Sounding Off

Today's news story featured the upcoming execution of the DC Sniper, John Allen Mohammed, slated for November 10th. Naturally, there's an appeal, but the news story was from the angle that one of the jurors is now recanting her participation in recommending the death penalty. Seems that post-trial, now that she's read all the news, she's decided that had the jury been given information about Mohammed's abuse as a child leading to an alleged "diminished mental capacity," she wouldn't have voted for the death penalty. Her testimony to that fact is now entered as part of the appeal.

I'm sorry, but I am absolutely outraged by this whole idea. I like to think I'm a compassionate person, and I will agree that the administration of the death penalty in this country leaves a lot to be desired. However, we have a guy here who is clearly, unequivocally identified as the cold-blooded killer of 10 people (and wounder of three others, including a child). Witnesses, including his underage accomplice, testified that he repeatedly talked about the killings as something that would confirm his power and ability to terrify. Not that killing is ever acceptable, but this guy wasn't going after people who had done him wrong, or who had done society wrong. He wasn't killing his abuser. He was picking off strangers at random, for no reason other than that they were good targets on that given day.

I don't care what happened to him as a child, nor what lingering effect that may have had on his thought process: HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING WAS WRONG. He was an adult, capable of being responsible for his actions, and he maliciously and with full intent to murder, not only went after innocent people but took a minor child along with him for the ride, training him as a co-assassin. There is absolutely no reason he should be exempted from the death penalty for not one but multiple capital offenses. Past abuse does not absolve one from responsibility for obeying the law and living by the rules of civilized society.

We can argue the value of the death penalty as a form of punishment or deterrent some other time (for the record, I'm for it, just not the way we go about it). But here, we are not talking about someone who can be redeemed, who will be rehabilitated. This is not someone who is even remorseful. There is absolutely no reason for us to say, "hey, this penalty is really too harsh." He killed ten innocent people for no reason at all, and terrorized a community for weeks. Frankly, he's getting off easy.