In the interest of full disclosure, I will start this post by saying that I am opposed to the death penalty. Not in principle, mind you. After all, there is only one way that is 100% certain to make sure that a killer doesn’t repeat his crime. No, I am opposed to the death penalty because I don’t trust the government officials in charge of the criminal “justice” system. Ask the Duke Lacrosse players, or any of the thousands of people exonerated by the Innocence Project. To put even one person to death who didn’t deserve it is a travesty of justice that makes all of us culpable in that innocent death.
Now that we have that out of the way, I will also say that if there ever was anyone who deserves the death penalty is the guy who carried out that shooting. He was upset because no girl wanted a piece of him, so he admitted that he planned the shooting for Valentine’s Day so none of the students would ever celebrate that holiday again. He admitted to planning out his attack for five years. He simply waited until he was old enough to buy guns with which to carry out his massacre. He is an evil son of a bitch who deserves to fry in Florida’s chair, but the jury decided that they will give him life in prison, instead.
Sharing in his guilt are all of the people along the way who knew that this monster was unhinged, yet failed to take action. The FBI, who received numerous calls to their “see something, say something, we do nothing” line. The school counselors who failed to report his statements and behavior. His foster parents who were scared enough to lock up his guns, but not call the cops.
Most of all? The voters of Broward county. They reliably vote for this shit, they vote Democrat, the reelect coward public officials, they tolerate this. They are getting the government that they vote for. It’s just too bad that their mental issues have an effect on the rest of us in this state.
13 Comments
Francis W. Porretto · October 14, 2022 at 5:18 am
A. E. Van Vogt told us that people always get the government they want. If that’s true, as it appears to be in these United States, then the people of Broward are getting it “good and hard.” (H. L. Mencken)
BobF · October 14, 2022 at 5:47 am
And they did it to their own children. Yeah, some village.
mike · October 14, 2022 at 5:49 am
You have a point. The Gov couldn’t execute TIm McVeigh fast enough. I understand he waived all appeals, but there did not seem to be any interest at all in debriefing him and sounding out the full scope of the conspiracy. I’m sure we all know why.
WDS · October 14, 2022 at 8:20 am
They’ll put Cruz in segregation where he’ll be safe, just like Epstein, Bulger and Dahmer were.
Steve · October 14, 2022 at 9:42 am
“Most of all? The voters of Broward county. They reliably vote for this shit, they vote Democrat, the reelect coward public officials, they tolerate this. They are getting the government that they vote for.”
Based on the role models being set, and how well these values are being instilled (c.f., David Hogg, et al.) Maybe instead of being the MSD Eagles, they should choose a more appropriate mascot, the Broward Cowards.
Elrod · October 14, 2022 at 10:14 am
I am, and have been, unalterably opposed to the imposition of the death penalty by any government, at any level, anywhere. There is too much malfeasance, corruption and simple incompetence, some of which I have witnessed, at all levels of government operation to place any trust in any government proceeding that results in a death penalty.
I am just as unalterably in complete favor, however, of potential administration of the death penalty at the scene of the crime by the intended victim.
Were laws different at the time, and procedures and capabilities in place to recognize and accommodate such need, the Parkland event might well have been radically different in many aspects. Based on Grady Judd’s remarks concerning Broward County at a recent press conference, however, I suspect not.
SiG · October 14, 2022 at 10:31 am
Maybe life in prison is a harsher punishment than execution?
Hard (for me) to know what a psychotic like him would think is worse. If his goal in life was to kill all those people and go out in a blaze of glory, I’d think he would have offed himself after the shooting. I’ve heard since the shooting he wanted the death penalty so maybe a long painful life is harsher.
Steve S6 · October 14, 2022 at 11:06 am
When you can’t trust the government/justice to properly apply capital punishment it’s time to change that diaper. Not sure you’ll do better but at least it’s a chance.
