So another execution. But today it is in Mississippi at 6:00 pm.

[Shell Beau]

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051214/NEWS/512140367/1002

At the age of 77, John B. Nixon will be the oldest person ever executed in the US since the death penalty was reinstated.

[jmm]

1. If the crime was cruel enough to make the death penalty

appropriate for Nixon then his son who was involved in the plot but cooperated with police and is now free and the guy who planned and paid for the hit but got a life sentence are equally as guilty. The arbitrary way in which the sentences were handed down in this case is yet another reason we need to get rid of the death penalty.

[Shell Beau]

2. The guy who hired him to kill should be as gulity too!

[Shell Beau]

3. Kick!

I'd like to hear some comments. Even though this guy is admittedly guilty.

[rug]

4. Think of how many people he won't be able to kill.

[Shell Beau]

5. Huh?

[rug]

7. At 77, he's too dangerous to let loose.

[Shell Beau]

8. I thought you were being sarcastic just wasn't sure!

[Rowdyboy]

6. Maybe if Nixon had a cool nickname like "PoohBear" and wrote a few

childrens books he could get his sentence commuted...Ya think? Naaaw. I didn't think so. He doesn't have an advertising team working for him.

[GumboYaYa]

9. Didn't work for Tookie either, apparently no amount of publicity

can convince blood thirsty Americans that the death penalty is wrong.

Guilty or not, I don't care; repentant of not, I don't care, it is wrong for the state to take another human being's life. That is the whole argument for me, individual circumstances will not change that in any way.

[ET Awful]

11. Or maybe if he actually tried to stop others from following the same path

he did through a decade of concerted effort, to the point where tens of thousands credited him with saving them from the same errors he made . . .

Advertising team? BULLSHIT. What team? I keep seeing you and others spew this crap, but have yet to see any "team".

ALL executions are wrong. No exceptions.

The fact is that with the Williams case, you had a man who had made an effort to redeem himself, people paid attention, it didn't need an "advertising team" so spare us that bullshit line.

The reason the media isn't paying attention to Nixon is because he made no efforts at redemption, admitted his guilt, etc.

[Rowdyboy]

19. You don't see a difference in the way the Williams case was treated....

just because he was a celebrity? I'm sorry if it offends you, but how many of the last 100 non-celebrity inmates who were put to death in this country can you name? I know the answer in my case. None, not a single one. Why? Because none of the others got 1/100th the publicity. Same as with the Natalie Holloway case. How many missing women are there? How many receive the level of coverage she did?

"I keep seeing you and others spew this crap"

Frankly, I haven't taken a stand on the DP because I have some deep unresolved conflicts. My baby brother was murdered in 1995 and I still find it hard to oppose in all cases. I just find people's level of interest surprisingly low when there's not a celebrity involved. You can read anything you want to into that.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the anguish and tears to break out over John Nixon anytime now.

Still waiting.

[ET Awful]

20. He wasn't a celebrity. He was someone who tried to make a difference.

When you show me evidence of Nixon trying to stop others from treading the same path he did, maybe I'll pay attention.

I still haven't seen your proof that he had an "advertising team". Please provide it, until then you're doing exactly what I said, spewing crap.

Of course, there's also the fact that unlike Nixon, Williams insisted he was innocent until the end. There's also the fact that there is evidence sufficient to prove reasonable doubt that Williams was guilty. Not the case with Nixon. There's also the fact that despite evidence to the contrary, the media chose to run with the Tookie created the Crips story (which wasn't exactly the case as anyone knowledgeable in LA gang history can tell you, ask the ones who actually know, they'll say Raymond Washington).

Why aren't as many people up in arms over Nixon? Because the media (not an advertising team as you incorrectly assert), has chosen not to pay attention. It has nothing to do with celebrity, it has to do with a high profile case. If you want to get right down to it, the publicity had nothing to do with the crime Williams was executed for, it had to do with his gang affiliations.

Maybe if you'd expand your tunnel vision a tad and look at ALL aspects and quit spewing falsehoods, you might come to understand a tad.

[Rowdyboy]

21. So selective execution is okay, but if you "try to make a difference"

and say you're innocent then you should be spared? Since Nixon admitted his guilt, then he deserves death?

