Executed man's last request honored - pizzas for everyone

[Ayesha]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Hundreds of homeless people in Nashville, Tennessee, ate well Wednesday evening -- all in the name of a man who the state put to death just hours earlier.

Philip Workman, 53, requested that his final meal be a vegetarian pizza donated to any homeless person located near Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

He was executed there at 2 a.m. ET Wednesday.

But prison officials refused to honor his request, saying that they do not donate to charities.

That apparently upset a few people willing to pay for and deliver a lot of pies themselves.

Homeless shelters across Nashville were inundated with donated pizzas all Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/09/execution.pizza/index.html

---

What an amazing story...he did a terrible thing, but his last act was one of redemption. Perhaps if someone had helped him when he was homeless back in 1981, he wouldn't have committed the robbery and killed the police officer. Hopefully his pizzas will prevent at least one crime or day of suffering for a desperate person.

[TheMadMonk]

1. Kick and off to the greatest page. n/t

[graywarrior]

2. Wow, what a story.

[Preening Fop]

3. Tis truly, a CNN report worth mailing to a Friend....!!

:hide:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. compassion can be found in any person

in this final act, the fellow lit the light of compassion in others.

[Honeycombe8]

5. I think he was a drug addict, stealing to get more drugs.

Sad, true. But it's an all too common story of criminals, and it's practically impossible to help such people at the time, due to their addiction.

But it was a great last request of his...actually, it was for his meal to go to one homeless person, not to feed a bunch of them. I think it was one homeless man in particular?

[Systematic Chaos]

7. Sorry to barge in with this, but it's simple. DECRIMINALIZE.

Make this stuff (whatever the drug may be) available to people who need it for a couple bucks a hit. It'll stop gang violence in its tracks and actually help many addicts seek a way out because they're not worried about killing someone for their addiction. It works quite nicely in Europe, you know....

[MH1]

11. Oh, stop with the logic.

C'mon, we wouldn't want to actually SOLVE the problem, would we?

:sarcasm:


After all, how would all the people thriving off fighting the "drug war" feed THEIR families if they didn't have jobs any more?

:banghead:

[HuskiesHowls]

24. And a low tax, and "voila"...no more national debt!!!! n/t

[originalpckelly]

25. Let pharmacies sell it, no one will go to a dangerous gangster drug dealer...

when they could buy it from a clean and safe store.

If people get addicted, then the state should mandate drug treatment under lock and key and supervision, until the addict can learn to deal with their addiction.

If a drug is the underlying cause of a crime that has been committed, depending on the severity of the crime, we ought to just do the drug treatment for minor offenses and in other cases that involve violence, we ought to mandate drug treatment before they actually serve prison time.

[ryanmuegge]

62. I don't know about that one...

Years ago, I watched a documentary about a treatment program in England in which heroin was prescribed to the addicts. Many of them said that they didn't like the clinical stuff because it was "too clean," whereas the street stuff was "dirty." Often times the users ended up going out and buying on the streets again. I don't know how true that is because I've never used any illegal drug in my life, but I somehow doubt what they're saying.

Perhaps it's the thrill and excitement of scoring? I don't know, but it seems like it's going to take a lot more than just decriminalizing or legalizing to stop the black market drug trade.

[Maestro]

42. Agreed. Let's offer more help instead

of imprisonment. Take away the power that drug cartels have; lower crime; etc....

[Guaranteed]

54. It's not the price, it's the legality and resulting lack of

accountability in the market.

I don't think making it "a couple bucks a hit" is a good idea. In fact, one of the best arguments for decriminalizing drugs is to tax them and make them perhaps even more expensive to buy.

However, even if it's more expensive, those buying and selling a drug will no longer be underground. Their activities will be monitored, and the incentive to screw the other guy over in a drug transaction, since the other guy can't report you, will be defused.

The idea is to bring the whole process above ground and into the light- not to make drugs cheap and more available to people.

[chchchanges]

66. Once you tax drugs they become less appealing for the pushers...

I believe in legalizing drugs and taxing them, the reason is not to make them more expensive and thus curve usage. I believe that by taxing drugs, they become a less attractive of a proposition for the pushers. Money talks, if a product earns less money for the pusher, they will go to another business venture. I believe the problem is not at the consumer level, but at the producer level. Once you make it less financially attractive for the producers you will see a sharp decline in the production of these drugs.

Plus I would get a kick about the big pharma cornering the heroin market... although with the introduction of things like oxycotin they pretty much have already.

I also believe that the taxes from drugs could probably be spent in rehab programs and whatnot. It seems that prison nowadays is a substitute for mental health and addiction treatment facilities, which I think is a horrible thing to do.

