates -- prisoners swarm to it.

Sometimes it works. Gregory Van Alstyne, scheduled to be No. 298, received a reprieve last month by asserting he is mentally retarded.

Sometimes it doesn't. Richard Head Williams instead became No. 298 on February 25 after unsuccessfully raising the same claim, among others.

Capital punishment has been undergoing closer scrutiny nationwide as recent studies have questioned the fairness of the process and new technology, such as DNA testing, has revealed its errors.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan issued a blanket commutation of sentences for the nearly 170 inmates of Illinois' death row. In that state, 13 men who had been condemned to death after 1977 were later exonerated.

In Texas, the scrutiny has focused on cases like that of Calvin Burdine, who was condemned by a Houston jury for the 1983 murder of his gay lover. A federal judge threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial because Burdine's court-appointed lawyer slept during parts of his trial.

Banks has argued that his court-appointed trial attorney didn't present adequate evidence to keep him off death row, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was other evidence to support the jury's decision.

Texas also has come under fire for executing foreign nationals who weren't allowed to contact their consulates for legal assistance, a violation of international agreements, execution foes say. Prosecutors say murder in Texas makes foreigners subject to Texas law.

Another controversy is the execution of prisoners who murdered when they were 17. Under Texas law, they are adults.

A bill pending in the Texas Legislature would put a moratorium on the death penalty and order a study of the issue; however, the governor, Rick Perry, opposes halting capital punishment.

"He thinks it's an appropriate punishment in the most heinous of crimes," said spokeswoman Kathy Walt.

Since Perry became governor in December 2000, 59 convicts have been executed. During George W. Bush's six years as governor, 152 were put to death.

"All the people executed ... nobody knows who the person is," said death row inmate Bobby Cook. "Three-hundred. That's all they're going to remember."

Element4040 · 03-10-03, 01:56 PM

Quote:

"All the people executed ... nobody knows who the person is," said death row inmate Bobby Cook. "Three-hundred. That's all they're going to remember."

Yeah, well Bobby, if it makes you feel any better most of us don't remember the names of the people you murdered either.

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 02:11 PM

i would really like to say....

that i find it ridiculous that they are putting him to death.... all he did was kill one person

when they dont put that fucking insane bitch down in houston to death for killing her 5 kids.. one by one.

i'm sorry.. i just had to add my frustration into this...

*captian random*

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WarLord
That being said, there is something to the argument that some people commit crimes which demand the death penalty. But, maybe it would be better for the convicted inmate to be kept alive in state prison, forced to watch home movies of their victims everyday for the rest of their lives and be punched in the face every week by a family member of one of their victim's families.

i agree there... but some of them just dont care.

03-10-03, 02:32 PM

i find it very interesting that out of 300 put down...bush had his hand on more then half of them...in the little amount of time he was governor

what a compashanate(sp) consevreative he turned out to be

03-10-03, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by superkool
i find it very interesting that out of 300 put down...bush had his hand on more then half of them...in the little amount of time he was governor

what a compashanate(sp) consevreative he turned out to be

That was one of the best things about having Bush as governor. Some states were lolligagging around and waiting decades to execute people, or even staying death sentences. Hell, here in Texas, we put in an express lane.

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Threecurl
That was one of the best things about having Bush as governor. Some states were lolligagging around and waiting decades to execute people, or even staying death sentences. Hell, here in texas, we put in an express lane.

thats the best thing i've ever read in here.......

*cant stop laughing*

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WarLord
It is refreshing to find someone so happy about the pain and suffering of others. Every person executed by the state has behind them the victims of their crimes and the families of these victims. Every person executed has a family themselves and a mother who probably is not as giggly as you are about their child dying.

There is nothing funny, humerous or entertaining about killing people. If you think there is, you are a menace to society and should be executed immediately.

you know what i think? i knew you were going to fucking comment on it w/ something rude... as long as i agreed w/ you u didnt comment... but as soon as i say something that is something you dont agree w/ .. .i should die.... FUCK THAT

i think that if you kill... be killed.

i do not feel sorry for people who must die for something they did......

and talking about the families of the murderers..... how about the families of the victims..... i guess they dont count.... do they.

*speaking to someone who's aunt was murdered... and the guy was put to death....* i think justice was served.. theres no way in hell you could make me feel bad for saying they should die.

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WarLord
But actually enjoying and giggling about it is really quite monsterous.

i was laughing on how he put it.. it was quite humerous...

i guesss you obviouslly have no sense of humor..... and you really should get one, one of these days...

you might lighten up a bit.

