Post by thinkinkmesa on Feb 15, 2012 22:38:26 GMT -5
My first execution.
A week ago at this moment (5:59 p.m. as I begin this blog), I was just about to watch my first execution.
Edwin Hart Turner, known to his family and friends as “Hart,” was being strapped to the table with thick leather straps right now, his hands tied down flat with ace bandages so you couldn’t even see them from the viewing room. I was waiting in a van outside the building at Parchman with Bert Mohr from the Associated Press, and Charlie Smith from the Greenwood Commonwealth, and I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to think at that moment.
Let me back up a little. On Wednesday of last week I was headed in to work and got a call right around 10:10 a.m. that the execution was back on. Suddenly all my plans for the day were out the window, and I was frantically making calls to get my affairs in order, as it were, but then it was a long, quiet ride.
I’ve seen a lot of life and death as a volunteer firefighter/first responder and as a crime reporter, needless to say, and I signed up to be a media witness because it seemed like something for the journalistic bucket list. But as I drove up to Parchman, I got to thinking: How am I supposed to feel about this?
I’ve always thought that abortion and execution are two things you’re convinced you know where you stand on until they affect your life. Whatever affect they have, it may strengthen or soften your view, but you just don’t know until you get there. Also, I have a personal belief that having a child die in your hands will reset your “what’s important” meter. My mindset going into Wednesday was, “I’ve seen so many innocent people die in so many ways they didn’t deserve. I’m fine with the state wielding the sword of justice in these cases.”
I called my dad, who is a prosecutor in Ohio. He had been preparing for a death penalty case just that week. He said he was glad that the defendant had decided to plead guilty, not because he didn’t feel like he could win it, but because he knew he probably could. Sending any man to his death is a big burden to bear, even for my dad, who I promise is no softy.
“Just let it make you think about the value of a human life,” he said.
More;
blogs.clarionledger.com/crimebeat/2012/02/15/my-first-execution/
A week ago at this moment (5:59 p.m. as I begin this blog), I was just about to watch my first execution.
Edwin Hart Turner, known to his family and friends as “Hart,” was being strapped to the table with thick leather straps right now, his hands tied down flat with ace bandages so you couldn’t even see them from the viewing room. I was waiting in a van outside the building at Parchman with Bert Mohr from the Associated Press, and Charlie Smith from the Greenwood Commonwealth, and I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to think at that moment.
Let me back up a little. On Wednesday of last week I was headed in to work and got a call right around 10:10 a.m. that the execution was back on. Suddenly all my plans for the day were out the window, and I was frantically making calls to get my affairs in order, as it were, but then it was a long, quiet ride.
I’ve seen a lot of life and death as a volunteer firefighter/first responder and as a crime reporter, needless to say, and I signed up to be a media witness because it seemed like something for the journalistic bucket list. But as I drove up to Parchman, I got to thinking: How am I supposed to feel about this?
I’ve always thought that abortion and execution are two things you’re convinced you know where you stand on until they affect your life. Whatever affect they have, it may strengthen or soften your view, but you just don’t know until you get there. Also, I have a personal belief that having a child die in your hands will reset your “what’s important” meter. My mindset going into Wednesday was, “I’ve seen so many innocent people die in so many ways they didn’t deserve. I’m fine with the state wielding the sword of justice in these cases.”
I called my dad, who is a prosecutor in Ohio. He had been preparing for a death penalty case just that week. He said he was glad that the defendant had decided to plead guilty, not because he didn’t feel like he could win it, but because he knew he probably could. Sending any man to his death is a big burden to bear, even for my dad, who I promise is no softy.
“Just let it make you think about the value of a human life,” he said.
More;
blogs.clarionledger.com/crimebeat/2012/02/15/my-first-execution/