California set to execute Michael Morales

[Balta1701]

Doesn't help a murdered victim much.

Neither does the death penalty.

[WilliamTell]

Neither does the death penalty.

 

As sick and wrong you think it is, it helps the family cope with the death of a loved one.

Edited February 19, 2006 by WilliamTell

[Flash Tizzle]

Neither does the death penalty.

Nothing helps a murdered victim. That's exactly the problem.

[Kyyle23]

i know...since i waited a few days, the content of my post is completely neutralized! damn! everybody knows that posts that are late must be criticized. who responds to a post that is relatively old, anyway??

 

No, responding to posts at a later date is fine. But your response was rather lame and after the fact, so I pointed it out.

[Balta1701]

As sick and wrong you think it is, it helps the family cope with the death of a loved one.

I never said I thought it was sick or wrong.

[WilliamTell]

I never said I thought it was sick or wrong.

 

so what do you think about it the death penalty then? I don't have time go to look throw the many previous posts of yours.

[samclemens]

No, responding to posts at a later date is fine.  But your response was rather lame and after the fact, so I pointed it out.

 

i know man. you rule.

[Kyyle23]

i know man. you rule.

 

As long as you know. Spread the word.

[minors]

Looks like execution is still on. I highly doubt this appeal will be granted unless the lawyers get some bleeding heart who feels sorry for this thug. And since this is California that is always a possibilty. I have no doubts this is the thug who tourtured that young girl no one deserves to die like that. The case is rock solid with Morales having the murder weapons and her blood on them.

[minors]

Next up Chris Roney from PA:

 

On January 6, 1996, around 8:30 in the morning, Christopher Roney and accomplice Mark Canty entered a Philadelphia bank dressed as utility construction workers and forced several employees to open the bank vault at gunpoint. Canty went into the vault with two of the women while Roney held a third at gunpoint. Canty shouted to Roney, "Here comes the heat!" Roney relied, "Don't worry; I'll take care of them." At this time, Police Officer Lauretha Vaird, who was the first officer to respond to the silent alarm, approached the front door of the bank building. As she entered the bank, Roney fatally shot Lauretha in the abdomen and then ran past her through the front door. Meanwhile Canty fled from the bank through a side entrance, leaving his gun behind. Outside the bank, Roney exchanged gunfire with the second officer to arrive on the scene. Escaping the shootout, Roney jumped into a getaway vehicle, a green minivan driven by another accomplice, Warren McGlone, and the vehicle sped away. Later that morning the three men met at McGlone's home to discuss the robbery. In the meantime, police found the abandoned getaway vehicle and various pieces of the robbers' disguises. They also recovered two weapons lying on the ground outside the bank. One weapon was traced to a relative of Canty, who had discovered the weapon had been stolen. It had last been seen in Canty's possession. The other gun was traced to a friend of McGlone, who had purchased the weapon for McGlone. After being taken in for questioning, Canty and McGlone confessed to participating in the robbery. Roney was sentenced to death and the two accomplices received life sentences. Lauretha was 43 years old and had served for 9 years. She was a single parent raising two sons. A song named "Slipped Away, The Ballad of Lauretha Vaird" was written in honor of the fallen officer.

 

I hope PA does the right thing and sends this thug to meet Tookie

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Looks like execution is still on.  I highly doubt this appeal will be granted unless the lawyers get some bleeding heart who feels sorry for this thug.  And since this is California that is always a possibilty.  I have no doubts this is the thug who tourtured that young girl no one deserves to die like that.  The case is rock solid with Morales having the murder weapons and her blood on them.

 

 

I thought for sure they were going to pussy out and not kill Tookie but I was proven wrong. I have a lot more confidence in Cali to get the job done now.

[santo=dorf]

I don't get this "get rid of the death penalty because there have been cases were innocent people were put on death row" idea.

 

Does that mean we should get rid of due process and the current court systems because that innocent person was arrested and sentenced to prison? I think serial murderers should be put to death no questions asked.

[Rex Kickass]

You can always set a prisoner free. Until they can thaw out Walt Disney and make him draw Mickey Mouse again, I'm pretty sure if the state is wrong after the fact, there's not much the state can do to make it up to that person in particular.

[Cknolls]

Yes because spending more money than it would take to house him with life without parole would be such a great idea.  Killers must really get the right idea that killing is wrong -- because if you do it, the state gets to kill you back.

 

And nice of you to leave out the fact that the "cornerstone" of the State's case came from a jailhouse snitch who lied.  The use of jailhouse informants -- contemporaneous inmates who claim to have extracted the confessions of killers while awaiting their trials -- is a regular feature of death penalty trials. Samuelson told the jury that Morales had confessed to him in jail, and gave chilling details about how he planned the murder and how he boasted about it many months later. His testimony was particularly relevant in the jury's verdict for death because he provided the evidence of a "special circumstance" -- a requirement to elevate 1st-degree murder to capital murder. Calling it "the cornerstone" of the government's case, presiding judge McGrath stated: "Mr. Samuelson's testimony describing the confession was the only evidence to support the single special circumstance...that made Mr. Morales eligible for the death penalty."

