Donald Ray Wallace Executed

[Sporadicus]

After spending more than half his life on death row, one of Indiana's most notorious killers paid for the 1980 murders of the Patrick Gilligan family, with his own life.

Donald Ray Wallace was pronounced dead at 12:23 Thursday morning, his last words were, "I hope everyone can find peace with this." The process started shortly after midnight, when he was wheeled in on a gurney. The witnesses left visibly upset, but said he was ready for this and that he looked at it as an early parole. This, after being on death row for more than 23 years.

<snip>

Wallace was convicted in 1982 of killing Theresa Gilligan, her husband, Patrick, and their two young children during a robbery at their home.

He exhausted all his appeals, even to the US Supreme Court, and decided not to ask Governor Mitch Daniels for clemency. A Department of Correction spokesman says Wallace's final statement was, "I hope everyone can find peace with this."

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=3056473&nav=3w6oXJoG

The case of Donald Ray Wallace probably doesn't make a good example for opposition to the death penalty, since the crime he committed was particularly heinous, the prosecution presented consistent, sound evidence against him, and Wallace confessed to the crime just days before his execution. In the 25 years since the trial, there was never occasion to believe that the wrong person had been arrested for the crime.

That said, I remain unmoved in my opposition to the death penalty, even in the case of four senseless murders - including two children. Knowledge that he was committing capital murder certainly didn't deter Wallace from killing the entire Patrick Gilligan family. Relatives of the victims' families have gone on record stating that Wallace's execution probably wouldn't bring them any peace afterward. The state has spent more money on appeals in this case than it would have cost keeping Wallace incarcerated for the rest of his life. The reflexive state-sanctioned murder of Wallace has accomplished nothing toward prevention of similar crimes or providing solace to survivors.

I mention this capital case today only because it occurred within media-saturation distance of where I live. The murders, Wallace's arrest and trial were headline news for several months. It has been revived in the weeks leading up to his execution this morning. That's why I feel compelled to ask, what has been accomplished?

[Walt Starr]

1. What has been accomplished?

Justice.

That's what's been accomplished. The man committed a truly heinous crime and he has finally paid for it.

Im shed no tears and am even more convinced the DP is the right thing in these sorts of cases.

[Orsino]

2. Who did he pay?

As opposed to the death penalty as I am--when meted out by so obviously a racist and classist "justice" system--I can understand the desire for vengeance that seems to drive it.

If he really did commit the crime of which he was convicted, at least we know he'll never commit it again. A human life being priceless, however, I don't think that even another life can "pay" for it, so I'm not comfortable with that particular justification.

[Walt Starr]

9. Society n/t

[Orsino]

12. Why did he pay the same...

...that a killer of one victim would have? Why is his "payment" the same as that mandated for someone who killed more, or more brutally?

That doesn't sound quite like justice. If you feel that this is simply the best we can do, then let me suggest that what you're after is more akin to revenge.

I can understand that motivation, even if I don't agree with it.

[forgethell]

16. "Why did he pay the same..."

...that a killer of one victim would have? Why is his "payment" the same as that mandated for someone who killed more, or more brutally?.??

Just a guess, here: you can't kill the other fellow more than once???

Sounds to me like you are suggesting caning or whipping them some set amount for each additional murder before execution.

[Orsino]

19. Nope.

I'm suggesting that a life cannot pay for another life. Executing a mass murderer cannot pay for the multiple lives lost.

This is about the state taking, not about the convict giving. If there's any "payment" going on, it is the state offering an execution as compensation.

[forgethell]

20. And your point is?? n/t

[Orsino]

22. Point is...

I'm suggesting that a life cannot pay for another life. Executing a mass murderer cannot pay for the multiple lives lost.

This is about the state taking, not about the convict giving. If there's any "payment" going on, it is the state offering an execution as compensation.

[Pithlet]

13. Great.

We are a society that executes people. Thanks, Donald Ray Wallace.

His execution is not paying anything to society. It is making us, as a society, killers.

[Tansy_Gold]

18. I agree

Execution does not in any way undo the harm that has been done.

If we cannot do good, let us not do more bad.

If the idea is to prevent this particular killer from killing anyone else, then putting him in prison for his natural life, with no possibility of parole, serves the same purpose.

If we cannot trust that a future judge might overturn the "no parole" stipulation, then we simply cannot trust the future at all and might as well do a Jonestown right now.

