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"Scam" ads the norm Trail Mix: Hillary haters spam cyberspace Gunning for the center Democrats make Hillary legit The blundering pundit Don Giuliani Campaign video: |
Execution, Texas-style | page 1, 2 On Monday, Virginia executed Douglas Christopher Thomas, a murderer who shot his girlfriend's parents when he was 17. On Thursday the state plans to execute Steve Edward Roach, who was 17 when he killed his 70-year-old neighbor. McGinnis' attorney, Ross D'Emanuele, contends that McGinnis was not given fair treatment during the sentencing phase of his trial. D'Emanuele, a Minneapolis attorney who will file a brief in Texas courts this week in an effort to halt the execution of his client, said that jurors were prevented from hearing the testimony of a psychologist who had examined McGinnis. According to D'Emanuele, the psychologist found that McGinnis did not intend to harm or hurt anyone, would not pose a future danger to society and that he would do well in a structured environment. D'Emanuele said he has never questioned whether or not McGinnis committed the crime. "Our concern is with the sentencing phase of the trial. That's where the testimony of the psychologist would have been helpful." D'Emanuele is hoping that Texas courts will respond to his arguments regarding international law, and he quickly ticks off all of the treaties that prohibit the execution of offenders under the age of 18: the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the American Convention on Human Rights. In 1977, the United States signed the ICCPR. But the Senate refused to agree to the treaty's prohibition on executions of offenders who commit crimes while under age 18. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has become an accepted part of international law. However, two nations have still not signed the document: Somalia and the United States. The American Convention on Human Rights was finally ratified by the Organization of American States in 1969. It says that capital punishment "shall not be imposed upon persons who, at the time the crime was committed, were under 18 years of age." Amnesty International has also weighed in on the issue juvenile executions. In a press release issued on Jan. 7, the human rights organization said that only four other countries, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, still execute people for crimes committed while they were children. "The United States has executed 10 child offenders in the last decade, more than the rest of the world combined," says Amnesty International. "The four child offenders executed worldwide since 1997 were all killed in the U.S." While human rights organizations are pushing Bush to spare McGinnis' life, prosecutors and the National Association for Crime Victims Rights are reminding citizens about McGinnis' crime, not his age. Michael McDougal, the district attorney in Montgomery County where McGinnis committed the murder, says he has personal reservations about meting out the death penalty to 17-year-olds. But he said that Texas law allows the practice and that the issue should be dealt with by the Texas Legislature, not Bush. Personal reservations aside, McDougal believes McGinnis must be punished for his deed. McDougal points out that McGinnis was considered a repeat offender by Texas officials and that he committed the murder in Conroe less than a week after he got deferred adjudication in another crime. "In that case he ran over a driver after he attempted to take her car. With all that in there, I didn't feel it was a case that needed to be reconsidered," he said. "And the facts in this case are bad. When you shoot somebody four times that's not any kind of mistake. That's being cold-blooded and not caring about human life at all. That warrants the death penalty whether McGinnis is 17 or 45 or 50." Raymond Montee of the National Association for Crime Victim Rights recently told the Orlando Sentinel that compassion for the juvenile murderers is misplaced. "Did they show compassion when they killed?" Montee asked. "If they've got a gun in their hand or a knife at your throat, what difference does it make how old they are?" While Montee and others press for the execution of McGinnis and other juveniles, some ardent
death penalty supporters are having second thoughts. Jim Mattox, a Democrat who served two
terms as Texas Attorney General and oversaw more than 30 executions (none of them were
juveniles) believes that Texas needs to re-examine the juvenile execution issue. Mattox
believes Bush should "step in" to save McGinnis from the death chamber. "I don't think we
ought to be executing juveniles," Mattox said. "That's just the bottom line."
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