At the end of the day, if drugs are legal, it is no body business, much less the government, to tell me what I can or can't put inside my body. I believe the state has a duty to educate the population though, but not to enforce personal choices.

[LetsThink]

78. It needs to be recognized as ILLNESS......

...Addiction is an illness. It needs to be diagnosed and treated as such. There is a mixture of genetic and environmental triggers for some people that predispose them to various forms of addiction (like alcoholism, for instance) just as other people are predisposed to high cholesterol, etc.

Decriminalize, diagnose and treat this group of illnesses. Think what a savings that could produce in terms of lives saved, crime reduction, etc.

[Lithos]

8. No, not one person in particular

He limited it to any one homeless person being served at the particular shelter he named.

[jmowreader]

39. He didn't name a "homeless shelter"

Riverbend Maximum Security Institution is Tennessee's most secure prison; it's the home of the Tennessee Death Row and execution chamber.

[Captain Hilts]

9. It's rare to execute someone for theft. nt

[Mike Daniels]

14. He wasn't executed for theft....

He was executed for killing an officer of the law.

[originalpckelly]

26. I know, it's sad, it's even sadder to think it probably wouldn't have happened...

because armed robbery is not a random crime, it is directly linked to a fixable problem.

[YOY]

6. "So shines a good deed in a weary world. "

W. Shakespeare

[Beausoir]

73. That is a great quote. n/t

[endarkenment]

10. How difficult would it have been to bend a rule?

By the way, it is not entirely clear that Philip Workman was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. He just ran out of options to plead his case.

[MH1]

12. "reasonable doubt" is the criteria, isn't it?

not "shadow of a doubt."

And that's why we need to put a stop to the death penalty. (Other than that pesky Commandment thing that most "Christians" in this country think only applies when they want it to. But, we aren't a Christian nation so can't appeal to the Bible anyway, right?)

[endarkenment]

21. When it comes to killing people there ought to be higher standard.

It is a bit on the irreversible side. We are in violent agreement.

[NastyDiaper]

13. Homeless left asking, "Where's the Beef?"

Last meal, Last Joke.

[Dinger]

15. Tears In My Eyes

There really IS some good in everyone.

[blondeatlast]

16. Wow. What a hopeful way to start a morning. Thanks for the report. nt

[Beer Snob-50]

17. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE STORY

This was the first I had heard of this and I was wondering. Had he admitted to the crimes? Also, had he tried to turn things around while in prison? Just curious.

[TN al]

19. To answer your question

and correct some misconceptions that others may have, Workman robbed a Wendy's and a police officer was killed. The bullet fired from Workman's gun was recovered and determined to have not killed anyone, by virtue of not having clothing fibers on it and some other technical stuff. The bullet that killed the police officer was determined to have been fired by another police officer's gun. The only eye witness, who testified against Workman has since recanted his testimony. The expert pathologist who testified that Workman fired the fatal bullet has been found guilty of incompetence and perjury. Now I am working on memory here on that last statement but in any case it has been proven in other cases that he normally has no clue about what he is talking about and has often lied to help convict accused prisoners. And based on that the state of Tennessee has decided that he had to die. We might be turning into Texas here.

[Beer Snob-50]

20. Thanks for the info.

State sponsored murder.

[colorado_ufo]

30. Phillip Workman did one more good deed today -

He lifted my spirits. This day started off very badly - two insulting e-mails and then my cat was found dead on the road. But Phillip Workman's last moments of selfless thought - even to asking that the pizza be vegetarian - were nothing short of grace.

Phillip reminded me of higher values.

He apparently insisted to the end that he was innocent of murder and even prayed that no one be charged with guilt for his death. And I believe him.

I did not know Phillip Workman in life, but it would be an honor to meet him in Heaven.

[Vektor]

35. Off topic, but...

I'm so sorry about your cat. :hug:

[colorado_ufo]

52. Thank you so much. I love my DU friends.

[Jim Lane]

46. I applaud his thinking of others, but it doesn't mean he's innocent

I don’t know the law in Tennessee, but what’s most common in the U.S. is the rule: If you’re engaged in the commission of a violent felony, and in the course of it someone is killed as a result, then you’re guilty of murder, even if you didn’t commit the actual killing.

Here, it seems from your post that Workman was committing armed robbery of a Wendy’s. In the fray one police officer accidentally shot and killed another officer. On those facts, Workman is guilty of murder, unless Tennessee's law on the point is unusual.