Nothing will bring back the Gilligan family or any other victims of senseless violence. Killing their killers is a sign that we have not gone beyond a tribal blood vengeance mentality.

[Sporadicus]

5. My Preference for Justice

would have been to keep him incarcerated for the rest of his miserable life, facing the infirmities of old age with dubious health care, contending with predatory youngsters in the general prison population, merciless prison guards, and the knowledge that he would never breathe air outside prison walls again.

I shed no tears for Wallace either, but I still don't support the death penalty. Wallace said something to the effect that his execution would be like getting an early parole. The state just gave him the easy way out.

[Warpy]

6. Two wrongs don't make a right

and a state sanctioned murder is still murder.

It would have been cheaper and more effective to keep him locked up where he couldn't do it again.

And yes, I speak as a survivor of murder of a close family member.

[CornField]

3. I still fall on the fence when discussing the death penalty

In some instances, like in the article you referenced above, I see where the person to be executed wants it to happen. (i.e. "he looked at it as an early parole")

Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't let the accused and convicted make that determination... life in prison without parole or death.

???

[MuseRider]

4. Sporadicus, I'm with you.

It would bring me no peace to kill the killer. How does that saying go? "Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?"

[forgethell]

7. I love this statement

The state has spent more money on appeals in this case than it would have cost keeping Wallace incarcerated for the rest of his life.

How much do you suppose they would have spent on appeals of a life-without-parole sentence?

[Sporadicus]

14. Can You Cite Any Examples?

I'd be curious to know if you can actually cite any examples where criminals sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole get the opportunity to file frivolous appeals. That's the whole raison d'etre for life without parole - to stop the appeals process.

There are instances where new evidence surfaces, but it's not an automatic process as with capital cases.

[forgethell]

15. It was just a question.

I don't know the answer.

Still, the vector is toward doing away with life-without-parole in none death penalty countries. Look at Mexico, where there is no life-without-parole.

Then there's Germany. What did that guy who advertised for somebody to kill and eat, and got one, and killed him and ate him get?. Eight years wasn't it?

Besides, we could also do away with frivolous appeals in death penalty cases. I'm not arguing for the death penalty; I'm just saying that whining about the cost of the appeals is not a valid argument against it. There are other arguments with far more impact.

[Pithlet]

8. I'm consistent in my beliefs.

I'm against the death penalty. Period. I do not believe that this case weakens the argument against the death penalty at all. There is absolutely no reason why this man couldn't have spent the rest of every waking minute alive in a prison cell. The price to pay for satisfying vengeance is too high. The fact that we have a death penalty and that innocent lives are risked because of it, is a black mark on our society, and monsters like Donald Ray Wallace aren't worth lowering ourselves.

[Orsino]

10. Well, I'm not comfortable with the torture...

...that life in an American prison entails, either. I will only be satisfied by social justice that keeps the poor and the brown from being disproportionately executed or imprisoned, and by prison reform which keeps serving time humane.

Too many rich white men are getting richer off the alleged "justice" dealt out by American courts. We've made it profitable to imprison, and therefore are number one worldwide in imprisonments per capita.

[Pithlet]

11. Oh, no doubt

that minorities are disproportionately executed or imprisoned. That has to be addressed. It's also one of the main reasons why I'm against the death penalty. I do not believe those prejudices will ever be completely eradicated any time soon. I'm not any more comfortable with an innocent person imprisoned for life than I am for an innocent person to be executed. The only reason I advocate for life over death is that death is permanent and irreversible. While the injustice of false imprisonment can never be fully reversed, and that time of their lives can never be returned, they are still alive to be set free to live the rest of their lives if justice is ever actually served. A dead person cannot be brought back to life if a sentence is overturned.

[Padraig18]

17. May God have mercy on his soul.

This barbaric practice must end!

[dddem]

21. If the state is looking for vengeance

Then I think the statement about death being an early parole says a lot. I think spending the rest of ones life never knowing freedom again, and having to reflect on what actions prompted incarceration is a greater punishment than death. And I can't imagine the death of the criminal bringing "comfort" to a family who has to deal with the devastation of losing a loved one. I also believe "thou shalt not kill" applies in the case of the deviant as equally as the moral person. Being a person who believes in God, I HAVE to accept that Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolph Hitler, Charles Manson, W, Rumsfeld, Cheney (sorry, I'm getting carried away) are all God's creations, and it's not my place to destroy that which He has created. I may not like it, but that's faith for ya!