Archive for May 22, 2009

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? SHOW ME THE REST OF THE POST!

You are concerned, I am led to believe, about the support of the public. You are concerned about the victims’ families. You are right to have that in your mind. But in doing so, I implore you to consider the families of all the victims, not just certain ones. I ask you to listen to Walter Everett, whose son was murdered, but the defendant did not receive the death penalty. I ask you to go to your window or perhaps even step out onto the grand foyer in the legislature this morning and listen to the victims’ families who will gather there. Their wishes must mean something.

You’re concerned about appearing “soft on crime”, about life without the possibility of release not being “justice”. Perhaps you’re afraid of appearing weak. I think you’ve got it backwards, Governor. It’s not weak to abolish the death penalty. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s a show of strength to rid ourselves of this blight. It’s a show of strength to tell the families of victims that they will no longer have to wait decades to begin the healing process, to have their names dragged through the spotlight, to relive their painful memories. It is strong to say that we are not in the business of retribution. It is weak to say we believe in an eye for an eye. A man far greater than either one of us can ever aspire to be warned us that “an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind”. We should take heed, Madam Governor.

Do not hang your hopes on fixing the death penalty either. Over the last few weeks I’ve heard much said about the length of the “appeals process”. I’ve heard much about these “endless appeals and habeas appeals”. There is nothing that you or the legislature can do (or have done) that can “fix” it. These appeals take so long and there may be so many of them, because it is what is Constitutionally required.

I know that at times you have taken the position that the Constitution is a suggestion, not a mandate, but here is your chance to show the people of the Constitution State that you, just like them, take pride in its protections. Recognize that if you do not sign this bill, it won’t magically make execution dates be set for those on death row. That isn’t going to come for years. If ever. It is strong to say that you will not let that happen, that you will be the force that drives the victims’ families closer to healing.

I want to say just a little bit about the definition of justice used by those in your party. Many a times did I hear Republican Senators say that the death penalty is the only proportional punishment for murder. That’s false, Madam Governor, because it isn’t. The death penalty isn’t even applied to people convicted of murder. If it were, our death row would be much larger. And if we’re in the “tit for tat” business, then why isn’t the punishment for assault a sound beating? Why isn’t the punishment for robbery gunpoint theft of the robber’s own belongings? Why isn’t the punishment for rape rape? Because we don’t do that, just as we shouldn’t kill those that kill.

The death penalty cannot be fixed because it must be extremely narrow. And by being required to be extremely narrow, it opens itself up to the whims and fancies of individual prosecutors. It opens itself up to being applied in a racially discriminatory manner. I’ll give you two examples:

1. Michael Ross himself. Prosecutors in New London declined to charge him with the death penalty, while those in Waterbury did not.

2. Russell and Adrian Peeler. One committed the murders, one did not. Russell is on death row, while is brother serves 20 years.

What is “justice” in either one of those cases? How do you fix it? You don’t, because you can’t. And since you can’t fix it, the right thing to do is to get rid of it.

The decision before you, Madam Governor, is a momentous one. As Sen. Williams said this morning, passage of an abolition bill was unthinkable a mere 10 years ago. Much has changed, including the attitudes of people living in this State. Our standards of decency and morality have evolved. Let us join the rest of the New England states and most of the civilized (and “uncivilized”) world in rejecting an antiquated punishment that has no place in modern society. We claim to be an enlightened people; let us put that on paper.

The pen is in your hands.

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