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

tdcj.texas.gov

111–120 of 300 posts

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

#111
post #91
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.

[deleted]

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

#112
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.

You can't take back prison either, so you have reason to reconsider that as well, considering it steals years from someone's life and is torture in many (most?) places.

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

#114

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.

Would it be on-topic to point out that some prominent Texan politicians - who have direct responsibility for war crimes that have killed... A lot more people - are free men, today?

There are a lot of awful people who have done a lot of awful things in the world. Despite being an awful person, he is quite correct in observing that not all of them get treated proportionally to the suffering and misery and pain that they have inflicted.

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

#115

I really don’t understand why they include race in the list? It has nothing to do with their crime or lasts words? But the sex of the offender is not included in the list.

They also record the race of each victim in the Inmate Information... American obsession with race seems unhealthy.

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

#116
post #91
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.

I get the feeling you're projecting a bit? "co-opting someone's pain" means using someone's (inferred) pain to justify something you believe in.

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

#117
post #61

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…

Dare I say I find it rather comforting to know these people no longer walk the earth. https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_info/obryanronald.jp... https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_info/garrettjohnny.j... https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_info/wootenlarry.htm...

>Dare I say I find it rather comforting to know these people no longer walk the earth.

And if, next week, evidence is found that one or more of those folks didn't commit the crimes for which they were convicted -- are you still going to be comforted by their deaths?

I'd say that being in prison serves essentially the same purpose, had those folks not been executed, they'd be in prison and that's enough comfort for me.

Isn't that enough "comfort" for you?

That's not a jab at you. Rather, I'd like to understand why you feel that simply removing such folks from society (i.e., a long prison sentence) isn't sufficient, and death is the correct response?

Is there something I'm missing?

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

#119
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Would it be on-topic to point out that some prominent Texan politicians - who have direct responsibility for war crimes that have killed... A lot more people - are free men, today? There are a lot of awful people who have done a lot of awful things in the world. Despite being an awful person, he is quite correct in observing that not all of them get treated proportionally to the suffering and misery and pain that the…

the #1 cause of death in the world, in the entire history of the earth, is democide.

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

#120
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be asking what it is about Christ that turns people into murderous psychopaths... That's a reasonable question. Christianity does have an emphasis on forgiveness, which I suspect these prison chaplain programs emphasize - so it's more a matter of murderers turning themselves into Christians. However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven. See h…

> However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven. By Catholics, specifically. Evangelical Christians don't typically share this belief.

Mortal sins can absolutely be forgiven in Catholicism

See for example the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1456

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