The importance of the eyewitness's recantation depends on what role his or her testimony played. If the facts of the armed robbery and the resulting death are undisputed, then testimony about whether Workman aimed at the victim wouldn't be critical to the conviction.

That being said, I'm against the death penalty in all instances, including this one.

[Lurking Dem]

71. Even he said he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

But his involvement in what happened should have led to just that. Life imprisonment. Not death.

They withheld exculpatory evidence. That should have been a No Brainer in any court of actual justice.

[ProudDad]

49. This sounds EXACTLY like most death penalty cases

"On August 5, 1981, Workman, a destitute drug addict with a wife and 8-year-old daughter in Columbus, Georgia, robbed a Wendy’s restaurant with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. During the robbery, an employee of the restaurant triggered a silent alarm after Workman granted her request to stand up to relieve a cramp in her leg. Three Memphis police officers, Ronald Oliver, Aubrey Stoddard, and Steven Parker, responded to the alarm. Upon their arrival, Workman attempted to flee across a nearby car park, but tripped on a curb and was cornered by the officers. Workman claims he then attempted to surrender but, as he was pulling his gun from his pants to give it to the officers, he was struck on the head with a flashlight. As a result of the blow, Workman claims that he involuntarily discharged the gun twice, once in the air, and then at a person who had fired at him. Workman escaped the immediate melee, but a civilian found him hiding under a truck. He was covered with blood from his head wound, and had a shotgun wound to his buttocks. At the scene of the shootout, Lt. Ronald Oliver lay dying from a bullet that passed completely through his body."

Poverty, the phony "war on drugs", a "creative" charge by the DA, lack of representation, suborned witnesses, intolerant, bloodthirsty society, pro-death jury (by law, they must be pro-death)...voila!!!

Good reason to oppose Richardson -- he's pro-death.

[RaleighNCDUer]

55. Technically, as the officer died as a direct result of the armed

robbery, he could be charged with murder even though he did not kill him himself - but death in connection with a felony seldom results in a death penalty. Since the evidence is that the officer died of 'friendly fire' the sentence SHOULD have been commuted to life.

[Left Hook]

77. Thats red tape for ya.

nt

[Ms. Toad]

58. Tennessee permits the death penalty for felony murder

(according to the 30 second research I did. )That means that it doesn't matter what or who caused the policeman's death, as long as it occurred during the commission of (or was a direct result from)a felony Workman committed and Workman acted with "reckless indifference to human life - e.g. waving a gun around. From the State's perspective the eye witness tesimony, the pathologist's incompetence, etc. are all irrelevant because the outcome would have been the same even if it were an absolute certainty that a fellow police officer fired the fatal shot.

(The actual details of the law may be more complex, but the gist is that felony murder is an exception to the rule that you must actually intend to kill someone before the death penalty can be imposed. See Tison v. Arizona.)

[ProudDad]

59. Tennessee, like every other

death penalty state, is FUCKED UP.

[Ms. Toad]

70. No argument there!

Felony murder is particularly troublesome. There have been instances in which person who actually did the killing got something less than the death penalty while another participant in the same crime - who did not actually kill anyone is executed.

But...what else can we expect when at least one of the highest judges in the land believes it is constitutional to execute truly innocent people as long as they have been given a "fair" trial and have exhausted their appeals.

[NoSheep]

18. The prison said they don't donate to charity.......

no irony there.

[Jed Dilligan]

22. LOL

A few years ago I was working on homelessness for a CA county with one very upscale community that is also home to a state prison. The town said they didn't need to build affordable housing, because the prison WAS affordable housing!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

36. Well, then...

I hope they don't face a wildfire. But not a hell of a lot.

[Exultant Democracy]

23. It is nice when there is a story about people getting it.

That poor man got it and his last act showed this. And the people who sent the pizzas got it too, but this is far from enough. We need to start caring for our fellow citizens 50% of homeless are children.

[Kajsa]

27. What a beautiful act of kindness this is.

Philip Workman is the personification of redemption.

Kick and Recommended.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

28. Well now he's up in heavan with Karla Faye

Tucker. Right George?

[Warpy]

29. This is what is meant by REDEMPTION

and it illustrates yet another reason why the DP is wrong, folks.

Clearly the man the state killed was not the same one who killed the cop. In the intervening years, he had pursued the path of redemption. Quite possibly, getting clean and sober in prison was a great part of it.

His death is a loss.

[colorado_ufo]

31. Read TN al's post.

He may very well be innocent as he claimed to be.

[tchunter]

32. little more info....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_workman


sounds to me that the trial was a little fishy and his lawyer was all but incompetent.

