Incorrect
Last December [1984] a man named Robert Lee Willie, who had been convicted of raping and murdering an 18-year-old woman, was executed in the Louisiana state prison. In a statement issued several minutes before his death, Mr. Willie said: “Killing people is wrong…It makes no difference whether it’s citizens, countries, or governments.
Killing is wrong.” Two weeks later in South Carolina, an admitted killer named Joseph Carl Shaw was put to death for murdering two teenagers. In an appeal to the governor for clemency, Mr. Shaw wrote: “Killing is wrong when I did it. Killing is wrong when you do it. I hope you have the courage and moral strength to stop the killing.”
It is a curiosity of modern life that we find ourselves being lectured on morality by cold-blooded killers.
Mr. Willie previously had been convicted of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and the murders of a
Louisiana deputy and a man from Missouri. Mr. Shaw committed another murder a week before the two for which he was executed, and admitted mutilating the body of the 14-year-old girl he killed. I can’t help wondering what prompted these murderers to speak out against killing as they entered the death-house door.
Did their newfound reverence for life stem from the realization that they were about to lose their own?
Life is indeed precious, and I believe the death penalty helps to affirm this fact. Had the death penalty been a real possibility in the minds of these murderers, they might well have stayed their hand. They might have shown moral awareness before their victims died, and not after. Consider the tragic death of Rosa Velez, who happened to be home when a man named Luis Vera burglarized
Killing is wrong.” Two weeks later in South Carolina, an admitted killer named Joseph Carl Shaw was put to death for murdering two teenagers. In an appeal to the governor for clemency, Mr. Shaw wrote: “Killing is wrong when I did it. Killing is wrong when you do it. I hope you have the courage and moral strength to stop the killing.”
It is a curiosity of modern life that we find ourselves being lectured on morality by cold-blooded killers.
Mr. Willie previously had been convicted of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and the murders of a
Louisiana deputy and a man from Missouri. Mr. Shaw committed another murder a week before the two for which he was executed, and admitted mutilating the body of the 14-year-old girl he killed. I can’t help wondering what prompted these murderers to speak out against killing as they entered the death-house door.
Did their newfound reverence for life stem from the realization that they were about to lose their own?
Life is indeed precious, and I believe the death penalty helps to affirm this fact. Had the death penalty been a real possibility in the minds of these murderers, they might well have stayed their hand. They might have shown moral awareness before their victims died, and not after. Consider the tragic death of Rosa Velez, who happened to be home when a man named Luis Vera burglarized