Man Put To Death For 1989 Murder

[BFritz21]

This article says this guy killed a judge and a black civil rights attorney with two mail-bombs, and then he also had sent two more that didn't explode.

Here's what pisses me off: he was 83 when we finally executed him for crimes committed almost 30 years ago, and how much taxpayer money do you think was spent on him for keeping him incarcerated, appeals, and then actually putting him to death?

I'm all for due process, but this is ridiculous.

Story:

Quote:ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate convicted of the mail-bomb slaying of a federal judge during a wave of Southern terror in 1989 was executed by lethal injection Thursday, becoming the oldest prisoner put to death in the U.S. in modern times.

Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83, was pronounced dead at 8:42 p.m. following an injection at the Alabama prison at Atmore. He had no last statement and did not respond when an official asked if he had any last words shortly before the chemicals began flowing.

Authorities said Moody sent out four mail bombs in December of 1989, killing Judge Robert S. Vance, a member of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Alabama and Robert E. Robinson, a black civil rights attorney from Savannah, Georgia. Two other bombs, including one mailed to the NAACP office in Jacksonville, Florida, were intercepted and did not explode.

At his 1996 trial, prosecutors described Moody as a meticulous coward who killed Vance with murder by mail because of his obsession with getting revenge on the legal system, and then committed additional package bombings to make it look like the Ku Klux Klan was behind the judge's murder.

Moody became the oldest U.S. inmate put to death since executions resumed in the U.S. in the 1970s, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center. His attorneys argued in court filings and a clemency petition to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey that his age and vein condition would make lethal injection more difficult.

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stayed execution plans Thursday evening to consider Moody's late appeals, but later lifted the stay without comment, allowing the execution to go forward.

Vance was at his kitchen table in Mountain Brook, Alabama, on Dec. 16, 1989, when he opened a package after a morning of errands and yard work.

The explosion ripped through the home near Birmingham, killing Vance instantly and severely injuring his wife, Helen. Prosecutors said Moody, who had attended law school, had a grudge against the legal system because the 11th Circuit refused to overturn a 1972 pipe-bomb possession conviction that prevented him from practicing law.

Moody was first convicted in 1991 in federal court and sentenced to seven life terms plus 400 years. He was later convicted in state court in 1996 and sentenced to death for Vance's murder.

Vance's son, Robert Vance Jr., now a circuit judge in Jefferson County and Democratic candidate for chief justice in Alabama, said it's important that people remember how his father lived, not just how he died.

"He was a great judge, a great lawyer before that, and a great father," he said earlier as the execution loomed. As chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party in the 1960s and 1970s, Vance worked to bring African Americans into the party and often "butted heads" with segregationist Gov. George Wallace, his son said.

Friends said the senior Vance quietly fought for the rights of underprivileged as both a jurist and a politician.

Moody had always maintained his innocence.

In recent weeks, Moody had sent a letter to the younger Vance claiming he was the innocent victim of a government conspiracy. "Had my Dad been murdered, I would want to know who had done it," Moody wrote. The younger Vance said he put the letter in the trash.

Vance said he had to make peace with his father's death, but said he has no doubt that Moody is guilty. He did not witness the execution.

The lethal injection procedure began at 8:16 p.m. Moody did not open his eyes or respond as the warden read his death warrant and asked him if he had any last words.

Moody's attorney, Spencer Hahn, said he wanted to know what the prison system "gave him before to knock him out and prevent him from getting to give his last words. There was no dignity in that room. This dishonored the memory of Judge Vance and Mr. Robinson," Hahn said.

Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said Moody was not given any sedatives.

In last-hour appeals, Moody's attorneys had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution in order to review whether his federal sentence, which was handed down first, could be interrupted. They also argued that the aggravating factors used to impose a death sentence were improper. The nation's high court had no comment on those last-minute appeals Thursday.

Moody's attorneys, in their unsuccessful clemency petition argued that his victim was opposed to the death penalty, and halting the execution would honor Vance's beliefs. Vance's son said his father opposed the death penalty personally, but also believed in following the law.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Thursday night that after nearly 30 years, "Tonight, Mr. Moody's appeals finally came to a rightful end. Justice has been served."

[Au165]

I'd rather let people live on death row for 50 years and make sure they get to exhaust all appeals to ensure they are in fact guilty rather than executing one innocent person.

[BmorePat87]

Great example for why the death penalty should be abolished. Another great example:

https://nypost.com/2018/02/16/man-exonerated-for-murder-he-didnt-commit-is-finally-free/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-freed-inmate-white-sox-20180321-story.html

The last story really gets me. The prosecutors pushed for the death penalty, but thanks to some character witnesses, some from the White Sox, he wasn't executed. 20+ years later, he was exonerated with DNA evidence and returned to work for the White Sox.

[BFritz21]

(04-20-2018, 08:59 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Great example for why the death penalty should be abolished. Another great example:

https://nypost.com/2018/02/16/man-exonerated-for-murder-he-didnt-commit-is-finally-free/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-freed-inmate-white-sox-20180321-story.html

The last story really gets me. The prosecutors pushed for the death penalty, but thanks to some character witnesses, some from the White Sox, he wasn't executed. 20+ years later, he was exonerated with DNA evidence and returned to work for the White Sox.

Different circumstances.  

Check out all of this evidence that proves that he did it.

If he hadn't been put to death, how many more millions of dollars could this guy have cost us in keeping him in jail, legal fees, etc?