[aNNa] · 03-10-03, 02:56 PM

yeah this is really not a laughing matter to me..

i have ambiguous feelings about this as well..

i don't like the possibility that innocent people
will be put to death because of the death penalty,
but i'm hoping that the percentage will be small
compared to the number of guilty people.

and by innocent in this case, i mean people
who are innocent beyond any reasonable
doubt. that means, that some guilty people
could have been exonerated on the basis
that there wasn't enough evidence to convict.

we can't assume that all people who are
spared from the death penalty on new evidence
are innocent.. nonetheless, we are innocent
until proven guilty. that is how the law works.
if it can't be proven, they are innocent in the
eyes of the law.

sorry a little tangent there.

anyways, i believe that guilty people should
be punished for breaking the law.
however, i also believe that the punishment
must fit the crime.

putting a person in jail for life because he or
she was caught smoking pot and it was
his or her third offense.. that's ridiculous.
that is an example of the punishment clearly
not fitting the crime.

i am for the death penalty as long as the person
is guilty in the legal sense *and* only if the death
penalty is an appropriate punishment for the
crime commited.

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by [aNNa]
yeah this is really not a laughing matter to me..

i am for the death penalty as long as the person
is guilty in the legal sense *and* only if the death
penalty is an appropriate punishment for the
crime commited.

#1--- i really wasnt laughing at the matter.. i was laughing at what threecurl wrote.. it was FUNNY

and #2-- i totally agree w/ the last statement u put....... murder--- if proven guilty should be death penalty (imo)

pot smoking? lol... thats something i dont want to start on.. lol

Hey Bubu · 03-10-03, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seksybeetchkerri

i think that if you kill... be killed.

Death is too easy a way out. I say let the fucker suffer in prison and never see the light of day.
Sure you might think he will rot in hell, but what if there's no hell? with that in mind let him/her suffer on earth.

seksybeetchkerri · 03-10-03, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TypeH
Death is too easy a way out. I say let the fucker suffer in prison and never see the light of day.
Sure you might think he will rot in hell, but what if there's no hell? with that in mind let him/her suffer on earth.

i somewhat agree w/ that hernando.... BUT my arguement is on that one.. is that 80% of those people (and no thats not a proven number.. jus tmy guess) dont have any feelings towards it... some of them are acctually happy on the murder they commited.... they hold no remorse....

so why let them live out their life in prison.. thinking that you are making them suffer?

i dont know..... i just think that *eye for an eye* works quite well there....

[aNNa] · 03-10-03, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seksybeetchkerri
#1--- i really wasnt laughing at the matter.. i was laughing at what threecurl wrote.. it was FUNNY

and #2-- i totally agree w/ the last statement u put....... murder--- if proven guilty should be death penalty (imo)

pot smoking? lol... thats something i dont want to start on.. lol

lol..

1) i was leaving that discussion for you and mark hehe
i was just stating that for me, personally, i find this to
be a serious issue. death is a serious thing to me. :/

2) you misinterpreted my statement. "murder--if proven
guilty should be death penalty" is what you said.
that's not what i was saying when i said the death
penalty must be appropriate for the crime committed.
i left it open ended on purpose. there are times when
a person kills another person for reasons that are
worth consideration: such as self-defense. in cases
like that, the death penalty may not be an appropriate
punishment.

so i would like to go on the record and say that i in no way advocate "murder--if proven guilty should be death penalty".

that is not what i meant at all.

3) the pot smoking statement was just an example
to further illustrate my point. i wasn't really expecting
anyone to comment on it.

a_a

03-10-03, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TypeH
Death is too easy a way out. I say let the fucker suffer in prison and never see the light of day.
Sure you might think he will rot in hell, but what if there's no hell? with that in mind let him/her suffer on earth.

You know, when I think about my support for the death penalty, alot of times I am inclined to take this very same mental tack. I think lifelong incarceration would be genuinely more horrible than the idea of getting stuck with an anesthetic and then just never waking up from the nap.

From the perspective of proving absolute guilt, this would obviously alleviate any chance of executing an innocent person. Then again, I think some crimes are so absolutely attrocious, that death for the offender is the only just solution. It's an interesting thing to think on.

Someone brought up the woman who drowned her five children, and I think that rather than point out any inadequacies with the death penalty, her case shows how pointless a jury trial can actually be. People have lost the ability to focus in on facts anymore. Juries no longer consider evidence and ask the simple question of whether or not the facts of the case point to the defendant's guilt or innocence. They have to mull over how the defendant could possibly have been victimized by someone else or society at large, and if that victimization is detected in the SLIGHTEST degree, then by God, the defendant couldn't possibly be guilt.

That poor woman was suffering from post-pardom depression, bless her little heart. She just couldn't understand how drowning her five children one at a time in a bathtub might be morally questionable.

