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The Totally Justified Use of the Death Penalty . . .

Discussion in 'Politics & Religion' started by browntwn, May 1, 2013.

  1. #1
    Ohio executes inmate convicted of killing girlfriend’s 6-month-old daughter while raping her


    LUCASVILLE, Ohio — A man convicted of killing a 6-month-old as he raped her was executed Wednesday despite his arguments that he never meant to hurt her.

    Steve Smith, 46, was executed by lethal injection for the September 1998 killing of his live-in girlfriend’s daughter, Autumn Carter, in Mansfield in northern Ohio.


    Smith had recently tried to get his sentence reduced to life in prison, arguing that he was too drunk to realize that his assault was killing Autumn and didn’t mean to hurt the baby.

    Smith’s daughter and only child, 21-year-old Brittney Smith, wept loudly in the 25 minutes between when her father walked into the death chamber flanked by prison guards and when he was pronounced dead at 10:29 a.m.
    Steve Smith declined to say any last words, then looked at his daughter sitting behind a pane of glass.

    “I love you,” she said as she wept. Smith turned his head away and appeared to be struggling not to cry, his chin wavering.

    As the lethal injection began, Smith took several heavy breaths before he closed his eyes and looked as though he were falling asleep.

    As Brittney and Smith’s niece Melissa Aguirre sobbed, Autumn’s mother, aunt and grandfather sat quietly watching, sometimes shaking their heads and rolling their eyes at the noise of the other women.

    After the execution, Autumn’s aunt, Kaylee Bashline, pumped her fists in the air as if in victory and gave a hug to Autumn’s mother, Kesha Frye.

    Bashline has said that her family has no reason to doubt that Smith is guilty, especially with his recent admission, and that it’s not fair that he had 15 years since the crime to live, visit family and say his goodbyes.

    “He got all that, and what did she get?” Bashline said. “She got to be killed and put in the ground where none of us gets to see her anymore. I don’t find it right.”

    Brittney Smith has said she has never believed her father committed the crime.

    “I know my dad’s innocent,” she said. “I do not believe he did this, and you know, he raised all my cousins, my sister before I was even born, and he never did anything (sexually).”

    Back on the night of September 29, 1998, Autumn’s mother was awoken by Smith, her live-in boyfriend of four months.
    Smith, who was extremely drunk and naked, laid a naked and lifeless Autumn on Frye’s bed, according to court records.

    Frye rushed the baby and her other 2-year-old daughter to a neighbor’s house and called 911. Autumn was pronounced dead after doctors tried to revive her for more than an hour, and Smith was arrested.

    The baby was covered in bruises and welts, had cuts on her forehead and had severe injuries showing she had been brutally raped, though no semen was present.

    At the home, there was no sign of forced entry, and police found a large amount of white cloth that came from Autumn’s diaper strewn about; police found the rest of the diaper in a garbage bin outside, along with 10 empty cans of beer and a T-shirt.

    At the time, Smith told police that he “didn’t do anything.”

    “I’m not sick like that,” he said.

    At trial, Smith didn’t testify in his own defense on the advice of his attorneys, even as prosecutors repeatedly referred to him as a “baby raper,” showed pictures of Autumn’s battered body and told jurors that her assault lasted up to a half-hour.

    Expert witnesses for Smith testified that he might have accidentally suffocated the girl within three to five minutes of the assault.

    The jury found Smith guilty of aggravated murder and sentenced him to die.

    At an April 2 hearing in which Smith sought to have his death sentence reduced to life in prison, he admitted to the crime and said he didn’t mean to kill Autumn.

    He also told the Ohio Parole Board that he was not in his right mind the night of the crime and has to live every day with what he did. He said he was sorry and wished he could ask Autumn for forgiveness.

    The board and Gov. John Kasich unanimously turned him down, with the board calling him “the worst of the worst.”

    “Smith took the life of an innocent 6-month-old infant while using the baby to sexually gratify himself,” the board said in its decision. “It is hard to fathom a crime more repulsive or reprehensible in character.”

    Smith became the 51st inmate put to death in Ohio since it resumed executions in 1999. The state has enough of its lethal injection drug, the powerful sedative pentobarbital, to execute two other inmates before the supply expires. Eight more inmates are scheduled to die from November through mid-2015.

    Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...30cf46-b22b-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html
    (posted for purpose of discussion)


    ________________

    Personally, I would be for the death penalty for someone who rapes a 6 month old baby. But since he raped and killed her this is a no-brainer. This fuck does not deserve to live.
     
    browntwn, May 1, 2013 IP
  2. Rebecca

    Rebecca Prominent Member

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    #2
    The execution may bring a small amount of comfort to the victims family.


     
    Rebecca, May 2, 2013 IP
  3. robjones

    robjones Notable Member

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    #3
    It'll also avoid the possibility he will ever again do anything wrong to anyone. If somebody is willing to rape a 6 month old child, there's nothing he would not do to anyone. He's the reason the death penalty exists.
     
    robjones, May 2, 2013 IP
  4. Obamanation

    Obamanation Well-Known Member

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    #4
    I cant argue with any of that, but Ill add this. In California, where we have the death penalty, any attempts to put a guy like this to death would result in a 30-40 year stream of appeals, costing millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars, while the guy was separated from population to receive special treatment on death row, costing millions and millions.

    In this state, our Democratic legislature has effectively overruled the death penalty by fiat, creating an environment where our worst criminals are treated like kings and the taxpayers are punished for even thinking about dealing with them.
     
    Obamanation, May 2, 2013 IP
  5. grpaul

    grpaul Well-Known Member

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    #5
    The ACLU will come to their rescue anyways. . .
     
    grpaul, May 2, 2013 IP
  6. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #6
    Though normally not a strong supporter of the death penalty in my later years, I'd tend to agree. In this instance, its likely more than justified. The 15 years he spent in the pokey as a known child rapist no doubt left more bruises and a other traumatic injuries inflicted upon him. They generally do not live that long, and when they do, its not a very pleasant experience. My guess is death was a welcome relief for this sick individual.
     
    Mia, May 2, 2013 IP
  7. r3dt@rget

    r3dt@rget Notable Member

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    #7
    The death penalty is appropriate in most 1st degree murder cases. What is the point of sending someone to prison for 40 years? Is that a joke? It does more harm than good, and in the end the public loses twice. First, the sick individual that purposely took someones life gets to stay alive, eat 3 meals a day, have a warm bed to sleep in, buddies to hang out with, and doesn't have to do anything productive while getting all that. Then, if they get paroled, you let this guy back into society a free man, waiting to kill again. Imagine how much cheaper, more efficient, and less cluttered our jail and prison system would be if we executed most 1st degree murder convictions within a year.

    These scumbag lawyers who fight for these murderers' lives disgust me. How can you even argue that someone who purposely took someone's live deserves another breath? If they fought as hard catching criminals and murders the world would be a safer place.
     
    r3dt@rget, May 2, 2013 IP
  8. jmjsolutions

    jmjsolutions Greenhorn

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    #8
    I saw this article when I went to check my email yesterday. I was so disturbed from it. His daughters and family are still in denial that he could have done it, even though he admitted it.

    The tricky thing is definitely our justice system. It IS very possible for people to be falsely charged and sentenced for crimes they did not commit. The system is messed up. That is why I recently changed my view from Pro death penalty to Anti death penalty. I just wouldn't want to risk an innocent person being killed because their lawyer wasn't good enough.

    However, in cases like this, where it seems as though the evidence was 100% pointing to this guy, I feel torn. For the offense he committed, he deserves more than 15 years in prison and such a humane death.
     
    jmjsolutions, May 3, 2013 IP
  9. ryan_uk

    ryan_uk Illustrious Member

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    #9
    Without a doubt, he didn't deserve live. It was far too kind that he got to live this long and die just by lethal injection for what he did.


    I wish they would bring back the death penalty in the UK. Far too many sicko bastards have been getting off lightly (i.e. being allowed to live).
     
    ryan_uk, May 3, 2013 IP
  10. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #10
    Its actually cheaper to send them to prison than it is to execute them. Between the appeal process and the time involved and expense, its generally more beneficial to let them suffer away the days wondering, never seeing the light of day than to spend billions (and yest it costs that much per year)... It costs about 3 times more to execute someone than it does to keep them incarcerated.

    I've got no moral quandary here. I just think its cheaper to keep them locked up.
     
    Mia, May 7, 2013 IP
  11. Obamanation

    Obamanation Well-Known Member

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    #11
    Lets call it a jobs program for attorney's, judges, and prison guards. One has to wonder how many of those people lobby to gum up the process, solely for the purposes of creating market demand for their services?
     
    Obamanation, May 7, 2013 IP
    Mia likes this.
  12. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #12
    It's a business. That much is for sure.
     
    Mia, May 10, 2013 IP