 

At the time of the Morales' trial, Bruce Samuelson was facing six felony charges, which led Parole Officer Vickie Wetherell to recommend "immediate commitment to state prison." Instead, after writing to Morales' prosecutor promising that he could provide the evidence that would guarantee a conviction with special circumstances (death penalty), the prosecutor dropped 4 of the 6 charges against him, and managed to get court approval of a very light county jail sentence for the remaining 2 charges in exchange for his damning testimony. "I had no doubt that without the plea bargain, such a repeated offender would have been sentenced to prison," Wetherell has declared. "The fact that Samuelson escaped full adjudication and punishment was disconcerting."

 

But how do we know that what Samuelson told the jury was a lie? Because when asked years later by the attorney general how he managed to elicit so much damning information from the accused in a crowded jail cell without any other inmate hearing their alleged conversations, Samuelson boasted of his Spanish language skills ("I was very fluent in it, reading, writing and speaking, both formal and informal, or 'Spang/lish,' 'ghetto Spanish' and in educated Spanish") and asserted that he and Morales had conducted their confessional sessions in Spanish. There is only one problem with this explanation: Michael Morales, a 4th-generation American, does not speak Spanish!

 

This raises the question: How did Samuelson get the specific details about those involved in this crime if not from the defendant himself? Good jailhouse informants have become quite adept at gleaning details from the public record by passing themselves off as parties to the legal process or as law enforcement officials entitled to confidential information.

 

Unfortunately, this is all too common. When 13 of those condemned to death in Illinois were later exonerated, the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment found that nearly half were convicted as the result of false testimony of jailhouse informants. In California, more than 200 inmates have been released from prison since 1989 because of unreliable trials, and, according to a recent report conducted by San Francisco Magazine, 1 in 5 was convicted on the basis of false testimony of such informants.

--

 

Now the bastard may very well be guilty and deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life -- but the use of the jailhouse testimony lie to up it to a capital case is total and complete BS.  I'm not saying let the guy out -- but commute the sentence to life without parole, especially in light of the evidence about this "cornerstone" of the State's capital case.

 

But who needs logic and reason when there's an execution afoot cuz killing is wrong! (that is unless the state is doing the killing)

 

 

Save the sob story please.

[Cknolls]

It also always made me wonder how people who thought that government led bureaucracies had too much authority with poverty payments, health care, etc. could be fine with the State having the authority to take a life.  For people that believe the government is incompetent with money and the way it is spent, why allow it to have the authority to take lives then?

 

And Minors -- between the lying in wait discussions in legal circles that can't pinpoint how it should be applied & the jailhouse snitch lie, there is pretty questionable evidence to kick it to a Murder 1 conviction.

 

Your bloodlust is clouding your vision.  I'm not saying let him out of jail.  I'm just saying don't stick the needle in his arm because the evidence putting him over the top from life to death is pretty questionable.

 

It was not the DNA evidence that kicked him up there from life to death penalty.  It was the "lying in wait" premeditation statute.  When judges can't figure out when and how it should be applied, then it is damn questionable to be using that as a justification to kill a person.  The other thing was the jailhouse "confession" which the snitch lied about.  So both aspects of what they wanted to use to get the needle in his arm fall under dubious distinction.

 

Yeah, what the guy did was bad but what's gained out of executing him?  Nothing.  Don't you think people will learn that violence is bad by example much moreso than by strongarming them with threats?

 

 

What is gained????? How about justice for the victims family. The f***ing scumbag sits in prison eating three squares a day. f*** him and everyone who supports him.-

[Balta1701]

What is gained?????  How about justice for the victims family. The f***ing scumbag sits in prison eating three squares a day. f*** him and everyone who supports him.-

Just out of curiosity...at what point did the victim's family designate you as their spokesperson?

[Rex Kickass]

What is gained????? 

 

I just read your post and asked myself the same thing about that. Nothing was the answer that came up.

 

What is gained by putting a man to death? Oh yeah, nothing. A guy locked in a cell for the rest of his life is equal to a dead man. However, if we're wrong about his conviction, we can always let the guy out of his cell.

[minors]

I just read your post and asked myself the same thing about that. Nothing was the answer that came up.

 

What is gained by putting a man to death? Oh yeah, nothing. A guy locked in a cell for the rest of his life is equal to a dead man. However, if we're wrong about his conviction, we can always let the guy out of his cell.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

But when thugs like this get parole and kill 5 or 10 others that's ok? Is one thugs life worth more than 10 innocent lives? You don't think 20-25 years is enough time to get evidence to get a trial?

[minors]

However, if we're wrong about his conviction, we can always let the guy out of his cell.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

You think it is that easy, just let him out of his cell after 30 years. First of all he is institutionalized with all of old prison habits and in over 60% of these cases the person ends up committing another crime. Secondly how do you just give back 30 years of a man's life?

