IN LOVING MEMORY OF THOSE VICTIMS IN WEST VIRGINIA

            On this date, Tuesday 15 February 2011, there was a debate in West Virginia about bringing back the death penalty to the state. As a former opponent of the death penalty and a born again Christian, I would post two news sources about the debate before rebutting the abolitionists in the state on another blog post.

The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

February 16, 2011

Death penalty pros, cons discussed in committee hearing

By Mannix Porterfield

Register-Herald Reporter
 

BECKLEY — CHARLESTON — Holding aloft a framed, color photograph of her daughter, Debbie Newell wept aloud Tuesday in telling of her 7-year-old daughter Jessica’s death at the hands of an uncle.

For three days, after she vanished at a bowling alley where she had gone with her father, the child was the subject of an intense search.

“They found her little body on top of a mountain,” Newell told a committee of lawmakers inside the House chamber, in a public hearing on a bill to restore capital punishment in West Virginia.

“He drug her into the woods and left her three days for the animals and bugs.”

The uncle, now in prison, without a chance for parole, is fed and clothed at taxpayer expense.

“He got life,” Newell said. “I got life. I got life without my baby.”

Her voice choked with emotion, Newell exclaimed, “Yes, I agree with the death penalty. Put these animals where they belong. Kill them like they killed this baby girl.

“She didn’t have to die at the hands of this animal. And that’s what he is. He’s an animal. It has to take an animal to kill this little child.”

The Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches, revealed a personal brush with tragedy, recounting the slaying of a cousin.

“The rage came out deep inside me at that time,” he said.

“We knew the state would simply lock him away.”

As time passed, however, Sparks explored his church’s position on the death penalty.

“I knew there was something deeper inside of me, deeper than rage, that deep part of me in the depths of my soul, that says there’s another way, there’s a greater way, and I need faith to go into that direction to return to what is right,” he said.

“I’ve been down that road.”

Sparks reminded the judiciary committee that Jesus once implored an audience to forget the Old Testament creed of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and “turn the other cheek, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.”

In all, a dozen people spoke against the bill Delegate John Overington, R-Berkeley, offered to revive a limited version of capital punishment. Ten others spoke in favor of the bill, one Overington has pushed consistently for a quarter of a century.

Overington gathered some emotional speakers who lost loved ones in brutal and often grisly killings. His bill would impose capital punishment for especially “heinous crimes” and the slaying of police officers.

Even so, Judiciary Chairman Tim Miley, D-Harrison, doesn’t appear likely to run the measure in his committee.

“As of now, there’s not enough support for the death penalty bill in the committee,” Miley said, just before the hearing began.

“Who knows what mind may be changed as a result of this public hearing?” he said. “At the very least, I wanted to give people the opportunity to express their positions and ideas and thoughts on the issue. This is just a matter of fundamental fairness on this issue.”

Sidney Devonshire produced a photograph of a daughter and grandson, victims of a murder tragedy in the Eastern Panhandle. The victims were left in a garage that was set ablaze.

“My life was turned upside down in three to four hours,” he said.

“The justice system has been broken. Laws that are written, I feel, are working for the criminals, not for the victims. We need better laws to protect the victims, the citizens from violent crimes.”

Carol Warren, also representing the Council of Churches, called capital punishment “state-sanctioned, premeditated killing.”

She also said the death penalty is discriminatory because a disproportionate number of “people of color wind up on death rows.”

“It seems to be the only reason to have a death penalty is revenge,” she said.

“We all fall short of what God calls us to do. I hope and pray in the moment I meet my Creator I do not get what I deserve.”

Larry Gillespie detailed the horrific slaying of a brother at the hands of 19-year-old killers.

His brother was stabbed 76 times, and the slayers immediately repaired to a restaurant in South Charleston, with his blood still on their clothes, to eat breakfast.

Now, the two are getting fed, sheltered, clothed, and educated, and taxpayers are paying the bills, Gillespie said.

“That’s so unfair,” he said.

The Rev. Jim Lewis, an Episcopal clergyman, found it “odd at this time” that West Virginia would be looking into restoring the death penalty, which was outlawed back in 1965.

“It’s dying an inevitable death in our country right now,” Lewis said.

Dante Johnson told lawmakers that murder is another choice that people make.

While some choose to work, take care of their families and pay taxes, he said, others make the wrong choice in deliberately taking lives.

“How can we stop West Virginia from being a vacation for serial killers?” he asked.

Quoting hippie cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson, he added, “You’re not punishing me. You’re sending me home.”

Several other clergymen denounced capital punishment as barbaric and pleaded with lawmakers not to restore it, often referring to Biblical calls for mercy and forgiveness.

Former Delegate Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, suggested the issue could best be decided by putting it on the ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment so voters could make the decision.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

http://www.register-herald.com/local/x1983886390/Death-penalty-pros-cons-discussed-in-committee-hearing/print

Wednesday February 16, 2011

Emotions run high at death penalty debate

by Jared Hunt

Daily Mail Capitol Reporter

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Victim's families, religious leaders and human rights activists engaged in passionate and emotional debate Tuesday over whether or not West Virginia should reinstate the death penalty. 

