It's extremely fascinating. Death by gunshot's obviously more humane than the peace industry's lethal injection horror show. Gardner's attorney's made an 11th hour appeal to stop the execution, but the wheels of justice kept rolling despite late efforts to slow things down. Watch for the international outcry all weekend as criminal rights groups attack the U.S. as "barbaric." And the circumstances surrounding the case would seem to give death penalty opponents ammunition. Gardner's victim, attorney Michael Burdell, was a pacifist who opposed capital punishment. Attorney's for dead-man-walking Gardner invoked Burdell's name in speaking out out against the execution, saying that "Michael Burdell's voice has never been heard."
Couple of videos below. I wonder if someone's got a hidden mini-cam clip of this guy's death? Gardner's arms kept twitching after the shots fired, apparently. And it's hard to keep that stuff off the Internet in this day and age:
The editors at NTY are calling it "A New Standard of Decency," but yesterday's ruling on juvenile sentencing is just one more in a string of leftist decisions designed, ultimately, to chip away at capital punishment. How do we know? Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, as he did for the disastrous Roper v. Simmons (2005).
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole for crimes other than murder, in a significant 5-4 decision that says imposing such sentences violates the Constitution's prohibition on "cruel and unusual" punishment. The court's 5-4 decision — which says that an automatic life sentence for a young offender who has not committed murder violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment — wipes out laws in 37 states.
It means that the 129 juveniles now serving time under such laws will, at some point, have an opportunity to make a case for parole.
Most significantly, the decision — signed by the nine-member court's four more liberal justices and Anthony Kennedy, the conservative who votes with the liberals the most — emphasizes that young criminals are different from adults. And not just when it comes to the death penalty, which the court made off-limits for juveniles in 2005.
"A life without parole sentence improperly denies the juvenile offender a chance to demonstrate growth and maturity," Kennedy wrote for the majority in the decision that found life without parole disproportionally harsh.
The decision immediately generated debate over where the court would go in the future regarding juvenile rights, including the possibility that it could strike down life-without-parole for juvenile murderers.
I can't imagine much public support for such a position, and it's going to get worse if Ruth Bader Ginsberg steps down next year, giving President Obama a chance to appoint a third radical leftist to the court during his first term. Frankly, here's a hint that the radical majority on the court won't stop the campaign of "evolving decency" with juvenile defendants:
In Kennedy's opinion for the majority, he highlighted the limited culpability of young offenders and said the usual justifications for harsh sentences, such as deterrence, do not hold up for those under age 18.
Baylor University criminal law professor Mark Osler said Monday's decision arises against the backdrop of a broader national re-examination of harsh sentences, but it is most significant in how it views offenders who are under age 18.
RTWT at the link. (And Kennedy's appeal to international legal standards is especially appalling.)
Mark McClain, the so-called "Pizza Store Killer," was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening. The Georgia Department of Corrections issued a pre-execution press release, "McClain Execution Media Advisory." And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a report, "State Executes Pizza Store Killer":
Condemned inmate Mark McClain was killed by lethal injection at 7:24 p.m. Tuesday in Jackson.
He had no visitors Tuesday, though a Department of Corrections spokeswoman said he talked to two relatives by phone. McClain, 42, declined to eat his final meal and refused a sedative offered one hour before his execution. At around 6:15 he learned from his attorneys that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied a motion to stay, just as the Georgia Supreme Court had ruled earlier in the day.
McClain did not issue a final statement. When asked if he wanted a prayer said for him, he replied, "No, I'm fine." He lay expressionless and made no eye contact with the attorneys, prison officials and members of the media who witnessed his execution. As his death drew near McClain's ruddy complexion turned pale. His body lunged forward slightly as the potassium chloride raced through his veins, but otherwise his passing was quiet.
His execution, unlike most, kept to schedule.
There were no relatives present, which is not uncommon, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath.
McClain was sentenced to death by a Richmond County jury for the 1994 murder of Kevin Brown, 28. The Domino's Pizza store manager was shot once in the chest for the $130 in his till.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution examined the facts and circumstances behind 2,328 murder convictions in Georgia from 1995 through 2004. In a series published in 2007, the AJC found Georgia law has fallen short of ensuring a predictable and even-handed application of the death penalty. Instead, death sentences were being arbitrarily imposed, the investigation found.
The main reason was the way state prosecutors handled armed-robbery murder, one of Georgia’s most prevalent capital crimes.
In 1995, McClain’s case proved remarkable because it was the only one of its kind. Over the decade studied, seven other men were sentenced to Death Row for armed-robbery murder. Another 432 got life in prison.
These armed-robbery murders, like McClain’s, did not involve torture, maiming, murder-for-hire or police killing.
The newspaper is attacking the death penalty as unconstitutional as per Furman v. Georgia (1972).
The same day convicted Richmond County killer Mark McClain was executed at a Georgia prison, one of the nation’s leading non-profit death penalty research organizations released a harsh assessment of the practice.
A report by the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center released Tuesday said state executions are wasting millions of dollars that could be funneled to other anti-crime efforts, and that law enforcement officials increasingly view it as a low priority for reducing actual crimes.
The Augusta Chronicle piece never mentions the circumstance of McClain's crime. The story just promotes the NCADP agenda. The organization boasts a large affiliate network of organizations with deep ties to hard left's "struggle" to end the death penalty. The NCADP's former chair is Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking. Prejean is a longtime peace activist with ties to hardline antiwar groups and communist organizations. Prejean is founder of the Moratorium Campaign. The outfit seeks to
As the designated monitor, I was the lone media representative tasked with watching nurses prepare Mr. McClain for his death.
I was inches away from the glass.
When the door opened, the warden entered first, then the guards, then Mr. McClain. He barely glanced our way as he lay down on the table and was strapped into place. His expression never changed.
We were told he had no visitors before the execution. Mr. McClain’s parents are dead and so are the parents of the victim, Kevin Brown. Instead, he had a room filled with more than 20 people who were there because of work or requirement to watch him die.
When he was prepared, they brought in the other reporters, along with the sheriff's investigator who put him in jail and an attorney from Augusta.
With no noise, we watched as the drugs were automatically pumped into his veins -- as his normally ruddy complexion flushed red.
We waited.
His chest heaved violently for about a minute then stopped.
His face turned purple. Then gray. Then white.
A housefly danced upon the white sheet that covered Mr. McClain’s legs. It was the only movement in the room.
Finally, a pair of doctors lifted his lifeless eyelids with their fingers and listened to make sure there was no heartbeat.
The process was complete and Mr. McClain was dead.