Edited February 21, 2006 by minors

[CubsSuck1]

What the die hard death penalty supporters fail to realize is that the American justice system is not intended to punish, but rather keep the threats to society away and in jail so that they cannot repeat their horrid acts. Capital punishment does a fine job of this, but is incredibly inhumane and assumes that himans are perfect in thought and are incapable of making any mistakes. We do not rape those that commit rape. We do not stab someone twenty some odd times if we believe that is the crime they inflicted on another. We should not kill someone that we believe has killed another. As mentioned, we cannot reestablish the lives of the innocent victims of capital punishment. The primitive justice system of 'an eye for an eye' makes the whole world blind, and I can rest easy that those such as nuke cleveland and minors, with their bloodthirsty, vengeful motives, are not in any position in this country to make decisions regarding how the lives of others should be handled.

[minors]

What the die hard death penalty supporters fail to realize is that the American justice system is not intended to punish, but rather keep the threats to society away and in jail so that they cannot repeat their horrid acts. Capital punishment does a fine job of this, but is incredibly inhumane and assumes that himans are perfect in thought and are incapable of making any mistakes. We do not rape those that commit rape. We do not stab someone twenty some odd times if we believe that is the crime they inflicted on another. We should not kill someone that we believe has killed another. As mentioned, we cannot reestablish the lives of the innocent victims of capital punishment. The primitive justice system of 'an eye for an eye' makes the whole world blind, and I can rest easy that those such as nuke cleveland and minors, with their bloodthirsty, vengeful motives, are not in any position in this country to make decisions regarding how the lives of others should be handled.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Wow I don't even know where to start. OK inhumane??? WTF what about the stuff these thugs do to innocent victims. Keeping them in prison fine tell the at least 9 victim's families that Ken McDuff killed after he was granted parole you can't guarantee these thugs will be locked up for good unless the DP is used. DNA evidence on the murder weapon is pretty conclusive evidence. The Death Penalty is case you have forgotten is in use in 38 out 50 states so I guess all the people that live in those states are blood thirsty as well. This post has been edited by the Soxtalk staff to remove objectionable material. Soxtalk encourages a free discussion between its members, but does not allow personal attacks, threats, graphic sexual material, nudity, or any other materials judged offensive by the Administrators and Moderators. Thank you.

Edited February 21, 2006 by Rex Kickass

[CubsSuck1]

Wow I don't even know where to start.  OK inhumane???  WTF what about the stuff these thugs do to innocent victims.  Keeping them in prison fine tell the at least 9 victim's families that Ken McDuff killed after he was granted parole you can't guarantee these thugs will be locked up for good unless the DP is used.  DNA evidence on the murder weapon is pretty conclusive evidence.  The Death Penalty is case you have forgotten is in use in 38 out 50 states so I guess all the people that live in those states are blood thirsty as well.  And I can sleep easy knowing that dumb s***s like you are not in power.

 

I will agree with you that those who have committed crimes such as murder ('thugs', as you like to say) have terribly and visciously ended human life. It is also my belief that one's government should have the intelligence and presence of mind to not only avoid stooping to the same level as a percieved killer, but to also resist acting out of raw emotion seeking vengeance. For each innocent life that is ended by an escaped or paroled murderer, the chance exists that another innocent life may be ended as the result of an innocent human murdered by means of capital punishment. Obviously, however, we can't measure how many people who have been killed via the death penalty were innocent vs. gulity, so that is a moot point. Yes, the prison system is in MAJOR need of reform, but its shortcomings are not resolved through capital punishment. IIRC, the trend, if anything, is that states have been moving away from practicing the dealth penalty, such as Illinois a few years back. I would hope that this trend continues and that that capital punishment fades into obscurity much like slavery. As a matter of fact, when the Unted States did finally put an end to the institution of slavery, it was one of the last nations in the world to do so. This may be the case with the death penalty, as I believe someone mentioned that the US is the only western country to still have it in use. We won't know until years in the future. Unfortunately, it seems that the United States tends to lag behind most of the globe in regard to human rights, with the south in its determination seeming to drag the whole nation down.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

What is gained by putting a man to death? Oh yeah, nothing. A guy locked in a cell for the rest of his life is equal to a dead man. However, if we're wrong about his conviction, we can always let the guy out of his cell.

 

 

 

What is gained? How about what is lost by killing this filth? We lose one more scumbag piece of s*** who is nothing but a drain of our tax dollars and a waste of oxygen.

[SSH2005]

What is gained?  How about what is lost by killing this filth?  We lose one more scumbag piece of s*** who is nothing but a drain of our tax dollars and a waste of oxygen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[GoodAsGould]

What is gained?  How about what is lost by killing this filth?  We lose one more scumbag piece of s*** who is nothing but a drain of our tax dollars and a waste of oxygen.

 

Doesnt it cost just as much money to put a guy to death as life in prison does?