[Exultant Democracy]

48. His last meal, is final chance to taste food he refused. That tells me

all I need to know about the man. The only solace is that he found a way to make the world just a little bit better even in his passing.

[lovuian]

33. His message got heard and I believe in Redemption

Great story

[Tippy]

34. I believe the State of TN executed an innocent man....

Evidence proved the gun Workman carried was not the murder weapon....The officer was shot with a gun carried by another police officer....

[RiseInside]

37. Exactly....

Exactly how I look at things. Maybe an act of kindness would have changed things. Not that he isnt at fault for what he has done but you never know what an act of kindness may have changed.

[Blue_Tires]

38. k+r

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

40. Good Story...

and I don't mean to denigrate Philip Workman's last act. He's with the angels now, no matter what the State of Tennessee has to say about it. But is it really necessary for someone to die in order to feed the homeless? I hope that those who donated food yesterday will remember that these people will be hungry again tomorrow. And I hope that all of you who were moved by Mr. Workman's example will be moved to take action. Chances are there's a shelter in your community. Check it out.

And remember that buying a meal is only a band-aid solution hiding several much larger problems: a lack of substance abuse treatment (the root cause of Mr. Workman's problem) and a lack of affordable housing and a lack of jobs that pay a living wage. Let me go out on a crazy limb here and suggest that maybe we should all vote Democratic in the next election in order to start addressing these problems.

Call me crazy...

[shenmue]

41. Some people give to charity without having been put on death row, you know.

Where's the sympathy for people who didn't kill anybody?

Why is it okay to commit crime if you're homeless?

The cop didn't get to eat any pizza. :shrug:

[MH1]

45. Please read this - if true, this guy didn't "belong" on death row.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2840969&mesg_id=2841221

If true, this was a noble gesture by someone who had every right to be terribly bitter.

(quotes around "belong" because I'm one of those who thinks nobody belongs there... we are all only human, including those in the jury box weighing the "facts" of a crime and deciding guilt.)

[frylock]

47. who didn't get any pizza? the cop who was shot or the cop who shot the cop?

this guy was innocent; bring yourself up to speed. the system is broken. end capital punisment NOW!!! :mad:

[ProudDad]

50. Read the article

Workman DIDN'T KILL ANYBODY.

He was murdered by the state.

Get your facts straight before impugning our motives...

[JitterbugPerfume]

43. I HATE the death penalty

it is barbaric

[Bread and Circus]

44. Honestly, I'm sitting here hardy believing my eyes at how y'all

are going gaga over this guy. First off, someone made a really good post about how he may not have been guilty of murder. Anyone put to death by the state is sad and a horrible thing imo. When a person who is innocent of the crime with which they are sentenced to die is executed, that is a state crime in my eyes. I 100% believe the death penalty should be abolished, the main fact being that we can't always be 100% sure of guilt and there is no way to correct that punishment once carried out. Outside of that practical issue, I think the DP is wrong on other moral grounds as well.

However, you guys are blowing the pizza gesture way, way out of proportion. This is not an "act of redemption" or a "redeeming" act. Sure, it was a kind gesture but that's about it. The folks that actually got the pizza deserve more credit.

And about shaking this guy's hand in heaven? I seriously have to say, WTF?!? :wtf: You really want to meet this guy in heaven and shake his hand? I'd say giving him a hug would be more appropriate, if anything. We are all worthy of love, empathy, and forgiveness. But a handshake doesn't seem to fit here.

Furthermore, in the eyes of many this guy was a drug addict who tipped the scales of fate such that a cop died. He made a bad choice that day and sounds like he made many mistakes. I hope he truly repented and sought forgiveness from the family of the victim of that day. If he did, then I think that is redemption. If he sought to do good with his time on death row for all those years, that is redemption.

But a free pizza? It takes alot more than that to convince me.

[ProudDad]

51. I don't read it this way

"Furthermore, in the eyes of many this guy was a drug addict who tipped the scales of fate such that a cop died. He made a bad choice that day and sounds like he made many mistakes."

The cops overreact in so many of these cases. Look at Los Angeles last week. Read the account of this guy's arrest. I'd put more of the onus on the cops than on this guy.

In his desperation, he fucked up by trying to rob the Wendy's. The cops compounded the problem by blasting away in their inimitable over-reactive manner and one of them blew away one of their own. Of course, this poor schlub had to pay for their incompetence.

The bottom line is that our gun-riddled society is mainly complicit by continuing the phony "war on drugs" and supporting an economic system that inevitably creates MILLIONS of poor folks who don't have a lot of options.

