In 1997, my husband was transferred to Fort Hood, Texas. When our family was driving to our new home, I noticed the "Don't Mess with Texas" signs on the highway. I tell everyone to take those signs seriously. Texas executes more people than any other state in our nation.
Most of the people with whom I was acquainted in Texas were in favor of the death penalty. They believed that there was no absolutely excuse for murder. It didn't matter if the defendant was a minor, mentally retarded, a woman or a born-again Christian. I found myself agreeing with Texans more often than not, just as I agreed with my father years earlier.
If you are convicted of murder in Texas, there is a very good chance the state will execute you. If you are Afro-American, Hispanic or poor, the likelihood is greater.
Shortly after my family moved to Washington in 2005, I had a conversation with my new co-workers about the death penalty. I was shocked when they said they didn't want Texas law here. One lady brought up a case in which a minor who had committed rape and murder in Texas was sentenced to death. My first response was, "But he killed someone. He deserves to die." My co-worker explained that it is wrong to execute a person for a crime he committed as a minor because a minor's brain isn't fully developed. A minor can't reason the same way an adult can reason. My co-worker's explanation made sense.
In Roper vs. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the eighth and fourteenth amendments prohibit executing offenders who were under age 18 when they committed their crimes. I agree.
I also agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that prohibits executing mentally retarded offenders.
Because so many people were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit, the more the death penalty is restricted, the better!
Nevertheless, I don't believe that the death penalty should abolished together. I have bragged that Washington's prosecutors use the death penalty more wisely than Texas' prosecutors. Why? Think of the Green River Killer.
In 2005, Gary Ridgway entered a guilty plea to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder as part of a plea bargain that would spare him execution in exchange for his cooperation in locating his victims' remains. Deputy prosecutor Jeffrey Baird stated that plea bargain contained "the names of 41 victims who would not be the subject of State v. Ridgway if it were not for the plea agreement."
Another example would be the Zina Linnik case. Pierce County prosecutors planned to charge Terapon Adhahn with aggravated first degree murder. However, they agreed not to seek the death penalty against Adhahn if he helped the police locate Zina Linnik's body. Shortly thereafter, Adhahn led police to the girl's body.
Think of Susan Cox Powell. Victims' families deserve to know what happened to their loved ones so that they can give them proper burials.
The death penalty is one of law enforcement's most useful tools in solving crime. Do not take this tool away from them. Prosecutors should be encouraged to use it to make plea bargains to locate bodies or obtain confessions in cases that would be otherwise difficult or impossible to solve. Instruct prosecutors to seek sentences of life in prison. The number of cases in which murderers are sentenced to death should be kept to a minimum because the appeals are so costly.
Therefore, I respectfully ask Washington's state senators to vote against abolishing the death penalty. Thank you.
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