My Views on the Death Penalty Revisited

When I was driving home yesterday I listened to the radio and the talk show host who I listen to, Pat White, had a discussion about a man named Jose Medellin who, along with five others, tortured, raped and murdered two young (16 and 14) year old girls in Houston back in 1993. You can read a summary of this horrible crime by following this link. I wanted to post this particular version because I believe it paints a better picture of the crime than the vanilla newspapers and news broadcasts which tend to clean up the details in order to protect the viewer/reader.

Anyway, this scumbag was put to death yesterday for his crime yet controversy erupted from this. You see, Medellin was not given access to the Mexican Consulate during his trial or subsequent incarceration. Because Medellin was born in Mexico and moved to the US when he was 3, he was still technically a Mexican citizen and by virtue of the Treaty of Versailles, was eligible for this Consulate access. The lawyers attempted to stop the execution based on this loophole and actually took it to the Supreme Court where a split decision ruled that the World Count nor the Federal government could prevent the Texas State Courts from carrying out the sentence. Medellin was put to death around 9:00pm last night.

Now, you are probably asking, where is Lonnie going to fly off the handle and start spouting diatribe about the death penalty. Well, I'm not. I'm going to say simply that I support the Death Penalty. Some will say two wrongs don't make a right. I believe this is true. But, like putting down a animal that savages a child, I also believe that it is a legimate, humane penalty to carry out against a human being. Okay, that's it on that subject. Now the jist of this whole discussion.

It took 15 years for Medellin to die and I think that is way too long a time to wait. Furthermore, his execution was nearly held up because of this loophole concerning his Mexican citizenship. The Death Penalty is a horribly inefficient form of punishment. It is expensive and takes an incredible amount of time and resources. We need to do it better. I think that lawyers need to be held responsible for the defense that they offer their clients. This whole mess with the Consulate could have been avoided if the public defender had done his job and made it known to the defendent that this was an option. I believe that Mendellin deserved a defense, as indefensible an act it was that he committed. I want the scum of the earth to exhaust every possible option they have, but they need to do so in a less time consuming way. I think the attorneys should bear the responsibility for making this happen. The two girls who died in this horrific crime didn't have those 15 years. Had they, perhaps they would be wives, have children, have enjoyed college, the beginning of a rewarding career. Hell, they would have had a chance to graduate high school!

Stuff like this really bothers me. I makes me sick to think of something like that happening to Megan or Grace or even Balin. Why do I support the death penalty? Because if something happened to one of my children like what happened to those beautiful girls, death for the people responsible would be the only acceptable punishment. Plain and simple. We should never have the luxury of allowing ourselves to be lenient and forgiving of the monsters that destroy other's loved ones if we can't be lenient and forgiving if they do the same to those we love.

Finally, an MSN.com article contained the following:

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where Medellin was born, a small group of his relatives condemned his execution.

“Only God has the right to take a life,” cousin Reyna Armendariz said.

This struck me as one of the most ridiculous statements I'd ever read. This idiot believes that only God has the right to take a life, yet she supports a man who stomped the thoats of two innocent teens. Some people just don't get it.