Is apparently not enough state-sanctioned killing:
Forty-six years after its abolition a House committee sought public opinion Tuesday on whether West Virginia should reinstate the death penalty.
Opponents outnumbered supporters during the 70-minute hearing on legislation introduced by Delegate John Overington, R-Berkeley, a longtime proponent of the death penalty.
Supporters included Berkeley County resident Paula Rolls who said she had never considered the death penalty until her friend Kathy Sharp was murdered in 2009.
Now, West Virginia is “in desperate need of the death penalty,” she said.
What is going on in Berkeley County? This is also where that one Senator advocated seceding to Virginia.
ruemara
Our national disease of apathy and cheetos has seceded the throne to sociopaths.
Just Some Fuckhead
Gentrification is what is going on with Berkeley County.
Snarki, child of Loki
Wait, wait. Let me get this right.
First, VA tries to secede from the US.
Second, WVA *does* secede from VA.
Now, one county of WVA wants to secede from WVA and un-secede back to VA?
How about we just let them be an independent country and bomb the shit out of them on some flimsy pretext. Everyone happy, then?
JGabriel
John Cole:
Er, shouldn’t you be telling us? You’re the one who lives in W. Va.
.
freelancer
I saw the post title and immediately thought “Ohhh Ohhh! I know this one! Is it gheys? Is it something that rhymes with ‘gagortion’?”
Damn, struck out. Though it is kind of ridiculous and amazing in a way to be reliving the Culture War of the Early 90s. Is the GOP gonna bring back Crystal Pepsi, Kid ‘n Play, and Zubaz pants too?
Also, I got $100 that says Mr. Overington self-identifies as a “pro-life Christian”.
Just Some Fuckhead
FWIW, it was illegal for the western counties in Virginia to secede and form WV. It was only because of activist judges the travesty was allowed to stand.
JGabriel
Snarki, child of Loki:
To be fair, it’s one state senator from Berkeley, not the whole population of the county — though I have no clue whether or not a majority of the population supports the idea.
.
sukabi
10 bucks says Overington and Rolls are both “pro-lifers”…
Maude
@freelancer:
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Pro Life Forever…a bumper sticker.
LGRooney
I have no problem with the death penalty on its face. I have a problem with its implementation since it is often based on questionable, circumstantial evidence and since harsher penalties more often than often are passed on to minorities. If someone is caught red-handed for an offense deemed worthy of capital punishment, I don’t want them living some extended existence in a hell hole (I know, I know, it’s probably worse punishment than offing them) when my taxes are better spent on educating some kids. It’s as simple as that.
I am sure someone will come to collect my liberal credentials later but I had to express that I honestly don’t care as long as its application is fair and based on caught-in-the-act evidence (or admission) v. circumstantial. Admittedly, those two qualifiers would probably free all those on death row currently.
Mudge
The craziness of the times come to the Mountain State. Gotta be more like Texas.
Kryptik
Isn’t this kind of mindset why courts don’t allow jury input from folks related or familiar with the cases being tried?
mds
Because … it would unkill her friend? It would deter anyone from killing more of her friends, since people only kill someone else after coldly noting how sweet life in prison would be if they’re caught? What is this “desperate need,” if we exclude “Paula Rolls’ thirst for revenge” from the official definition?
suzanne
@LGRooney:
Execution has repeatedly been proven to be more expensive than life imprisonment.
Catzmaw
After 26 years of practicing criminal law I’d have a hard time accepting that some police officers got it right when they told you what they had for breakfast that morning, let alone were able to figure out for sure who done the murder. The death penalty sounds good in theory, but it is part of a system set up, administered, and directed by humans, meaning that it’s impossible to make it perfect. And if it’s impossible to make it perfect then we shouldn’t be using a penalty from which no mistake can be reversed or minimized or overcome.
Dr. SkySkull
This kind of validates some thoughts I’ve had about the death penalty for a while. I’m against it, and eventually expect someone to ask me, “If someone you knew were murdered, wouldn’t you want to see the murderer executed?”
My answer would be along the lines of, “Yes, I would probably be so angry that I would want to see the murderer executed more than anything else in the world — and that’s exactly why I shouldn’t be allowed to be involved with that decision.”
JustMe
Mitt Romney tried to pull this off, too: one of the first things he did after becoming governor of MA was decide that what we really needed was to instate the death penalty.
Persia
@mds: One of the reasons I’m anti-death penalty is I know that if one of my friends was murdered, I’d want the murderer to fry. No matter what the circumstances were. The whole point of our justice system is to stop people from grabbing swords and taking things into our own hands. I feel terrible for her, but when you’ve lost someone you love you’re not rational.
GregB
Repeat after me.
Re-instating or expanding the death penalty is big government. Giving the government the power to kill is the biggest intrusion into human lives as possible.
