NEVADA NEWS & VIEWS 01/28/2015

Death Row Murderers Afraid of A Little Shot

(by Fred Weinberg) - The Supreme Court, which we hire to call the ultimate balls and strikes in our legal system, has decided to hear an appeal from three Oklahoma death row inmates whose lawyers think that the three drug cocktail which will used to kill them on a gurney in a clean, well lit room is too painful and would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

Below are the three inmates and the reason each one finds themselves in the predicament they are in:

Justin Sneed, a young contract handyman who worked and lived at the Best Budget Inn that Richard E. Glossip managed in Oklahoma City, confessed to beating motel owner Barry Van Treese to death with a baseball bat on Jan. 7, 1997. Prosecutors said Glossip feared losing his job and recruited Sneed to kill his boss. Sneed would later testify that Glossip promised him $10,000 to commit the crime. Both men were convicted of first-degree murder. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed received a life sentence without parole; Glossip received a death sentence.

John M. Grant was serving a 35-year term for a 1980 robbery conviction when he stabbed cafeteria worker Gay Carter 16 times with a home-made knife after dragging her into a small closet. He pulled her into a mop closet, covered her mouth and stabbed her several times in the chest, according to court records. She had 16 stab wounds, one of which punctured her aorta, according to court records.

On December 20, 2002, Benjamin R. Cole was playing video games. He was interrupted by the crying of his nine-month-old daughter Brianna. He went to her crib and bent her legs backward and then flipped her over. This broke her spine and ruptured her aorta. He went back to playing video games, but eventually checked on Brianna, found her unresponsive, and called for emergency assistance. Cole had a conviction for abusing his infant son in California in 1987.

So; hired death by baseball bat, homemade shiv and physically snapping the spine of a nine month old baby girl.

And these guys are worried about a little old shot in the arm?

They are lucky we don’t take them out and hang them from the highest tree in their respective county seats.  Or stand them in front of a wall and give them a horizontal 21 gun salute.  Or invite our favorite Islamic executioner and behead them on YouTube.

I get the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

It is designed to stop us from making a spectacle of the administration of justice.

It is NOT designed to stop us from killing a guy who snapped his baby daughter in half.  Or stabbed a cafeteria worker 16 times.  Or paid someone else to beat his boss to death with a baseball bat.

It is my great hope that the Supremes will NOT get sidetracked in those arguments and forget why these clowns are where they are to begin with.

Because whether or not you believe in the broad deterrent effects of the death penalty, I can guarantee that if these clowns get it, they won’t do it again.

That’s deterrent enough for me.

(This column was originally published in the Penny Press)