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John
Albert Taylor (June 6, 1959 – January 26, 1996) was an American who was
convicted of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon in the state of Florida,
and sexual assault and murder in the state of Utah. Taylor's own sister tipped
off police in June 1989 after 11-year-old Charla King was found raped and
strangled to death in Washington Terrace, Utah. His fingerprints were found at
the crime scene, which was located in an apartment complex where he had been
staying. In December 1989, Taylor was sentenced to death and placed on death
row at Utah State Prison.
Taylor gave up appealing his sentence after his request
for retrial was rejected by the Utah Supreme Court. He became the second person
to be executed by firing squad in the United States (after Gary Gilmore) since
the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Taylor said he chose this method of
execution to embarrass the state of Utah. On January 26, 1996, the day of
Taylor's execution, legislation was introduced in the Utah House of
Representatives to eliminate the firing squad. In 2004, the state of Utah
withdrew the firing squad as a method of execution, leaving lethal injection as
the only remaining option.
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Reagan had faced the dilemma [of a governor's role in capital
punishment] while serving as governor of California, Reagan recalled the
demonstrators who regularly paraded in front of the governor's mansion. With a
slight chuckle, the president mentioned how some Christian ministers began
tolling their bells in anticipation of the execution. "I
told them, 'If you toll your bells every time somebody is murdered, I won't
mind if you do it every time the state executes a killer."
|
[Focus on
murder victims while considering capital punishment (Source:
Lessons From a Father to His Son, by John Ashcroft p.138-139 , May 5, 1998)] |
The words of
the late President Ronald Reagan were spot on! We, the members of Unit 1012:
The VFFDP, who have lost family members to murder, wants to save the death
penalty in Utah. Please read this article from William and Lorie Fowlke as it
will explain why:
Guest
Opinion: Don’t get rid of the death penalty
Share
We
respectfully disagree with a growing position of eliminating the death penalty.
We hear repeated, decades-old arguments that the death penalty costs too much,
traumatizes victims, is not a deterrent, and is irreversible. While we
appreciate that people have taken time to study these issues the last few
months, we have worked in the justice system for several decades and know that
these arguments, while persuasive to some, fail closer scrutiny.
The polls. While an October poll found fewer Utahns
support the death penalty than in years past there could be many reasons,
including recent significant news
reports on the issue in the
fall. We have an in-migration of liberal voters. People have concerns of
possible innocence which are fed by opponents of the death penalty. Let us
examine the facts.
The
fact is most Americans and Utahns support the death penalty. According to the PEW
Institute, in 2021, 60% of Americans favor the death penalty and 39% oppose
it. Interestingly, over three-quarters of Republicans and independents who lean
toward the Republican Party (77%) say they favor the death penalty for persons
convicted of murder, while 46% of Democrats and Democratic leaners favor the
death penalty.
It diminishes the
victims when people burn candles and mourn someone who has committed a heinous
crime. People on death row are some of the worst individuals that appear on the
face of the earth. The abolitionists refuse to acknowledge that evil exists and
evil has to be put down. – Marc Klaas
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The victims. Murder always involves two sets of victims,
the one(s) killed and the grieving loved ones. A defense attorney’s number
trial strategy in any criminal case is delay. They know the further removed the
trial is from the crime, the less people care. Delay and ongoing appeals wear
down victims’ resolve to “see justice done.” Studies are available on all
sides. Words like closure, retribution, and even justice, do not make the
remaining victims whole, because nothing can. Proponents of abolishing the
death penalty reference the
case of Ron Lafferty to support their position. In the law there is the
saying that “bad facts make bad law.” Ron Lafferty was one of the
longest-serving condemned inmates in the country and sat on death row for 34
years. An anomaly should not be the basis for policy change. Instead, change
policy to streamline the process.
Other
victims feel differently. The families of Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson and Riley
Powell were “shocked,
angered, and disappointed” and believed the “Utah County Justice system is
broken” when they learned Utah County Attorney David Leavitt refuses to seek
the death penalty for Jared Baum, an extremely violent career criminal tragically
prematurely released from Federal Prison and charged with their murder.
Partial information will be treated as a lie. – Quote from Zero Dark
Thirty
Irreversible Sentence. The claim that the
death penalty “is applied to people who are actually innocent,” is inapplicable
in Utah. The Innocence Project’s statistics show they have identified 18
persons, nationwide, who were on death row, and later exonerated through DNA
testing. None of these 18 cases were in Utah. In fact, the Death
Penalty Information Center currently reports that of all the persons who
have ever been on death row in Utah, not one of them has been exonerated.
