News Comments, Part 2

The second item I wanted to comment on was the man who was sentenced to death today in Connecticut.  He had been convicted of murder (among other things) in the death of a woman and her two daughters.  A heinous crime that completely shocked me.  He and his accomplice wanted to rob this house and, in the process, beat this man, tied him in his basement, held the family hostage overnight then sent the woman to the bank to get them $15,000.  Upon her return, they raped and murdered her, tied the two girls to their beds and raped them (one was 11, the other 17), then set the house on fire.  And not only setting it on fire but also pouring gasoline around the girls.  So they not only had to endure being raped and tortured but they had to die tied to their beds while their bedrooms burned around them.

So this man, Steven Hayes, who was convicted for his part in this crime, was sentenced to death today. And, when the sentence was handed down, he smiled. Why?  Because he had tried to commit suicide, didn’t succeed but still wanted to die. He was getting his wish.  Suicide by state.

My thoughts?  I think he should sit on death row for the rest of his life but not be executed.  Just sit there, day after day, thinking he will be executed any day now and be put out of his misery. But it won’t happen.  He will sit in his cell until the day he dies of natural causes at a ripe old age.  Why do I think this would be a just punishment? Because he thinks it would be the most brutal punishment in the world.  To be locked up for decades in a cell.  So, that is what should happen.  But not with a sentence of life in prison.  With the sentence of the death penalty so he thinks the end may come any day now.  But it won’t happen.  THAT would be some semblance of justice for the family.

You see, I’m not in favor of the death penalty.  The whole eye for an eye argument is archaic.  Granted I am glad some people have fried.  For example, the fact that Ted Bundy (a serial killer who preyed on young woman) is dead is a comfort because he was the type who could have escaped and killed again. But, other than a few cases, I think that the death penalty is an easy out for convicted murderers.  It won’t bring the victim back, it costs more than keeping a person in prison the rest of his life and is essentially putting the killer out of his misery. He doesn’t have to live in a little cell, locked away from the world, thinking about what he did anymore.  He gets out. That doesn’t seem fair to me.

We live in the 21^st century.  I would think we could come up with a more civilized way of dealing with murderers. Not to mention most countries in the world don’t have the death penalty anymore.  They, the countries who don’t, have evolved to other forms of punishment.  I think we should develop some other way of dealing with this problem.  Besides the death penalty is not a deterrent.  In the heat of the moment, a killer won’t stop and think that if he murders someone, he may be sentenced to death.  Unless, they want to die.  I read somewhere that Ted Bundy went to Florida to kill someone just because they did have the death penalty and he wanted to be sentenced to death.  But I believe that normally the thought of the death penalty doesn’t enter a killer’s mind because most of the time they think they are going to get away with it anyway.

Oh, and the other, more civilized way of dealing with convicted killers has to involve keeping them quiet.  Murderers should not be able to tell their stories to the press. The punishment should be that they can’t wander free, they can’t vote and they shouldn’t have a voice.  Just stay in your little cell and think about what you did.  That would be the best punishment of all.

I know that there isn’t any healing from losing someone.  Just time lessening the pain and easing the grief.  I hope the gentleman who lost his wife and daughters will receive peace someday. I hope the pain lessens and he can be comforted.