[Codeine]

60. What if it was a really, really good pizza?

Just sayin'. :evilgrin:

[Bread and Circus]

61. Dayum, u got me there!

;-)

[Iris]

72. It wasn't necessarily the free pizza. It was the thought behind it and how that thought inspired

others to do a good thing.

[northofdenali]

53. Gut wrenching and heartwarming at the same time.

I believe this man is redeemed. In the eyes of the kids and others in shelters who understand why they got a pizza - maybe it'll give them some hope.

Without hope, we have nothing.

[Madspirit]

56. another k&r...n/t

[DemSoccerMom]

57. I'm not going to argue the merits

of the DP or argue this guy's guilt or innocence. I would just like to say that it is "refreshing" that a prisoner set to die would think of others when offered his final meal. No doubt those that received the meal are exceedingly grateful. I know if I were scheduled to die for a crime (whether guilty or not), I don't honestly think I would have the forethought (or compassion for that matter) to think of anyone else.

[southerncrone]

63. Philip Workman had endured facing Death Chamber 5 times b/4

The emotional stress of dealing with that alone is tortuous. I live just outside Nashville, and have seen this saga unfold for years. By every indication, Philip Workman had become a very gentle soul while serving his time in prison. He had become a Christian, and as shown by his unselfish last act, a TRUE Christian. I believe he was a classic example of rehabilitation in it's finest sense. I believe he could have easily been released from prison & led a very productive life until his natural death. Obviously his death is a loss to our planet.

This case is a glaring example of our police using undue force when it was unnecessary. Are innocent human lives worth risking for a few hundred dollars from a corporate hamburger joint!?!? I''m not condoning robbery, but let's put this in perspective.

As others here have mentioned, "the war on drugs" is a sham for the masses. If we wanted to get rid of drugs, it could be done...rehabilitation programs, decriminalization, taxation, etc. could clean this mess up for good. BUT... too many significantly placed individuals are making a "killing" (no pun intended) on dealing drugs. I keeps our country in chaos & divided, so we are easily conquered & distracted from the "real agenda".
We all suffer.

[southerncrone]

64. Forgot to include the link to the local Nashville, TN newspaper article

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070509/NEWS03/70509001

[ProudDad]

68. The biggest winners in the phony "war on drugs"

are the banks who launder the money, the politicians who use it to scare people and get reelected and the prison-industrial complex and the cops.

Fuck 'em all!

[southerncrone]

75. Sir, you are correct!

[anotherdrew]

65. everyone? hmmm, I don't think I got mine. the folks in Sudan must have been thrilled.

quite an operation flying in tens of thousands of piping hot pizzas...

[DFW]

67. If, indeed, ballistics showed that another cop killed the one who died

Then the State of Tennessee is guilty of capital murder. Workman may
have been liable under some law that condemns anyone involved in a
crime where a fatality occurs, whether or not the perp is directly
responsible, but to execute if he neither shot at the victim, nor
even tried to, especially when there is more than reasonable cause to
believe that the victim was shot by someone else? If so, then in my mind
the judge and the governor of the state are guilty of murder one, and
deserve the same fate, as Workman was (if this is true) executed for no
other reason than political expediency.

Is the governor of Tennessee by any chance named Stalin?

[Ayesha]

69. oh wow...

I didn't look up the particulars of his case before I posted this. It's incredibly sick that we execute people who didn't intentionally kill someone. I am mostly against the death penalty anyway, it should be reserved for the very worst - terrorists, serial killers, people who are still dangerous even if sentenced to life without parole. And there needs to be forensic evidence that they committed the crime and that they did it because they are a complete sociopath who likes hurting people. Philip Workman didn't even deserve life in prison, let alone death. He needed some jail time for the robbery, and REHAB. His final act is a hint of the kind of man he might have become if he'd been given the chance.

[Decruiter]

74. Story has changed?

When I saw this first reported on CNN, they supposedly quoted the warden or whoever saying something like:
"I'm sure the *taxpayers* would not support our budget going to charity."

What the taxpayers will support is yet to be seen, but I, for one, could stand to see more tax money for charity like this.
What the taxpayers ARE supporting is a death sentence of another kind, for everyone in Iraq.

The response the local pizzerias gave was an overwhelming denunciation of the assertion that taxpayers (real people)
would not like to associate with this kind of charity. It may prove that compassion can do more than legislating assistance.

Let the government tell me I can't feed the hungry.

I love pizzeria owners. They deal out happiness and compassion every day.

I think of Woodstock food director Wavy Gravy saying, "What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 300,000." :yourock:

[Left Hook]

76. Veggie pizzas?!? YUCK!!!!

I think most homeless would rather have the traditional pepperoni.