In
1993, University of Utah law professor Paul G. Cassell testified before the
U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights
Concerning Claims of Innocence in Capital Cases. He referenced Justice Powell
commenting on the numerous capital cases that come before the Supreme Court,
the ‘unprecedented safeguards’ already inherent in capital sentencing statutes
‘ensure a degree of care in the imposition of the sentence of death that can
only be described as unique.’
Professor
Cassell stated that, “Once all of those decision makers have agreed that a
death sentence is appropriate, innocent lives would be lost from failure to
impose the sentence. Capital sentences, when carried out, save innocent lives
by permanently incapacitating murderers. Some persons who commit capital
homicide will slay other innocent persons if given the opportunity to do so.
The death penalty is the most effective means of preventing such killers from
repeating their crimes.
The costs. The cost of litigating multiple appeals can be
formidable, especially when a county is paying for both sides of a case, i.e.,
prosecutor and public defender. Compare this with the cost of a victim’s life.
How much is your child, wife, husband’s life worth? Syracuse University
Professor Thomas J. Kniesner and colleagues estimate that the lifetime
cost of a capital-eligible case that results in a death sentence would need
to exceed $56 million for it to outweigh the public’s willingness to avoid
being murdered.
Of
course, studies show death penalty cases cost “more than cases where life
without parole is sought.” Death penalty cases require specially trained
counsel. Many of those 54 murder defendants will eventually plead to life
without parole or to several decades in prison to take the death penalty “off
the table.” If there is a plea, there are usually no further appeals, and
expenses stop.
However,
costs may increase in other cases. Undeniably, the threat of the death penalty
is a tool that can motivate a defendant to plead to a lesser offense for its
removal, thus saving significant trial expenses. If 45 years or “life” in
prison is the worst punishment available, many defendants will proceed to trial
as they have nothing to lose; trial increases costs.
Costs of additional victims and crimes. Most people
believe the problem is resolved when they “lock up these offenders and throw
away the key.” This ignores the fact that murderers do not stop their cruel
behavior because they are locked up. Some continue to threaten, harm and kill
members of the public, criminal justice staff, and other inmates and do so in
their maximum-security prison cell blocks, visiting rooms, recreation yards,
courtrooms, or during transport. Utahn’s Ronnie Lee Gardner, Pierre Dale Selby,
and Troy Michael Kell exemplify this phenomenon.
One
particularly
good study, based on data from all 50 states from 1978 to 1997 by Federal
Communications Commission economist Paul Zimmerman, demonstrated that each
state execution deters an average of 14 murders annually.
Deterrence. The Commissioner’s reference that the death
penalty “doesn’t work,” suggests the argument that it is not a deterrence.
Again, statistics vary depending on study sponsors and criteria.
US
Supreme Court Justice Stewart wrote: “Although some of the studies suggest that
the death penalty may not function as a significantly greater deterrent than
lesser penalties, there is no convincing empirical evidence either supporting
or refuting this view. . . . there are some categories of murder, such as
murder by a life prisoner, where other sanctions may not be adequate.” Gregg v. Georgia, 428 US 153, 185-186
(1976).
Increased violence. We are living in an era of increased
lawlessness. State leaders cannot afford to be soft on crime, allow violent
crime to spike, or handle criminals with kid gloves. The public must feel safe
in their homes. Families of victims should have peace of mind. Utah residents
ought to have justice. The death penalty is a positive measure towards those
ends.
Constitutionally Sound: The death penalty has
been upheld constitutionally and is an appropriate and legally sound sentence
for the most serious aggravated violent crimes. “Some crimes are so inherently
evil they demand strict penalties – up to and including death.”
See the violence. Some heinous crime
scene photos are parsed out to the jury to not “unduly prejudice” them against the
defendant, but the violence of murder is ugly. Look at the handy work of
killers who qualify, the gruesome crime scene photos, and evidence collected
(killing tools). Read the witness statements and study the police reports of
Utah’s extreme killers. John Douglas, founder, and head of the FBI’s
Investigative Support Unit wrote, “to understand the artist, you must first
look at their paintings.”
