I live in Tarrant County. In the town of Fort Worth. In Texas. In 2008 Texas only executed 2 Convicted Killers from my county.It is only March, yet tonight Texas is on track to give the Lethal Needle to the 4th Tarrant County Convicted Killer in 2009. With another Tarrant County Convicted Killer scheduled for the Lethal Needle in June.
Tonight's planned execution is that of Convicted Killer, James Martinez. He killed his ex-girl friend, Sandra Walton and a friend, Michael Humphreys.
To give you an idea of how run of the mill executions are in Texas, tonight Michael Humphrey's dad, Brad, will witness the killing of his son's killer.
But.
This will not be Brad Humphrey's first execution witness trip. In 2001 Brad Humphrey watch Jeffrey Tucker die for the 1988 shooting of Brad's dad, Wilton Humphrey.
The majority of American states have not executed anyone in 2009. Which would mean the majority of American counties have not had a killer from their county executed this year. While here in Texas, by the time today ends, my county, Tarrant, will have had its 4th convicted killer of the year executed.
Also on this day, in 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He got 99 years and died in prison in 1998.
Also on this day, in 2004, Lee Boyd Malvo, known as the D.C. sniper, was sentenced to life in prison for his killing spree that left 10 people dead and terrorized our nation's capital.
The news of tonight's impending execution was on the first page of the second section of this morning's Dallas Morning News. We'll see where the story of the execution gets buried in tomorrow's paper.
Puts me in mind of the title of the novel by Cormac McCarthy, and its subsequent movie, No Country for Old Men. If you saw the movie, at the beginning Tommy Lee Jones' voice-over dismayed about the world he's living in offers, "the crime you see now it's hard to take its measure". Someone's blood is calling from the ground and that poor father hopes the needle silences it. At least for him anyway, I hope so. As for us who remain it makes me want to search out a hiding place to live out my life in peace.
ReplyDeleteGod bless Texas. The rest of the country wouldn't know justice from a hole in the wall. Could Texas see it's way to sending some Judges to NY
ReplyDeleteto teach these addle pated jurists justice 101. These NY judges don't have the legal chops to try a chicken thief.