Unfettered Letters

Restrict, don't end, death penalty

Bill Lucero (3/9, Letters) asked us to put an end to the death penalty, and he does so for good reasons. Innocent people should not be put to death. Prosecutors who play fast and loose with the rules should not be able to extort a plea bargain by using the death penalty as a threat. Nor should they be able to impose a death penalty with underhanded tactics. Most death penalties as applied in this nation are questionable and should be revisited.

However, in certain limited cases, a death penalty is the most appropriate censure a society can impose on one of its members. I'm in favor of putting severe restrictions on how we apply the death penalty. I'm just not in favor of getting rid of it altogether.

There are some people whose crimes and demeanor are just so sick that we are better off if they are executed - Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson, to name a few

Brian K. Kegerreis
Overland Park

Death penalty too costly

We have long considered the practice of capital punishment to be inhumane, unequal and probably ineffective in preventing violent crime. As Catholics, we support the position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops when they proclaim that a pro-life position must be unconditional and apply even to “someone who has done great evil.”

As legislators in Kansas continue to ponder the policy of the death penalty, we feel the issue becomes particularly pressing. In the vein of the information reported in The Star’s editorial (3/4, Opinion, “Ending a burdensome cost”), we refer to current estimates that the cost of imprisoning a convicted person for life without the possibility of parole is significantly less than that of carrying through the death penalty to its lengthy conclusion. This fact alone is a strong argument to abolish the practice.

Kansas cannot afford to fund the seemingly endless array of court costs associated with the death penalty in a time when public services that affect every citizen of our state are at risk. This bill, we believe, would be a responsible method of replacing funds that will, in the end, bring relief and hope to all Kansans in these difficult times.

Drew and Joanne Bodner
Prairie Village

End capital punishment

A Star editorial (3/4, Opinion, “Ending a burdensome cost” concluded, “Fiscal considerations are as good a reason as any to punish the most heinous criminals with life in prison without parole.” It also stated “costs are more than monetary. Death penalty prosecutions and prolonged appeals exact a toll on families of crime victims and communities.”
Following the murder of my father in 1972, I came to realize that murder victims’ families cannot obtain closure from an execution. Healing comes only from outside the legal system from support of family, friends and community. Affected families would be much more assisted if the state were to spend the excess cost of capital punishment on their needs for financial assistance and support.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s decision to study the abolition bill in an interim committee provides Kansans the opportunity to understand just how poorly we are served by the existence of capital punishment. After 15 years, Kansas’ death penalty is wrought with prosecutorial misconduct, withholding of evidence, jury misconduct, judicial error and probably inadequate representation.
The time has arrived to face the truth and end capital punishment.
Bill Lucero
Kansas coordinator, Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation
Topeka

Life, death and clichés

When speaking in clichés, especially partisan clichés as Stan Glazer did when he surmised that pro-lifers are inconsistently also pro-death penalty (10/3, Letters), one subjects himself or herself to another cliché: “upon further review.”

May a pro-life partisan assume that those who oppose the death penalty for criminals are also inconsistent when they favor the same penalty for the non-criminal unborn?

Further, are those who demand compassion for pets, wild animals and trees, those who demand humane treatment of terrorists and illegal foreigners and those protesting the demise of anyone in war, also inconsistent by favoring the ending of unborn life?

To quote Glazer: “With them I guess it’s a matter of timing.”

Robert Devine
Excelsior Springs

Abortion vs. death penalty

Stan Glazer (10/3, Letters) wrote about Sarah Palin’s pro-life stance. He says it’s a contradiction to believe in the birth of a child and support the death penalty.

I would like to point out an even more glaring contradiction. Pro-choice people (should be pro-abortion), for the most part, favor abortion but oppose the death penalty. With them I guess it is just a matter of timing.

I cannot comprehend the semblance of the abortion of a defenseless baby and the execution of a convicted murderer.

Leon Cook
Kansas City

Abortion vs. death penalty

D.A. Duke (9/22, Letters, “Respect life in all forms”) criticized the inconsistency of those who oppose abortion but support the death penalty. What about the opposite stand?

It seems that most abortion advocates oppose the death penalty for convicted criminals, including murderers, yet that mindset is rarely criticized.

Let’s save the innocent and punish the guilty.

Dorothy Grove
Polo, Mo.

Killer’s chaotic childhood

Frank Smist (7/28, Letters), A.P. Lane and Frank Statesel (7/30 Letters) believe that the last-ditch effort of the justice system — enforcing the death penalty — is the best way to bring about justice and purge society of violence.

All three have it wrong. The brutality of Edwin Hall, who killed Kelsey Smith, is not some evil that spawned out of nowhere. Chaos shaped Hall’s childhood and helped create his violent nature.

So, you want justice? Learn how abuse damages children. Vote to keep social services fully funded. Volunteer at a treatment facility for abused kids. Most of them are filled to capacity.

Try to be part of a solution that seeks to prevent the creation of a violent nature.

Kelly Mathews
Kansas City

No justice for victims’ families

Frank Smist’s letter (7/28) asking where’s the justice for the families of murder victims Kelsey Smith and Ann Harrison was right on the mark. Every time a horrible crime of this type is committed, it is the law-abiding taxpayers who end up paying to feed, house and clothe the perpetrators for the rest of their lives.

If they want to act like animals, let’s treat them as such. If I had a pit bull that took a human’s life, it would be put down. This group — Edwin Hall, Roderick Nunley, Michael Taylor — doesn’t deserve to go out that peacefully.

A.P. Lane
Lake Lotawana

In October 1953, 6-year-old Bobby Greenlease was kidnapped and murdered. The perpetrators, a man and woman, were caught shortly thereafter. Their trial was short, because evidence was insurmountable. Three months after the guilty verdict, the two murderers were executed by electric chair. The case was closed.

Today, after changing the manner of execution to be more humane, systems have been managed to be more careful in favor of the accused. Evidence-gathering has been improved through science, and we have criminals sitting on death row in excess of 20 years.

“Justice delayed is justice denied” is an old adage that no one cares for anymore. Families have been decimated by the wanton actions of killers for reasons no one can understand. But justice creeps like a rusty slug. The truth is, there is no justice. It is a charade.

Frank Statesel
Overland Park

Death penalty would deter rape

Jim Svetlecic (5/20, Letters) argues against executing all criminals, including rapists. I was raped as a teenager and was too ashamed to report it or even tell my parents. I never reported the rape because in my youth, the victim was always made out to be the criminal.

It bothers me to this day that I kept silent. There isn’t a crime more vile then sexual assault. It demeans the victim and takes years of therapy to get through it.

It is not a crime that deserves a slap on the wrist or a few years in prison with possibility of parole. It deserves to be considered as heinous as murder because it kills a person’s spirit.

Studies show that rapists often were raped or abused themselves. We know what breeds these low, vile people — male or female — but we have no concrete way of successfully treating them so that they don’t offend again.

Would Svetlecic feel the same way regarding executions for rape if it were his son or daughter who was violently victimized by a rapist?

If execution for rape were on the table, then there would be far less of it happening in this country.

Mae Brown
Spring Hill

Matters of life and death

The astounding contradictions of human nature could not have been more graphically illustrated than on the front page of The Star’s Local section on May 25. The joyful dance of Kerry Magana and her brother, Nelson Ponce, contrasted dolefully with a heinous story announcing that an anesthesiologist has joined Missouri’s death row inmate execution squad.

Even the most skilled philosophers have never satisfactorily explained why joy and evil both rest in our hearts. As for me, I will remember the dance of Kerry and Nelson.

Robert Marrin
Kansas City