The "advertising team" I referred to was the MSM which pushed the story WAY past any reasonable bounds. You use such colorful language. What I consider expressing an opinion, you consider "spewing crap"

My point is simply this: Prior to "Tookie-mania", I saw no more than a very occasional thread concerning the death penalty on DU. Nobody was talking about it, no one was very worked up when they killed the last 100 prisoners. But when a celebrity is involved, people go apeshit crazy. Now that he's dead, things go back to normal and most people don't give a damn about the next guy. And again, I'm not advocating either side-I just find selective, "celebrity justice" sickening.

Regardless, I apologize to Shell Beau for stinking up the her thread and the Lounge in general with this type discussion. It would be far more appropriate in GD and in the unlikely event I have anything further to say on the matter, thats where it will be.

[Shell Beau]

22. I purposely didn't put it in GD b/c I figured it would

turn into a flame war. I want people to discuss it so I have no qualms at all with the discussion that is taking place here. It is more civil than I feel it would be elsewhere.

[Rowdyboy]

27. Sorry, Shell, I do my best not to flame in the Lounge but sometimes

people don't give you much choice. And you're right, in GD, there would be bodies strewn left and right!

I just love the Lounge because of the relative lack of anger and rage, but I certainly seem to have provoked it by my less-than-serious, original comment.

What can I say? :shrug: If the worst thing I'm called today is a "crap spewer" its been a damn good day for an out gay man in rural Mississippi!

[Shell Beau]

29. I keep forgetting that you live in Mississippi!

Canton? Don't worry, I'm not upset. This is a very hot topic. There's bound to be disagreements. But, this is so mild in comparison to what would be in GD!! :)

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[calico1]

15. Did you forget?

Tookie was executed? How well did it work for him?

[distantearlywarning]

10. Ok, now that's just f-ing stupid.

Is it really necessary to execute a 77 year old man? Give him another few years and he'll croak off by himself. This is just plain vindictive BS, this one. I don't care what he did.

[ET Awful]

12. There have been cases where condemned men attempted suicide

and were resuscitated to the state could kill them.

Pretty fuckin' barbaric eh?

[Shell Beau]

13. Now that is totally f****d up!

[calico1]

14. Yes, it sick. There have also been cases

where they get sick and are nursed to health so they can be executed. How sick is that?

I will sure feel safer after this very dangerous 77 year old is killed. And knowing one of his conspirators is free. Its such a logical, fair system, isn't it? :sarcasm:

[AllegroRondo]

16. related question

if he had a terminal disease, like AIDS or cancer, would he be too sick to execute?

[rug]

25. Yes.

New York's death penalty statute provides that if the prisoner is too mentally ill to appreciate he's being executed he is sent to a psychiatric hospital until he recovers sufficiently to realize he's being killed.

There is NO purpose to the death penalty for any one at any time.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. Free? As in, in the streets? Not behind bars?

THAT's screwed.

[Shell Beau]

18. His sons helped him. And the guy who hired him to commit the murder

got life.

"Henry Lee Nixon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit capital murder in 1986 and was given a 20-year sentence. He was paroled on June 30, 1995.

The other son, John B. Nixon Jr., pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to capital murder and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was paroled on Nov. 25, 1989.

Ponthieux is serving a life sentence at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility"

[kick-ass-bob]

24. Yeah, but we got #1000.

You can always execute someone older, but you can never be #1000 again.



:sarcasm:

[Shell Beau]

26. 1000 executions?

[kick-ass-bob]

28. NC had the 1000th execution in the US since it was reinstated in 1976.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10283003/

Kenneth Lee Boyd, who was convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m. (Dec 2)

[Shell Beau]

30. Wow!!

:wow:

I wonder how many Mississippi has had. Probably not too far behind y'all!

[kick-ass-bob]

31. Here's a table:

Nevermind I'll link the website;

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=186

NC is tied for 6th (39), MS only has 6 total.

And, they do ours at 2 in the morning, to keep the protestor numbers down.

[Shell Beau]

32. Wow! I am surprised!

:shrug: Texas is on up there.

[kick-ass-bob]

35. yeah, Texas is big on killin folk. Remember,

everything is bigger in Texas!
:eyes:

:P

[Dark]

33. Shouldn't this be in the GD?

And, well, if he was given that sentence, then that is his punishment.

[Shell Beau]

34. Maybe it should. I don't know and I don't care.

I wanted to discuss this with the lounge regulars. I didn't want a flame war. I put it here purposely. If the mods want to move it, that is fine. I hope they don't though.