Guardian UK Opinion: John Allen Muhammed deserved mercy

[Bluebear]

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by Virginia Moffatt

...Taking a human life is the worst possible crime any of us commit. Who among us wouldn't want to respond to the murder of a loved one by taking the life of their killer? But I'd argue that to do so diminishes our humanity, and makes us no better than the murderer themselves. Besides, it is rare that murder is straightforward, and there are many examples of killers who have repented of their crimes, and turned their lives around. The Guardian's own Erwin James being an inspirational example. Execution prevents any chance of this ever happening.

The argument about deterrence is perhaps the weakest one. America, where the death penalty is still actively in use, comes 24th in the table of national murder rates, as opposed to the UK, which has no death penalty and comes 46th.

The strongest argument to kill Muhammed is that he showed no remorse, and involved a minor in his crimes. It seems to me that cases such as these, the most challenging, are precisely the ones where we are called on to show most mercy.

Even this case of the calculated killer is less straightforward than it seems. According to Muhammed's lawyers he is suffering from mental health problems, and a victim of Gulf War syndrome. And the decision to prosecute in Virginia, with its high rate of state executions, rather than Maryland, was undoubtedly political.

Perhaps you will dismiss me as a typical liberal, Note: no doubt these days with more sympathy for the murderer than the victim – you might say that I'd feel differently if it was someone I knew who had been killed. Well I have sat through a murder trial, supporting the friend of a vulnerable man with learning disabilities, murdered in horrific circumstances. I looked into the eyes of the killer, and felt sick to the stomach. Yes, it was tempting to wish him dead. And yes, it challenged my beliefs to the core. But, he got life imprisonment, not death, and perhaps, somewhere in some prison, deprived of his liberty, he is beginning to come to terms with what he did. It is for that small possibility that I am glad he is still alive, and feel justice has been done.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/10/john-allen-muhammed-execution

[paulsby]

1. i once looked into the eyes of the killer

and all i saw was pure evil.

i am referring to daniel kosi

http://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/05/29/news/story6.html

the story doesn't do it justice, referring to the "fatal stabbing" of aisha tolentino

stabbing? he took a knife and literally sawed her head off

[Bluebear]

2. Horrid. Was he executed?

If not, he is now 35, has already languished in jail for ten years, and hopefully will live a life of being caged for another 40 or so years to contemplate his misdeeds. He also should be put to work and paid a wage to defer his room and board with the excess going to his victim's survivors.

[paulsby]

5. this was in hawaii

no death penalty.

the crime was truly shocking. he committed the original murder, THEN he kidnapped a witness to the murder, duct taped her up and drove around with her in the trunk, discussing with a friend the best method to kill her and dispose of the body. she heard the whole thing. they park the car and go into their roomand she breaks out of the trunk and goes screaming down the parking lot, all taped up. the first tourist couple that saw her literally ran the other way. they had planned to kill her and leave her in the cane fields that night, as the companies were doing a cane burning tomorrow. when she got somebody to call the cops, there was a long standoff, and that's when he cut aisha's head off. dood was just whack.

the guy was just a very very scary guy. i know it sounds cliched, but the look in his eyes, when i saw him scared the living crap out of me. and he was in handcuffs and i had a gun.

evil

[Possumpoint]

3. He's Dead

Good!

[Bluebear]

4. I'm sure you didn't read a word of the piece before joining in this thread. Did you?

[marmar]

6. A society does not become better by doing the very thing it purports to hold in contempt....

....People can call it whatever they want to or attempt to justify it anyway they want, but the death penalty is state-sanctioned murder. And yes, the D.C. sniper is scum, but the issue is larger than him. We're the only so-called enlightened Western nation that does something this medieval.

[Bluebear]

7. ---

So very good to 'see' you again here, mar.

[marmar]

8. Same here......You were greatly missed.

:pals:

[malaise]

9. I will never support the death penalty

It's that simple.

[EFerrari]

10. In LBN, posters are cheering his execution

Time to check out for the night.

[Bluebear]

11. Someone stopped by here to do the same, upthread

Without reading a single word of the piece, I am certain.

[wordpix]

12. Gulf War syndrome and mentally ill - due to being in Iraq 1.0, maybe

[Ocracoker16]

13. I don't support the death penalty

I don't see it as a constructive solution to violence and crime. I think that people who watched Timothy McVeighs execution online or whatever are really sick.