03-10-03, 01:08 PM	#1 (permalink)
Oblique Guest Posts: n/a	Texas set for 300th execution since 1982 http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/03/09/30....ap/index.html LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) -- Convicted killer Delma Banks could become a historical footnote Wednesday, when he is scheduled to die in what would be Texas' 300th execution since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. So far this year, Texas has put nine men to death, setting the state on a pace to break its one-year record of 40 executions, in 2000. Last year, 33 inmates died by lethal injection. "It's not shocking any more," said Michael Dewayne Johnson, who was scheduled to be No. 300 until he and another death row inmate got temporary reprieves last month. He was condemned for killing a gas station attendant near Waco in 1995. "Most people don't even know unless they're involved. There's just a vague mention of it in the paper," he said. The Texas total is more than one-third of all the executions in the nation since 1976, when a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment. All the people executed ... nobody knows who the person is. Three-hundred. That's all they're going to remember. -- Death row inmate Bobby Cook Over that period, the pace of executions in Texas has accelerated. Almost 13 years passed between Charlie Brooks, execution No. 1, and Harold Lane, No. 100, in 1995. It took less than five years for Texas to get to No. 200, Earl Heiselbetz, in January 2000. Now it will be just over three years to reach the 300th execution, if not Banks -- sentenced in 1980 for killing a 16-year-old and stealing his car -- then almost certainly one of 10 other convicts on the current execution schedule. The faster pace is fueled mostly by changes in appeals procedures since the mid-1990s that have imposed stricter deadlines on court filings and allow appeals to be considered simultaneously in state and federal courts. Also, as the death penalty has survived court challenges, fewer areas of appeal are left. When the Supreme Court opens a new door to avoiding the death penalty -- such as last year's ruling barring execution of mentally retarded inmates -- prisoners swarm to it. Sometimes it works. Gregory Van Alstyne, scheduled to be No. 298, received a reprieve last month by asserting he is mentally retarded. Sometimes it doesn't. Richard Head Williams instead became No. 298 on February 25 after unsuccessfully raising the same claim, among others. Capital punishment has been undergoing closer scrutiny nationwide as recent studies have questioned the fairness of the process and new technology, such as DNA testing, has revealed its errors. Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan issued a blanket commutation of sentences for the nearly 170 inmates of Illinois' death row. In that state, 13 men who had been condemned to death after 1977 were later exonerated. In Texas, the scrutiny has focused on cases like that of Calvin Burdine, who was condemned by a Houston jury for the 1983 murder of his gay lover. A federal judge threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial because Burdine's court-appointed lawyer slept during parts of his trial. Banks has argued that his court-appointed trial attorney didn't present adequate evidence to keep him off death row, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was other evidence to support the jury's decision. Texas also has come under fire for executing foreign nationals who weren't allowed to contact their consulates for legal assistance, a violation of international agreements, execution foes say. Prosecutors say murder in Texas makes foreigners subject to Texas law. Another controversy is the execution of prisoners who murdered when they were 17. Under Texas law, they are adults. A bill pending in the Texas Legislature would put a moratorium on the death penalty and order a study of the issue; however, the governor, Rick Perry, opposes halting capital punishment. "He thinks it's an appropriate punishment in the most heinous of crimes," said spokeswoman Kathy Walt. Since Perry became governor in December 2000, 59 convicts have been executed. During George W. Bush's six years as governor, 152 were put to death. "All the people executed ... nobody knows who the person is," said death row inmate Bobby Cook. "Three-hundred. That's all they're going to remember."

03-10-03, 02:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
seksybeetchkerri The seksyest beetch you ever did see! Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: pLaNo Posts: 1,339	i would really like to say.... that i find it ridiculous that they are putting him to death.... all he did was kill one person when they dont put that fucking insane bitch down in houston to death for killing her 5 kids.. one by one. i'm sorry.. i just had to add my frustration into this... captian random __________________ ~.oOphuturithimsOo. phamily member~ http://www.myspace.com/das_echte_ich

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

night-lifestyle sites clubplanet wantickets newyears nochelatina cooljunkie

03-10-03, 02:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
superkool Guest Posts: n/a	i find it very interesting that out of 300 put down...bush had his hand on more then half of them...in the little amount of time he was governor what a compashanate(sp) consevreative he turned out to be

03-10-03, 02:56 PM	#10 (permalink)
[aNNa] Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Nishinomiya, Japan Posts: 723	yeah this is really not a laughing matter to me.. i have ambiguous feelings about this as well.. i don't like the possibility that innocent people will be put to death because of the death penalty, but i'm hoping that the percentage will be small compared to the number of guilty people. and by innocent in this case, i mean people who are innocent beyond any reasonable doubt. that means, that some guilty people could have been exonerated on the basis that there wasn't enough evidence to convict. we can't assume that all people who are spared from the death penalty on new evidence are innocent.. nonetheless, we are innocent until proven guilty. that is how the law works. if it can't be proven, they are innocent in the eyes of the law. sorry a little tangent there. anyways, i believe that guilty people should be punished for breaking the law. however, i also believe that the punishment must fit the crime. putting a person in jail for life because he or she was caught smoking pot and it was his or her third offense.. that's ridiculous. that is an example of the punishment clearly not fitting the crime. i am for the death penalty as long as the person is guilty in the legal sense and only if the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for the crime commited.