Beans · October 14, 2022 at 11:07 am
Not against the Death Penalty, not at all. When there is clear-cut evidence, 100% proof, like video with the dirt-bag on it doing it and DNA (that’s not sent through the FBI’s notoriously bad crime lab, yes, BAD) and the dirt-bag’s own confession (as long as dirt-bag did not sit through an overly long confession) then, yes, make dirt-bag take the long drop, or short drop, or ride the lightning.
Executions should be brutal as a warning.
Now, on the other hand, in Florida, a sentence of Life for a violent crime is actually ‘Life without the possibility of Parole.’ So a dirt-bag who gets such life is given a death sentence. Just a verrrry loooooong death sentence.
And in the above Parkland shooter’s case, said PS dirtbag can’t go into General Population without sucking a shank within the first 6 months, so essentially said PS dirtbag will live a loooooong, verrrrry loooooooong death sentence in solitary, with only 1 hour a day outside said solitary cell.
Serves the POS right.
Though, if the world was a just place, he’d go to GenPop and suck enough shank wounds to make Julius Caesar’s death seem understated. “Who shanked the Parkland Shooter?” Everyone raises their hands, and in a scene reminiscent of “Spartacus” everyone says they are the shanker.
Big Ruckus D · October 14, 2022 at 12:06 pm
Can’t add much about the shooting or the shooter, or the dysfunctional shithole that is Broward County. But I will say I have no problem with the death penalty being utilized, provided there is no ambiguity as to the guilt of the suspect. As in absolute, irrefutable proof.
For cases that are not perfectly cut and dried, I can see foregoing a death sentence if a mistake (or malicious and overzealous prosecutor trying to advance their career) is possibly in play that could later result in vacating a conviction. Cases where someone got railroaded do happen, and are often glaringly obvious in retrospect.
All that said, for those cases in which there is no doubt, death needs to be imposed promptly and at a level of brutality commensurate with the crime. This kinder, gentler lethal injection bullshit is a bad joke. Hanging, firing squads, and the chair need to make a comeback. Further, there are crimes that really need execution as the only sentence. One is mass killings, whether a school shooting, or a serial killer who does one victim at a time for years. Another is pedophilia. Anyone who gets caught dead to rights fucking a little kid should go straight to execution, no long term incarceration. And I say this because not only is it the most disgusting crime imaginable, but the recidivism rate has plainly established there is no chance of rehabilitating such perverts. Finally, as a practical matter, the taxpayers don’t need to be soaked warehousing scum like that for decades on end. We are already bankrupt as a country, so the future is one of no money to pay for such frivolous bullshit. I suspect our future is also one of much greater levels of vigilantism for much the same reason, but that is another subject entirely.
Anonymous · October 14, 2022 at 7:59 pm
If anyone deserved the death penalty, the Carr Brothers did. The btk killer did, too.
I’m sure there’s folks in every state that would qualify, and I have no problem with that.
But here’s the thing. I think we’d have less crime if we treated crime like it was crime. All crime. Looting, vandalism, theftery, assault, all that. Nip it in the bud.
Matthew W · October 15, 2022 at 3:38 pm
I’m all for the death penalty.
There are people that commit such heinous acts that they should be removed from the population.
However, the death penalty has at times been used poorly.(yes, that could be called an understatement)
It’s my thought that for the death penalty to be used, there must be a much higher standard of evidence and guilt. In exchange for that, there would be a much shorter time to the completion of the sentence.
The parkland shooter is one such person that should be eligible for the death penalty.
Someone like Wayne Williams, no.
D · October 18, 2022 at 10:15 am
“Most of all? The voters of Broward county. They reliably vote for this shit”
Hence the reason I voted once waaaay back after I had just turned 18, and then once for Ron Paul. I realized that both parties are corrupt beyond belief, and I’m not signing my name and assenting to the actions of either party. Voting for the lesser of two evils still gets you evil.
Just sit back, relax, and let tyranny commence…because it makes target identification much easier.
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