Douglas
recorded one such experience where he allowed a Hollywood actor who vigorously
opposed the death penalty to experience recordings produced by two serial
killers as they raped and tortured to death two teenage girls. The actor’s
response was to weep and state, “I had no idea there were people out there who
could do anything like this.” An intelligent, compassionate father with two
girls of this own, after seeing and hearing what he did in Douglas’ office,
said he could no longer oppose the death penalty: “The experience in Quantico
changed my mind about that for all time.” Douglas, John and Mark Olshaker. “Chapter
9” in Mind Hunter Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. Pocket Star Books,
1995.
Decent
and reasonable people, including our government leaders, expect decency. The
key to this issue is understanding the predator mentality, the “bully,” who represents
the antithesis of decency. Moving these people to another location does not
change them; it just presents a new hunting ground. Bullies only respect and
respond to superior strength. True evil does exist and sometimes we must be
strong enough to stamp it out in order to protect the rest of us.
William
Fowlke, former director Utah Adult Probation & Parole
Lorie
Fowlke, attorney, former state legislator and Judiciary Committee Chair
INTERNET SOURCE: https://utahpolicy.com/politics/62557-guest-opinion-dont-get-rid-of-the-death-penalty
https://vk.com/wall-184585082_421
A statement was issued Wednesday by the Chief of Criminal Appeals at the Attorney General Office, Tom Bunker. He said while the office is sensitive to the frustration and pain of families like Sharon Weeks,
"The office strongly feels that a punishment needs to be in place for the worst of the worst violent criminals--as in the Lafferty case."
"The Attorney General’s office fully acknowledges and is sensitive to the frustration and pain families like Sharon Weeks feel at the decades-long delay in carrying out death sentences.
However, the office strongly feels that a punishment needs to be in place for the worst of the worst violent criminals—as in the Lafferty case. A severe sentence must exist to set a standard for severity in our criminal justice system.
Repealing the death penalty won’t eradicate prolonged and repetitive litigation. The review process is the same in all cases, and there are many non-death cases where the convicted persons file endless petitions for review.
Worse, repealing the death penalty will add many years of delay to the existing cases, exacerbating the pain their family members are suffering. And there will be little savings on the other end—Utah hasn’t imposed a death sentence in more than 14 years.”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=399220442008129&id=100057605302283
Please contact those in Utah Senate:
Don Ipson, 29 District Utah Senate
https://house.utah.gov/rep/IPSONDL/
Casey Snider
https://house.utah.gov/rep/SNIDEC/
Dan Johnson
https://house.utah.gov/rep/JOHNSDN/
Paul Ray
https://house.utah.gov/rep/RAYP/
Brad Wilson
https://house.utah.gov/meet-speaker-brad-wilson/
Evan Vickers
https://senate.utah.gov/sen/VICKEEJ/
Mike Schulz
https://house.utah.gov/rep/SCHULM/
RELATED LINKS:
“I
think that you have to look at what's the penalty. We as a society have said
that certain crimes, heinous crimes such as the murder of somebody, [are punished
by death], I would like to actually increase the death penalty to apply to
aggravated sexual assault of a child.... There are certain things that I think
you are not going to rehabilitate somebody, you're going to stick them in a
correctional facility for the rest of their lives. You are going to put guards
in danger sometimes trying to deal with these people. I think that the proper
thing to do is to permanently terminate this person, remove them from society
permanently."