[CKwi88]

I thought it was pretty well established that sentencing someone to death costs more than sentencing to life imprisonment.

[hollodero]

(04-20-2018, 09:27 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: I thought it was pretty well established that sentencing someone to death costs more than sentencing to life imprisonment.

That seems odd. How comes?

[fredtoast]

(04-20-2018, 09:17 AM)BFritz21 Wrote:  

Check out all of this evidence that proves that he did it.

Looks like the only evidence against him was the testimony of his ex wife.

Pretty weak evidence to execute a man.

[fredtoast]

The criminal justice system is way too flawed to be allowed to execute people.

Just do away with the death penalty and save taxpayers tons of money. Also stop killing innocent people.

Anyone who supports the death penalty supports killing innocent people.

[CKwi88]

(04-20-2018, 09:31 AM)hollodero Wrote: That seems odd. How comes?

Somebody more knowledgeable about the law can correct me, but I think it's because when a death sentence is passed it triggers automatic appeals that can go all the way to SCOTUS.

[Au165]

(04-20-2018, 09:54 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: Somebody more knowledgeable about the law can correct me, but I think it's because when a death sentence is passed it triggers automatic appeals that can go all the way to SCOTUS.

Yea there is the cost to prosecute, handle appeals, and also the housing costs on death row are approximately 90k more per year from one thing I read. In the end almost every study on the subject says it is cheaper to house them for life over attempting to execute them, but in the end people want their pound of flesh. 

[BmorePat87]

(04-20-2018, 09:17 AM)BFritz21 Wrote: Different circumstances.  

Check out all of this evidence that proves that he did it.

If he hadn't been put to death, how many more millions of dollars could this guy have cost us in keeping him in jail, legal fees, etc?

(04-20-2018, 09:27 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: I thought it was pretty well established that sentencing someone to death costs more than sentencing to life imprisonment.

(04-20-2018, 09:31 AM)hollodero Wrote: That seems odd. How comes?

It's cheaper to abolish the death penalty for a number of reasons. Death Penalty cases take longer and have automatic appeals to ensure that the person going on death row is truly guilty. As we've seen, this still does not prevent innocent people from being found guilty.

In addition to that, it costs a lot more to keep someone outside of gen pop on death row than to house them in gen pop. It ends up being that all of these costs end up being more than the average cost of housing a prisoner in gen pop for 30 years (based on the average age of those receiving the death penalty and the average life span of someone in prison). 

[fredtoast]

(04-20-2018, 09:31 AM)hollodero Wrote: That seems odd. How comes?

The Sate always pays for the prosecution (obviously) and many times also pays for the defense attorneys also.  In many death penalty cases where the defendant gets appointed counsel he gets TWO attorneys.  Death penalty cases are also so much more complicated and require so much more evidence that the trial and sentencing phases can take several times as long as a non-capital case. Finally a person on death row is also entitled to a lot more appeals than a non-capital prisoner.

There have been hundreds of people wrongly convicted and sentenced to death.  Our criminal justice system is flawed, and even the best systmes have trouble finding the truth at times.  There have been thousands more who were executed still insisting that they were innocent.  Given the high number of people we have wrongly sentenced it is pretty clear that we are executing some innocent people.  

Usually the debate about the death penalty is about cost or whether or not people deserve to die for horrible crimes.  But those are the wrong issues.  The first point we all need to admit ti that our criminal justice system is so flawed we can not use it to decide who lives and dies.

[CKwi88]

This is why due process isn't ridiculous, and the death penalty is:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-inmate-released-25-years-death-row-233645134.html

[Griever]

every pro life, anti abortion person on this board should want the death penalty ended

life and such right

[*Nately120*]

(04-20-2018, 09:17 AM)BFritz21 Wrote: Different circumstances.  

Check out all of this evidence that proves that he did it.

If he hadn't been put to death, how many more millions of dollars could this guy have cost us in keeping him in jail, legal fees, etc?

Meh, that's the price of living in a civilized country.  

[*michaelsean*]

(04-20-2018, 01:12 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: This is why due process isn't ridiculous, and the death penalty is:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-inmate-released-25-years-death-row-233645134.html

Sometimes I wonder as I have no way of knowing if it wouldn’t be better to be sentenced to death if you are innocent. It just seems there will be a lot more attention paid to your case and a better chance to have your innocence discovered.

[*michaelsean*]

(04-20-2018, 02:43 PM)Griever Wrote: every pro life, anti abortion person on this board should want the death penalty ended

life and such right

No. Pro-life is a specific term directed at abortion. Just like pro-choice unless you want that expanded to every other situation. Of course you know this already.

[*michaelsean*]

I’m curious how many anti-death penalty people are that way only because of the chance of executing an innocent person. For me that’s the only reason I’ve reconsidered my stance. Outside of that I have no problem with the death penalty. I don’t take any joy in it, but I feel no pity for those who receive it as they are the worst of the worst

[Nebuchadnezzar]

(04-20-2018, 02:43 PM)Griever Wrote: every pro life, anti abortion person on this board should want the death penalty ended

life and such right

With that logic every pro abortion person should be for the death penalty.

As for this Christian, I am against the death penalty.

So your argument is stupid

[*bfine32*]

I have no problem with the death penalty; as I do not see how abolishing it would make for any fewer erroneous arrests. I would only advocate for it in cases of taking an innocent life. Call it a "pound of flesh" if you will. What should we call imprisoning an innocent person for life? Should we do away with life in prison because we could get it wrong?