Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

tdcj.texas.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 300 posts

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#91

Post by dvt »

namdnay wrote: post #63
dvt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Think if your daughter/son/mom/dad got slaughtered, do you think the pain would be less acute even two decades later? Yeah it would definitely be less acute, still there every day, but less acute. Like most trauma. Would killing the murderer in 2021 make me feel any better? To that question the answer is without a doubt "no".

> Yeah it would definitely be less acute, still there every day, but less acute. Like most trauma.

I hope you realize you are co-opting someone's pain for your own political or ethical brownie points. A lot of people are completely happy watching their child's murderer/rapist be punished via the death penalty.

You're just trivializing an incredibly complex moral conundrum.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#93

Post by dokem »

namdnay wrote: post #20
dionidium wrote: post #9

Hard to reconcile some of these last words with the reality of their crimes: Juxtapose: I was so glad to leave this world a better, more positive place. It’s not an easy life with all the negativities. ... I hope I left everyone a plate of food full of happy memories, happiness and no sadness. [0] With this: > On September 11, 1999, Jones murdered his great aunt, 83-year-old Berthena Bryant, bludgeoning her to death…

The crime was when he was deeply addicted and drugged out of his mind 22 years earlier. I don't find it shocking that he's had another life since. Killing him in 2021 just seems so... pointless

[flagged]

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#94

Post by [deleted] »

googlryas wrote: post #54
calvinmorrison wrote: post #15

Date of Execution: April 24, 2019 Inmate: John William King, TDCJ #999295 Written Statement: Capital Punishment: Them without the capital get the punishment.

On 06/07/98, during the nighttime hours, the subject[John William King] and co-defendants, Lawrence Brewer and Shawn Allen Berry, murdered James Byrd Jr., a 49-year old black male, by dragging the victim behind their 1982 gray Ford pickup truck, located on Huff Creek Road, in Jasper, Texas. The subject and the co-defendants picked the victim up while he was hitchhiking in Jasper.

[deleted]

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#95

Post by makeitdouble »

chaps wrote: post #52

"Yeah. The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man - convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return - so the earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, road dog. I love you Gabby. [Remaining portion of statement omitted due to profanity.]" beyond words.

If they're commiting to publish a man's last words before killing him, I wish they kept the profanity in.

Either it was generic profanity and it's not as if it would cause harm at this point. Either it was very specifically pointed at Gabby, and a at least a summary of the profanity would be useful to that person.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#96

Post by LarryMullins »

dejj wrote: post #74
ceejayoz wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's this thing called justice In pursuit of justice, we sometimes tip over into revenge . Given the fact that we've sent innocent people to their executions, I'm uncomfortable labeling it justice.

There are 3 aspects to criminal justice: - special prevention - general prevention (=deterrence) - revenge

I understand it to be:

- retribution (revenge)

- deterrence

- rehabilitation

- incapacitation (they can't re-offend if they're in prison or dead)

In these sort of discussions about justice online, the first is often cast as illegitimate, the second as impossible, the third as the gold standard, and the fourth is frequently ignored completely.

Few people ever defend retribution, so I will here. Many people who are victims of crimes have a desire to see retribution done. If the government does not play at least some lip service to the desire for retribution, then more people will take it into their own hands. They'll seek vigilante justice. Vigilante justice is dangerous to society because it's often capricious and disproportionate. It is better for governments to sate the desire for retribution using official processes which can be checked with safeguards, such as trials.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#97

Post by fzeroracer »

dvt wrote: post #91
namdnay wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think if your daughter/son/mom/dad got slaughtered, do you think the pain would be less acute even two decades later? Yeah it would definitely be less acute, still there every day, but less acute. Like most trauma. Would killing the murderer in 2021 make me feel any better? To that question the answer is without a doubt "no".

> Yeah it would definitely be less acute, still there every day, but less acute. Like most trauma. I hope you realize you are co-opting someone's pain for your own political or ethical brownie points. A lot of people are completely happy watching their child's murderer/rapist be punished via the death penalty. You're just trivializing an incredibly complex moral conundrum.

Didn't you start this whole argument by doing just that and trying to coopt the pain of a victims family to try and prove a argumentive point?

How is it different when you did it?

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#98

Post by prmph »

dejj wrote: post #74
ceejayoz wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's this thing called justice In pursuit of justice, we sometimes tip over into revenge . Given the fact that we've sent innocent people to their executions, I'm uncomfortable labeling it justice.

There are 3 aspects to criminal justice: - special prevention - general prevention (=deterrence) - revenge

You forgot one: rehabilitation, or correction

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#99

Post by seszett »

dotgov wrote: post #89
thinking4real wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“On 12/15/98, at approximately 8:30 a.m., Mathis shot three victims in the head with a .45 caliber pistol at a known drug house in Fort Bend County, Texas. One of the victims, a 15-year-old Hispanic female survived the shooting, paralyzed from the chest down. Mathis reportedly turned the gun on two other intended victims, however, when he attempted to pull the trigger, the gun either misfired or had been jammed.” “Ye…

He lived in extreme poverty, was neglected by his parents, got sexually assaulted by his siblings and was forced to have sex with his stepsister when he was seven. He shot himself twice, once trying to kill himself. The world he lived in was bad.

That's a different person, although his world was probably not much better.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#100

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

jackson1442 wrote: post #78
dilap wrote: post #42

I was amused by the Texan racial categories: White, Black, Hispanic, Other Spot checking a handful of statements, it seems like most people executed found God, peace, and remorse at the end. Though at least one person never stopped proclaiming innocence: > I’m not the one that killed Christina, so whatever makes ya’ll happy. I wonder how many on the list were, in fact, innocent.

That's my biggest issue with capital punishment. You can't take it back, if you're wrong you just killed someone's child, parent, sibling, or combination thereof. While being sentenced to years of prison for a crime you didn't commit is also horrible, you can at the very least be released if you're found innocent.

AND the search for the real perpetrator can begin again. If an innocent is executed for a crime they didn't commit what are the odds that anyone will be bothered to look for any more evidence ever again? It effectively ends the search for justice.
Post reply on HN