Kill ’em All
While campaigning for his new job, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland questioned the fairness of the application of the death penalty. But he isn’t worried about it enough to put a moratorium on executions until he finds out if the death penalty is “the other lottery,” as it have been dubbed in Indiana. The American Bar Association is due to release its findings about the application of the death penalty in the state of Ohio.
If Strickland is so concerned about this matter, he isn’t showing it. Instead of waiting until the results of the study are released or commissioning his own study and waiting for the results before he orders yet another execution, Strickland released the following statement about the next scheduled execution:
“As a result of his conviction for aggravated murder, the Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled the execution of Mr. James J. Filiaggi for April 24, 2007 at 10 a.m. Although Mr. Filiaggi has not requested clemency, I have completed my review to determine if executive clemency is warranted in this capital murder case. In making my determination, my staff and I reviewed the trial transcripts, the report of the forensic psychiatrist that was prepared for trial, trial photographs and videos, the Adult Parole Authority’s report, phone calls recordings introduced at trial, judicial rulings, Mr. Filiaggi’s institutional mental health records, letters received by the Parole Board, arguments presented at the Parole Board hearing and the exhibits presented at the Parole Board hearing.
“We have also reviewed letters received in the governor’s office regarding this matter and the unanimous recommendation against clemency forwarded to me by the Ohio Parole Board on February 1, 2007. Based on this review, I concur with the Parole Board recommendation on this matter.”
If this is a reflection of his concern about equal application of the law in the Buckeye State, Strickland is no better than former Gov. Bob Taft. The death penalty system (http://www.citybeat.com/2006-07-12/cover.shtml) is broken but the new governor doesn’t seem to have the intelligence or political balls to say that state sanctioned killing isn’t working.
— Margo Pierce
April 20, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Republicans and Democrats are the same, the only differnce is the name.
April 23, 2007 at 8:34 am
You mean like Ghiz and Berding?
April 23, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Sounds like the Governor did plenty of research and made a well-thought out decision.
This is the guy you want to “SAVE”.
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070423/NEWS01/704230372
Get off your high horse.
April 25, 2007 at 8:57 am
ToeJam,
You’re using a tired tactic to avoid the point. This isn’t a debate about what the guy did – there’s no question that what he did was reprehensible. This is about the use, value and implications of state sanctioned murder.
When one human being kills another it is called murder. There are terms like “manslaughter” to describe accidental or unintentional murder, but it’s still the enduing of one person’s life at the hands of another person. When the state does it – whether it’s via lethal injection, the electric chair or hanging – it’s still murder.
What does it say about this society that we are going to allow some murders and not others? THAT is the question.
Compassion and the respect for human life – all life, not just the life that’s deemed valuable by some arbitrary standard supported my moral indignation – has value.
The acid test for me is a “What if” scenario: What if my nephew accidentally killed someone? What if my sister was wrongly accused of a murder she didn’t commit? What if my brother, my father, my best friend, co-worker, grandmother was in the same situation?
Instead of demonizing a single person, dismissing the really hard question and perpetuating the status quo, take a moment to bring this situation closer to home and then consider it.