Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Talk about unnecessary overkill


Court officials in Greene County have had to delay the formal sentencing of rapist and murderer Jeffrey Martin. The reason? They first have to hold a hearing to determine whether Martin is a sexually violent predator. Are you kidding me? Let's recap. In June 2006, Martin raped 12-year-old Gabrielle Bechen on a Dunkard Township farm. OK, that should cover the sexual predator part. Then, he choked her until she was dead. Hmmmm, seems violent. Do we really need a hearing to determine whether this guy qualifies under Megan's Law? It's especially ridiculous when you consider that Martin is headed to Death Row. Sure, a lot of us may be dead before he's ever executed, but there's exactly zero chance that he's ever going to be a free man again. You don't see a lot of child rapist-killers winning appeals and walking out the prison doors. I'm sure the court folks are just following the letter of the law, but it's really stupid.

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10 Comments:

Blogger Ellipses said...

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty... oh, wait a sec... never mind :-)

Why can't they wrap that whole evaluation into the sentencing part?

If all snarks are quips and some quips are derps, then some snarks may be derps...

If you are found guilty of rape, you are a sexual predator... if you are found guilty of murder, you are violent... If you are found guilty of both, you get rat poison mixed in with your prison taters.

-ellipses

July 23, 2008 at 1:11 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

I meant verdict, not sentencing...

-ellipses

July 23, 2008 at 1:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nothing they do to this animal will bring back the victims. He needs die a slow tortorous death of the worst magnitude. As for this legal manuevering -- if the sharks didnt cloud the system the system would actually work. Kill the idiotic lawyers right before they kill this animal! maybe then the judges who are lawyers themsleves will perhaps see the error of there ways.....nothing like a little motivation....and while you are at it Blow up the ACLU who is also responsible for this bullshit happening....

July 23, 2008 at 8:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clarification.....

Blow up whatever part of the ACLU that believes criminals should have equal rights to those victims butchered, mamed, etc.... we have laws and punishments for breaking them....stop screwing around with the lives of others you dont know. If it were your daughter and children the victims...would you sing the same sad song or want swift, responsive, equal justice?

July 23, 2008 at 8:55 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

Nah, Captain, you had it right the first time...blow up the damn ACLU, the most useless, dangerous organization out there, followed immediately by PETA and Obama's campaign team.

Child rapists, rapists in general, and murderers should be sentenced to death. You get one appeal...one week after conviction. Then fry the scum.

July 24, 2008 at 8:02 PM  
Blogger Roger said...

Today's edition of a prominent national newspaper carried a story about wait times on death row. In the past two decades, the wait times have doubled. In some states, such as California, the average wait time between sentencing and execution has reached 20 years.

All the delays in executions make a mockery of the death penalty. The costs must be enormous, both for the incarceration, and the legal fees. Perhaps it is time to scrap the death penalty, just for these reasons -- the penalty is rarely carried through.

Didn't Gov Rendell just sign a warrant for an execution? Will it happen, even though it has been signed?

July 24, 2008 at 10:20 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

Rendell regularly signs execution warrants, but nothing comes of them because of the endless, maddening appeals. Tippy Wallace and Roland Steele are two from our area who have been on death row forever. In Wallace's case, it might well be a quarter century now. It's just ridiculous. I think the last person executed in Pa. might have been Gary Heidnik, the "House of Horrors" killer from Philly. And that's been years.

July 24, 2008 at 10:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just read a comment on another blog here at one of the Or's news headlines....where he said "It must have been me" or something to that effect and that he snapped....how about its time that the rest of the world finally snapped too and treat accordingly.. The only thing of value I got out of it was the family of the criminal must also be suffering. They have to live with the stigma albeit not fair of what their father, brother, son etc has done as well as the family of the victims. Too bad there is nothing that can be done for them. But, we as a civil society (only for a small %) should not blame the relatives of the criminal. We all have skeletons but the fury of what our children have to go through like these events is beyond any explanation -- even insanity..

But an animal he is nonetheless...I suspect an insanity plea or such is coming..

Priguy..i agree with your last blog....those peoples should be destroyed...i know we should should as the Bible says be able to turn the other cheek...but thats bruised and battered too from all the ones before this who got off completely or lightly due to technicalities etc...

July 24, 2008 at 11:43 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

Thanks, Roger. I've said it before on this blog and in several letters to the editors of various publications here in Richmond: once a criminal crosses the line between civilized society and violent crime, in my view he or she is no longer a human with any value. He or she has become an animal, thus the "eye for an eye" thing, no matter how battered, applies perfectly. You can't cure a mad dog or a rabid fox. You have to kill it and remove it from the population so it can't harm any other parts of that population.

What irks the soul out of me (Brant?) is when these vermin pull out the mentally handicapped defense. They (or rather their lawyers) claim that they had no idea that raping someone and bashing their heads in afterwards is wrong because they're mentally handicapped. My daughter is mildly autistic and mentally retarded. She has the mental capacity of a seven year old child even though she's almost 22. I've been around her peers all of her life, and I can assure you that if you ask any of them if killing someone is wrong or bad or whatever, you will get a "yes" every time.

This is the kind of nonsense that gives lawyers the sleazy reputation so many of them have. And it's well deserved.

July 25, 2008 at 6:10 AM  
Blogger Brant said...

Pri, we should ask Bob if that irks the soul out of him. It makes me want to slam a megaphone on the ground. ;)

July 25, 2008 at 9:41 AM  

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