At the request of Delegate John Overington, R-Berkeley, the House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on the issue in the House chamber. 

Overington is one of nearly 20 lawmakers who have co-sponsored death penalty measures. There are two bills and one proposed constitutional amendment, which would have to be approved by voters statewide.   

During the forum, family members of murder victims begged lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty, which was repealed by the Legislature in 1965. The hearing lasted about 90 minutes. Ten people spoke in favor of reinstatement, while 13 spoke against.  

Some talked of how difficult it is to live with the fact that their friends and family members were slain and now their killers live at state expense. 

Larry Gillespie of South Charleston detailed his brother James' brutal murder in November 2009 at the hands of 19-year-olds James Thompson and Michael Thompson. 

 "They took him and beat him mercilessly," Gillespie said. "Then they stabbed him 76 times; then they strangled him with his own belt and poured bleach on him."

Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom sentenced the pair to life with mercy in December. That means they will be eligible to go before a parole board in 15 years. 

"That someone can do something like that and we can house them and feed them and they get stronger. . .yet they brutally killed my brother - that's not fair," Gillespie said. 

Paula Roll of Shepherdstown said she had never thought about capital punishment until her best friend, Kathy Sharp, was held captive and murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in June 2009. 

"We're educating him and feeding him. I personally wouldn't mind spending my tax money on putting him to death."

Debbie Newell spoke on behalf of her daughter Jessica, who was brutally murdered by her uncle in 1997.

Newell broke down crying, saying people like her daughter's murderer were nothing but animals and should be disposed of as such. 

"Put these animals where they belong - kill them like they killed our baby girl. Please, please bring back the death penalty in West Virginia."

Carol Warren of the West Virginia Council of Churches said the ultimate judgment of murderers must be left to God, not men. 

"In the sixth grade, my daughter had a button that said, 'Why do we kill people to show that killing people is wrong?' " 

She said she found it odd that an 11-year-old could have so much more understanding of the issue than some of the adults in the room. 

"I have to believe that God's unconditional love reaches out to the perpetrator in the same way it reaches out to the victim. It is not our task to decide if someone is ultimately irredeemable."

The Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches, said the teachings of Jesus provide further guidance on Old Testament law that seems to support capitol punishment.

http://www.dailymail.com/News/201102151332

"We know, as some have quoted in Deuteronomy: 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' " Sparks said. "But Jesus said, 'A new commandment I give unto you; I say unto you turn the other cheek.'"

Retired United Methodist Bishop William Boyd Grove said, "The United Methodist Church and the West Virginia Council of Churches believe that the state of West Virginia occupies the high ground morally on this issue, and we urge you to maintain that position.

"We believe that all life is sacred and that no life is beyond change and redemption. We believe that because we find its truth in the Christian faith." 

Sidney Devonshire of Martinsburg and several others spoke on behalf of his 22-year-old daughter, Angela, and her 3-year-old son, Andre White, who were murdered last year.

"My heart is shattered and broken, and I'm trying to find a way to put it back together," Devonshire said. 

"I come here today in a state of crisis with my family and friends. The justice system has been broken, the laws that have been written are working for the criminals, not the victims."

South Charleston resident Thornton Cooper said he was proud as a teenager when the state first decided to abolish capital punishment. He argued that bringing it back would do nothing to ease the pain of the victims' families or deter crime.

Cooper's aunt, Ida Mae Cooper, was kidnapped from her home in Canaan Valley and murdered in 1978. 

"No matter what you do to a person who kills another person, it will not bring back the victim," Cooper said. "No matter what we do, whether you make us like Texas or Florida - which have lots of executions - or you keep it like the way it is, young men under 30 will go out and commit murders."

Others argued that despite scientific advancements the legal system is still flawed and therefore should not include a penalty so irreversible as the death penalty. 

"What's particularly disturbing about the fact that we're considering reinstating the death penalty now in West Virginia is that we're still living with and dealing with the legacy of Fred Zain," said Julie Archer of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group. 

Zain was a state police serologist from 1986 to 1989 who was found to have exaggerated or faked lab tests in dozens of cases. 

"If someone is serving a life sentence and have been wrongly convicted, they have the right to appeal," Archer said. "But if they've been executed under the death penalty, they do not have that opportunity."

While he allowed the public hearing to take place, House Judiciary Chairman Tim Miley, D-Harrison, said he did not believe there were enough votes on the panel to endorse a death penalty bill. Thus he does not expect to place it on the committee's agenda.  

Senate Judiciary Chairman Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha, whose father, Mario, fended off strong efforts to reinstate the death penalty in the 1970s and early 80s, said the measure also lacks support on his side of the Capitol.

Overington has been sponsoring death penalty bills annually for the past 25 years.

He said 20 delegates - one-fifth of the House - have signed on to sponsor the three measures dealing with the issue during this session. He hopes they can somehow get the issue up for a vote. 

http://www.dailymail.com/News/201102151332?page=2&build=cache

Please see this blog post for my rebuttal to the abolitionists.