"mentally retarded" inmate gets executed Tuesday

[deemus]

Texas Monthly article discusses the merits of the recent execution. Specifically whether he should have been executed due to his mental capacity.

Please note the term in the title was used in the article.


http://www.tmdailypost.com/article/death-row/texas-executes-seventh-man-2012

 

[okie556]

No bleeding heart here. Got what he deserved!

 

[chris211]

I have nothing for him. He was able to plan and execute a kidnapping/murder. It's simple to beat an IQ test and score lower than you're capable of.

 

[#1gunner]

Not sure about simple but I see where your coming from.

 

[deemus]

I have nothing for him. He was able to plan and execute a kidnapping/murder. It's simple to beat an IQ test and score lower than you're capable of.

My thoughts exactly Chris. If he is smart enough to figure all that out, he's smart enough to die.

They never consider or mention the other tests he took that showed he was not retarded. Only the one he took to try and avoid the death penalty.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Do the crime...pay for it.

 

[okie556]

Not sure about simple but I see where your coming from.

Would be simple to answer questions wrong that you knew were correct just to score lower. IMO

 

[okie556]

Do the crime...pay for it.

+1000

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

I don't think we should execute people who don't really understand what's going on - if someone's actually mentally retarded. They've got to know it was wrong and do it anyway.

It's really gotta be a case by case basis. Too many try to avoid the consequences of their actions. This guy looks like he was just dodging a ruling, but since we weren't in the court room hearing the case its hard to say.

 

[majormadmax]

I don't think we should execute people who don't really understand what's going on - if someone's actually mentally retarded. They've got to know it was wrong and do it anyway.

It's really gotta be a case by case basis. Too many try to avoid the consequences of their actions. This guy looks like he was just dodging a ruling, but since we weren't in the court room hearing the case its hard to say.

This.

 

[Dcav]

No bleeding heart here. Got what he deserved!

+1

 

[London]

I don't think we should execute people who don't really understand what's going on - if someone's actually mentally retarded.

Then what? Pay even more tax dollars to keep them alive? Put 'em down like rabid dogs says I.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

Then what? Pay even more tax dollars to keep them alive? Put 'em down like rabid dogs says I.

Should we put down the elderly on Social Security and Medicare too since they're expensive? Who gets to decide who is put down? That's not the type of society we live in (except for the pro-choicers). That's what happens in communist China. We're better than that. Besides, life in prison is cheaper than executing someone.



One of the fundamental tenets for guilt in our legal system is intent to commit the crime. Lookup Mens Rea. Also, those with a diminished mental capacity are much more likely to confess to charges they didn't commit in the first place.

I'm not defending this particular guy, I'm saying that these cases require careful and thoughtful examination.

 

[TXARGUY]

Buh bye. I just wish we still made them 'ride the lightning'. I have no sympathy, full retard or not. Hell, I'm a full retard, you don't see me running around killing people and ending up on death row do you?

 

[zembonez]

No bleeding heart here. Got what he deserved!

Amen.

I didn't read this story, but read earlier that this guy was on parole for his second armed robbery and was arrested on a parole violation when they found a bunch of drugs in his house. Then he was later arrested and convicted of this murder.

Somebody somewhere tell me how he committed all of these crimes, went through the system repeatedly, and was eventually convicted and executed for murder... if he was too dumb to know what he was doing?

 

[grasshopperglock]

Should we put down the elderly on Social Security and Medicare too since they're expensive? Who gets to decide who is put down? That's not the type of society we live in (except for the pro-choicers). That's what happens in communist China. We're better than that. Besides, life in prison is cheaper than executing someone.



One of the fundamental tenets for guilt in our legal system is intent to commit the crime. Lookup Mens Rea. Also, those with a diminished mental capacity are much more likely to confess to charges they didn't commit in the first place.

I'm not defending this particular guy, I'm saying that these cases require careful and thoughtful examination.

I agree.

IMHO. The state of Texas or any other state should NOT have the ability to kill a citizen of the USA.

It has been shown through EXHAUSTIVE study that the death penalty DOES not deter people from the crimes that mandate it.

I worked for TDCJ. Fort Stockton Texas. The uniforms, from inmates to the officers were made by slave labor(inmates). The grill guards on the trucks...made by slave labor.

They grow their own food. Cotton for the mattresses and clothes for inmates....grown, hand picked, by slave labor inmates.

TDCJ would turn a profit, as they did many years ago. Read , "When the wall came tumbling down". If you stepped out of line...a building tender would beat your ass. You fell down from heat, picking watermelon.. After the boss touched you up with a bullwhip....you got thrown in the back of a truck to die.

The federal government stepped in and took Texas prison over. Only maybe 15years ago did they return the system to total Texas control.

Living in a cell with another filthy, nasty, idiot......is worth more then the release of being put to death.

In modern times the officers can't beat you half to death(but another inmate damn sure will)....so....

The food is nasty. Fryed eggs with chicken shit still in it. There is no ac. A cheap plastic fan is all you can buy. No tobacco. Your shit out of luck. The temps of west Texas reached 115 dry ass heat. You'll still pick the cotton. By hand. You are a slave of the state and treated as such. For the term you serve. And when you get out, nobody but the lowest standards of society will hire you. You will never be rich. You will live in squalor.

Would death be a better road to go down? Lots of inmates thought so. They'd cut their wrist with blades out of safety razors. Did the officers give a damn? No, we made jokes.

 

[Anger]

a bad dog put down 20 years after the murder? The only crime here is the amount of leniency we afford to murders. A 0.30 cent bullet in the back of his head just after sentencing or nearly so would have saved the tax payers (society) hundreds of thousands of dollars spent keeping this POS breathing.

 

[zembonez]

IMHO. The state of Texas or any other state should NOT have the ability to kill a citizen of the USA.

I disagree 100%. Kill every damn one of them if you ask me... then grind them up into hamburger and feed em to the other losers in the system. Nobody is forced to do a crime and I damn well don't want to pay to keep these scumbags alive.

Zero sympathy.

Kill em all.

 

[deemus]

I support the death penalty, but I agree with the Hippie. There are those who are legitimately mentally challenged, and then there are those who are just stupid. I do not support DP for the mentally challenged, in cases where they truly did not understand what they were doing when they did it.

Grasshopperglock, that stuff hasn't happened in decades. Texas has been back in control for 15 years, and had oversight prior to that.

In this case, it seems this dude knew what he was doing. Based on what I read, he planned it, and then did the deed. I think the latest IQ test was a sham. There were others he did fine on. I agree with Okie. I think he likely tried to screw it up as a last ditch effort to avoid the DP.

 

[okie556]

Should we put down the elderly on Social Security and Medicare too since they're expensive? Who gets to decide who is put down? That's not the type of society we live in (except for the pro-choicers). That's what happens in communist China. We're better than that. Besides, life in prison is cheaper than executing someone.



One of the fundamental tenets for guilt in our legal system is intent to commit the crime. Lookup Mens Rea. Also, those with a diminished mental capacity are much more likely to confess to charges they didn't commit in the first place.

I'm not defending this particular guy, I'm saying that these cases require careful and thoughtful examination.

Really? You're going to make that comparison. I just turned 65 and on Medicare.....which I paid for and still have to pay $100 each month. I draw S.S. as well but no where near what I paid in. You are welcome to have different a opinion than I on whether this guy should be put to death but that doe not give you the right to compare me to him!