July 26
USA:
Shameful superlative -- U.S. leads world in execution of young offenders
A first kiss, a first time behind the wheel, a first college-entrance exam
-- these are the experiences of teen-hood. Death row shouldn't be one of
them.
The United States is one of just five countries that still executes
offenders who committed murder when they were younger than 18. In this, it
joins an infamous group of nations including Iran, the Sudan and China,
reviled the world over for abusing their citizens. Even among so abhorrent
a crowd, America stands out. It put to death more offenders who committed
crimes as young teenagers in the past 13 years than the rest of the world
combined.
It did so even as medical science revealed that adolescents' brains are
markedly different from adults'. The part of the brain that controls
reason is still developing in the teen years. Emotion and instinct may
have more sway over human reaction in teenagers and young adults.
In other considerations, the state recognizes that children are not the
same as adults. That's why they are prohibited from offering their lives
in military service or performing the civic duty of voting until they're
18. They're banned from drinking until they're 21. But the country
persists in treating children as adults, ascribing them with all the
reason and intellect of a mature person when meting out the final
judgment, the penalty of death.
The United States deserves the scorn of its peers for continuing so
barbaric a practice. It received it in spades last week. Forty-eight
nations, 14 Nobel Peace Prize winners and dozens of medical, international
and religious groups filed legal briefs urging the U.S. Supreme Court to
halt executions of death row inmates who committed murder before they
turned 18.
International embarrassment, however, won't win the day come October when
the high court takes up the Missouri case, Roper v. Simmons. In 1993,
Christopher Simmons broke into Shirley Crook's home, bound and gagged her
and drove to a bridge, where he shoved her to her death. He was 17. A jury
found Simmons guilty, and he was sentenced to die. But the Missouri
Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, overturned the sentence.
Four justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are on record opposing the death
penalty for young murderers, citing the U.S. Constitution's prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment. But, so far, a fifth justice has
been unwilling to overturn the court's 1989 decision permitting states to
execute offenders who committed their crimes at 16 or 17.
Of the 37 states that execute convicted murderers, 19 allow 16- and
17-year-olds to be put to death. Shamefully, Florida is one of them.
Florida Sen.Victor Crist, a Tampa Republican and an enthusiastic supporter
of the death penalty, has tried for 5 years to persuade lawmakers to raise
the age to 18. Each year it fails in the heat of House members' extremist
rhetoric.
We hope the U.S. Supreme Court will recognize that the death penalty does
little but promote vengeance and justify a killer's own logic -- it's
acceptable to take a life. In a righteous nation, the state-sanctioned
killing of children -- even those who have killed another -- cannot be
tolerated.
(source: Editorial, Daytona Beach News-Journal)
ALABAMA:
3 young people charged with capital murder.
Victim, whose burned body was found Thursday, and 3 suspects are all from
Bay Minette
3 people were arrested Saturday night and charged with capital murder in
the death of 18-year-old Scottie Weaver of Bay Minette, whose burned and
decomposed body was found near Old Brady Road on Thursday.
The suspects were identified by the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office as
Robert Porter, 18, Nichole Bryars Kelsay, 18, and Chris Gaines, 20, all of
Bay Minette.
Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone said Sunday that
investigators determined early in the investigation that more than one
assailant was involved.
"It was obviously a homicide from the beginning; there were signs of foul
play," Whetstone said. "Once the autopsy took place, that convinced us
that more than 1 person was involved.
Whetstone said investigators had not yet determined what weapon caused his
death.
"We are double-checking the wounds to make sure they are what we believe
them to be," Whetstone said. "I wouldn't want to say now, because if the
wounds are what we think they are, it's pretty gruesome."
Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Murphy said in a news release Sunday morning
that Gaines and Kelsay were roommates of the victim at his residence in
the Dobbins Trailer Park in the Pine Grove community.
The suspects were arrested after they were questioned at the sheriff's
office in Bay Minette. All 3 were being held at the Baldwin County
Corrections Center on Sunday awaiting a bond hearing today.
Whetstone said the motive for the slaying is believed to be robbery,
although investigators are checking into another possible motive. He
declined to elaborate.
"There's another aspect of this case that we're going to review,"
Whetstone said. "We're analyzing a motive in addition to robbery that
we're not releasing yet."
The other motive, Whetstone said, might affect his decision whether to
seek the death penalty.
"Normally, in a case of this nature, where you have a cold, calculated,
senseless homicide against what I would consider to be a relatively
helpless person, then I would consider death to be the appropriate
punishment," Whetstone said.
Under Alabama law, murder committed during the commission of another major
felony -- such as robbery, rape or arson -- is a capital offense,
according to the Criminal Code of Alabama.
If convicted of capital murder, the 3 could be sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole, or to death by lethal injection.
In this case, Whetstone said, the other felony would be robbery or
possibly kidnapping, depending on whether Weaver was killed before he was
taken to the woods, or was taken and killed later.
Although sheriff's investigators identified the body as that of Weaver,
Baldwin County Coroner Huey Mack said Sunday that the identification was
still considered tentative.
"The positive identification will be made Monday through dental records by
a forensic dental specialist," Mack said. He said he expects that the body
will be released to the family some time today once the identification
process is complete.
Weaver was last seen on July 18, his family said late last week. His
brother, Lum Weaver, 24, said Scottie Weaver went to his mother's home
that morning -- after working the late shift at the Bay Minette Waffle
House -- to drop off money he owed her, then left for his own home.
A woman who answered the telephone Sunday at the Waffle House said that
employees there would not be allowed to comment on the case.
Murphy said last week that the body was discovered in a remote location on
land owned by International Paper Co. off Old Brady Road between Foxford
and Alcorn roads. He said the body was in an open area about 100 feet off
the road when it was found by someone riding by on an ATV.
Baldwin County Deputy Coroner Stanley Vinson estimated at the time that
Weaver had been dead for 3 or 4 days.
An autopsy conducted by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences was
expected to determine the cause of death within a few days; however, a
final autopsy report, including the results of screening for drugs or
alcohol, could take months, Vinson said.
(source:Mobile Register)