-
Paul Ray, Utah House of Representatives
http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2022/02/save-death-penalty-in-utah-2022.html
Parole Watch {Utah}:
1a. Police officer
seeks changes in the Utah Board of Pardons
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=236013708614626&id=101692122046786
https://ksltv.com/478772/police-officer-seeks-changes-in-the-utah-board-of-pardons/
Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/posts/4568996176549299/
1b. Utah officer who survived murder attempt wants parole board accountability
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=366960071900833&id=100057605302283
Pro Death Penalty Quotes {Utah}:
1. Local lawmakers
support capital punishment in Utah
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=241763991372931&id=101692122046786
2. Ex-deputy Utah County attorney chides efforts to abolish death penalty
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=375405637722943&id=100057605302283
3. Proposed bill would prohibit Utah from seeking death penalty
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=255838783298785&id=101692122046786
https://kjzz.com/news/utah-legislators-propose-new-bill-aiming-to-remove-death-penalty
4a. Another Utah Senator, Republican Don Ipson, said that, while he believes the death penalty as it stands is broken, he doesn’t want to “take tools out of the prosecutor’s toolbox.”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=259712009578129&id=101692122046786
https://thecrimereport.org/2022/01/19/will-utah-scrap-the-death-penalty/
4b. ‘We want to hear from the people’: Southern Utah legislators sound off on how constituents can be heard
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=259712976244699&id=101692122046786
Last week, Utah County Attorney David Leavitt was accused of inappropriately dismissing a stalking charge against a campaign donor who also served an LDS mission with Leavitt’s brother.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=255839676632029&id=101692122046786
Execution of Pedophile {1996 Event} {Utah}:
John Albert Taylor (June 6,
1959 – January 26, 1996)
PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/Samurai-Police-1109-101692122046786/photos/262087989340531
Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/posts/4761911680591080/
Troy Michael Kell (born June 13, 1968) is an inmate on death row in Utah. Troy Kell was sentenced to life in prison by the State of Nevada for the 1986 murder of James "Cotton" Kelly. Shortly after his conviction he was transferred to the Utah State Prison as part of a prisoner exchange program. On July 6, 1994, Troy Kell attacked and killed inmate Lonnie Blackmon at the Utah Department of Corrections Gunnison facility, stabbing Blackmon a total of 67 times while his associate, Eric Daniels, held Blackmon down. Kell was sentenced to death by firing squad for his part in the murder. Once in prison, Kell became a white supremacist gang leader. Prior to the attack on Blackmon, Kell had been involved in race-related altercations with several black inmates, including Blackmon. The murder was captured on the prison security closed-circuit TV camera.
PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/Samurai-Police-1109-101692122046786/photos/138403808375617
VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/101692122046786/videos/4174524762630499
https://vk.com/video-184585082_456239035
OTHER LINKS:
Pro Death Penalty Column:
Time to bring back the death
penalty? | Rebecca Jane column. In 2016 for my legal dissertation I delved into
the world of the ‘death penalty’. More importantly, should we bring it back, or
is it right to not have it here in the UK?
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2080470448770982&id=1299628893521812
Columnist dead wrong on death penalty – Dudley Sharp
https://vk.com/wall-184585082_326
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2086497884834905&id=1299628893521812
SARAH VINE: The case of morgue predator David Fuller was so evil that it's changed my mind about the death penalty
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2105070439644316&id=1299628893521812
Capital Punishment Still Serves Its Purpose. Don't Abolish It | Opinion
Josh Hammer , Newsweek opinion editor
https://vk.com/wall-184585082_370
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2117932431691450&id=1299628893521812
https://www.newsweek.com/capital-punishment-still-serves-its-purpose-dont-abolish-it-opinion-1651060
Inventor of 3D-printed coffin-like 'suicide capsules' reveals plans to create a body implant for people with dementia that would KILL its user if they forget to deactivate it
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=242833844599279&id=101692122046786
https://www.facebook.com/DailyMailAust/posts/3466334643601581
LETTER: Death penalty drug controversy
A headline on the Dec. 17 Review-Journal front page
read, “Doctor unsure on execution drug mix.” For the people who are concerned about
the drug mix that is given to death row inmates: They should look into the
drugs that eight states use for euthanasia. If it’s good enough for grandma,
it’s good enough for a murderer.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=245192564363407&id=101692122046786
https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/letters/letter-death-penalty-drug-controversy-2501588/
VK: https://vk.com/wall-184585082_405
Letter: No option but to bring back the death penalty By John Anson
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=244120567803940&id=101692122046786
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/19805969.letter-no-option-bring-back-death-penalty/
VK: https://vk.com/wall-184585082_402
Vigilante {UK}:
Mum whose dead daughter was raped
by man in mortuary went to police station with knife to kill him
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2109924739158886&id=1299628893521812
https://www.mylondon.news/news/north-london-news/mum-whose-dead-daughter-raped-22089516
https://vk.com/wall-184585082_340
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/4506955096086741
Why child killers should now face death penalty following Star Hobson tragedy in Keighley – Yorkshire Post Letters
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4899110663480367&id=105048709553277
VK Link: https://vk.com/wall-184585082_409
Death penalty for dealers
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=253209186895078&id=101692122046786
https://www.castanet.net/news/Letters/356544/Death-penalty-for-dealers
Guns & Bibles:
Examples of Defensive Gun Use
at End of 2021
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=256618746554122&id=101692122046786
https://www.facebook.com/heritagefoundation/posts/299700118865377
https://www.heritage.org/firearms/commentary/14-examples-defensive-gun-use-end-2021
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