Quicksand
As a Northern Californian, that snippet causes me severe cognitive dissonance.
twiffer
this:
translates directly to: “sure, it might be wrong…but i WANT VENGENCE”.
can people at least be honest? the problem with the death penalty, as i see it, is does the fact that some very evil people do deserve to forfit their lives as punishment for crimes outweigh the fact that we get it wrong sometimes? a personal desire for vengence (which i would certainly have), should not be a factor worth considering.
Origuy
A guy in Elkins, WV fired on U.S. Marshals and killed one of them today. You can’t tell me that he didn’t know they would fire back, as they did, and kill him. How would a death penalty discourage that?
Pangloss
Illinois has a a bill eliminating the death penalty waiting for the Governor’s signature.
Carnacki
As a long time resident of Berkeley County, I can say part of the problem is there was a second wave of white flight as the once lily white suburbs like Montgomery County became majority minority, the suburbanites moved farther out until half the work force commutes to DC.
The people who move out here expect the same level of public service they received in suburban Maryland and Virginia, but without paying those kind of taxes.
So basically we’ve got too many wingers
Carnacki
@Just Some Fuckhead: Gentrification without being gentrified. If I hear one more former suburbanite complaining about the lack of a nightlife in the county, I’m gonna tell him or her to move the fuck back where they came from. We’ve got plenty of strip clubs. What other kind of night life do we need?
Chris
Only if the first person it’s applied to is Don Blankenship. Otherwise, it’s not worth discussing for WV.
Carnacki
@JGabriel: When he proposed it at the local Chamber of Commerce, a witness told me there was laughter like he was joking and then a long, extended silence (possibly with crickets chirping) when people realized he was serious.
Dave L
@Carnacki: – You beat me to it. Berkeley County is a Republican exurb, it’s totally different from most of the rest of the state. Let them secede; preferably, to Texas.
Full disclosure – I’m actually a SW Pennsylvania resident, but we have more in common with W VA than the commuters in the eastern Panhandle.
AJ
It’s not state sanctioned killing; it’s state sanctioned MURDER.
Life imprisonment is worse than any death penalty. I’d rather be put to death than spend a week, much less a lifetime in prison.
Timothy McVeigh WANTED to die. He waived his appeals. Shortly after his last deadline expired, his lawyer said, “having nothing to look forward to but solitary confinement in a Bureau of Prisons facility does not appeal to Mr. McVeigh.”
No shit. The “Law ‘n Order” Repukes thought it was great that Tim McVeigh could be to be put to death. They were wrong. They gave him what HE WANTED. Taking his life was not punishment; he wanted to die. The proper punishment was to make him live. For decades. In prison. For decades!
Last comment: The decision to execute is political. All Governors, especially those running/hoping for reelection, should be relieved of that responsibility. Life imprisonment is not political, errors can be reversed, and true punishment is imposed.
ItAintEazy
@suzanne: No, the poster just wants all convicted murderers, immediately after the verdict is read, to be dragged out to the middle of the street and shot in the back of the head with a Chief’s Special. That’ll cut the costs associated with those messy appeals and the all-too-frequent overturning of convictions.
CA Berkeley WV
Yup, you guessed it. I went to Cal in Berkeley, CA, and I now live in that mysterious Berkeley County, WV.
Kathy Sharpe and Paula Roll both worked for my dentist. Kathy’s ex-boyfriend, the Other DON SURBER, cut her heart out. Grief speaks in many tongues. Del. Overington has also co-opted the grief of a father, Sydney Devonshire, who daughter and grandson were taken by her ex-boyfriend.
For twenty-five years, John Overington has gotten nowhere on this. Bless his little heart.
Interrobang
A relative of mine was murdered two years ago. The trial is going on right now. I hope they convict the accused, because he looks like he’s guilty as hell…and I’m still glad Canada doesn’t execute people. Executing that guy would make me feel dirty, like I was right there helping hold the knife he was using to slash up my relative.
Carnacki
@Dave L: I recently moved to Shepherdstown (Jefferson County) and I can’t tell you how much I love this place. It’s fantastic.
Carnacki
@CA Berkeley WV: CA haven’t crossed paths with you in seemingly forever. When you coming back to Blue?
Ruckus
Aren’t we supposed to make life better for those that come behind? Removing the death penalty is the right thing to do. Period. Costs be damned. If it was wrong in the first place to murder someone then it’s just as wrong for the government to do it. It is not a deterrent. It is revenge. And can we talk about how unevenly it’s applied.
@CA Berkeley WV:
The people of WVa have not listened to this ass for 25 years? Good for them. Sounds like maybe WVa is not as conservative as people make it sound.
khead
@Carnacki:
This.
It’s part of the reason why I’m still in Laurel, MD.
Paul in KY
@Origuy: It won’t. The idiots who murder never think they are going to be caught or they just don’t care.
I agree there is no deterrent value to the death penalty. To me, it is the appropriate sentence for the ultimate crime.
Paul in KY
@AJ: If life imprisonment is worse than the death penalty, why do so many convicts who have been sentenced to death keep on filing every appeal possible in order to remain life imprisoned?