UPDATED: Delaware Executes Johnson
The second state-sponsored execution Shannon M. Johnson occurred early this morning at 2:55 AM. I have many problems with the state killing a man under the umbrella of law, but it was sickening to see how Governor Markell’s lawyers feverishly worked to appeal a stay that was granted late last night. A stay that was granted because the judge did not think Johnson mentally competent, maybe even mentally challenged. So in some small way, may be became a little like Texas today. Thanks, Jack.
This is Governor Jack Markell’s second execution in 9 months. I am so disappointed in the Governor.
Here is the governor’s official statement after the execution:
The State of Delaware this morning carried out the sentence imposed for Shannon Johnson’s brutal murder of Cameron Hamelin. Mr. Johnson’s death sentence was recommended unanimously by a jury, imposed by a judge, and reviewed thoroughly on appeal. Mr. Johnson’s decision to forgo further challenges to his sentence was extensively reviewed by the Superior Court, and the Third Circuit agreed tonight that it had “no reason to question the Delaware Superior Court’s conclusion” that Mr. Johnson voluntarily and competently made that decision. The Third Circuit’s decision put an end to further federal challenges to the sentence. Our thoughts tonight are with the Hamlin family, Lakeisha Truitt and her family, and all of those who have suffered from Mr. Johnson’s callous crimes. My God rest his soul.
Tags: Death Penalty
Are they Markell’s lawyers? I thought they were Beau’s.
No, the execution stops at the desk of Markell. They are his lawyers in this instance.
Are you sure? Prosecutors work for the AG.
Semantics, semantics. You’re right of course, but I’m looking at the bigger picture. This is Governor Markell’s execution and no one else’s.
I had not heard of this case. So I briefly looked at it. While I am generally opposed to capital punishment because the risk of executing an innocent person is abhorrent to me, it appears this person carried out capital punishment on one person and would have on another person if not for circumstance.
When one person takes a life of another not in self defense, what then should society and our nation do. Is it the state sponsored termination of the life that we dislike? Yet, to be honest (and I’m not trying to start an abortion debate), we terminate lives on the front end. Some of us may even support self termination (including supporting state recognition of the right to self determination).
So what is it that seems to be anathema to everyone about capital punishment? Is not all life sacred or only certain lives?
I have always been amused (and had discussions about) philosophies that condemn capital punishment and support abortion and those that support capital punishment and condemn abortion. It’s always a huh?! moment for me.
Sorry, I’m not biting at this red herring.
State-sponsored executions are wrong and I’m surprised that Governor Jack Markell has two to his name.
I’m right, but still wrong? Lol. OK … Whatever. Be delusional if you want. The fact is that Markell has no control over what state prosecutors do, the same level of control he has over insurance regulation or state audits. It’s true he could have stepped in with clemency or some other action, to say that his lawyers worked to execute a man is utterly incorrect. Blast Beau for prosecuting or blast Jack for not intervening, but you can’t go after the gov on that particular point.
If you don’t want the death penalty, the easiest way to ensure that is to elect an AG who pledges never to seek it.
Anon, Governor Jack Markell could have commuted the death sentence but chose not to like he did for Robert Gattis. That’s the point. If he commuted Johnson’s death sentence to life in prison than the lawyers who work for the State of Delaware would not have been feverishly working to kill a man.
The responsibility of this state-sponsored execution lies at the feet of Governor Jack Markell.
Why not have the debate? We look like those over at DP if the stance is just taken that “I am right and I am not talking about it anymore.” Civil debate is what makes this site great.
I am a regular reader and agree with most of you 99% of the time but this is an issue where I support Gov. Markell.
I always reserved judgement on the death penalty, and I will be honest I probably have a biased view. One of the people waiting in die in Delaware killed a member of my family. I know what it feels like to have a family member murdered, to without a doubt know who the killer is. To see what damage is done to the victims family, not just at the time of death but year after year. I have a daughter who was very young at the time of the murder, who doesn’t remember her uncle who loved her dearly. The only memory she has is of pictures, stories, and visits to his gravesite.
I sat through every day of the trial, and sentencing hearing, and listened, to friends and family members of the killer talk about their visits to see him in jail. How they saw him on his birthday, how a woman he never met, now visits him weekly and has started a book club with him. Tell me how that is justice, that my daughter visits a gravesite, and this punk has complete strangers bringing him books and visiting once a month.
I understand the argument that his family would suffer, and it is not fair to them. I met the killer’s family at the trial and talked to them quite a bit. They apologized to me and my family for what their son had done, and told me that suffer with it as well. I know his family will be sad if and when the sentence is carried out one day, and if I am given the chance I will attempt to comfort them on that day. But until that day justice will not be served in my eyes. I can’t speak for my entire family only for myself.
I know this man cannot harm anyone else while he is sitting in jail, I know he will never walk the streets again. But to me that isn’t enough. This isn’t the argument of how much money it will cost to keep him alive. This argument is about justice plain and simple, while a killer gets to have visits from his family and receive cards on his birthday, we are left with an empty hole in our lives every time we are together.
Sorry for being so long winded, I just think this is one of those issues that people feel strongly about, and I don’t expect to sway anyones opinion, I just wanted to offer my comment on this.
Anon, a debate is fine on the topic of the death penalty. And you weren’t long winded. I too have had a family member murdered by a family member. And, for me, justice was served when he was sentenced to life in prison where he will surely die of old age.
Thanks for sharing all of that. I wonder if I was in your situation if life in prison would be enough for me? As I think about it, I think my grudge would be with God, or with this crappy world that is rife with injustice? I can’t say. If i tried to come down hard on one side or the other, it would be pure conjecture.
And I wish I could feel the same way. I wish I didn’t hate the killer as much as I do, because I know it’s not healthy for me. It just breaks my heart to see the children in the family who will grow up only with our memories, not with the ones they would have made with their father/uncle/cousin.
And then to listen to the murderers friend, during the sentencing trial to say how the killer should get life, because his kids would miss the weekly phone calls they get from their “uncle”. I am not a religious man by any means, but to me this is where “an eye for an eye” called for.
Jason
I always tried to keep an open mind for that very reason. I had never lived it. I had read the horror stories of innocent people being put to death by over anxious states that just had a lust for blood. And I am all for a complete appeal process for the convicted. Of course I would like the sentence carried out tomorrow but I want everyone to be sure of his guilt before he is put to death.
But after living through the nightmare I can’t see any other way to truly feel that justice was served until he dies.
what is justice?
I think it’s unjust for (for example) James Cooke to ever enjoy another breath of air. Any fate he (and thousands like him) “suffers” is no where close to what he put his victim through, so why do we call it “justice”? The death penalty absolutely fails as a deterrent so it is pointless to argue for it in that regard.
I always have to think of war during a death penalty debates. If you are against state sanctioned killing, I hope you are totally against war. War gives free passes for the “state” to kill innocent people by the thousands in the name of……… whatever. wouldnt energies be better served trying to stop that slaughter than the punishment of truly vile scum? ……. But it doesn’t work as a deterrent…….
I think, for a lot of people, it is more than just a question of “is it right or wrong?”
Good. I hope he suffered. NEXT !!
It is true that it does not work as a deterrent. So we could call it what it is – punishment, retribution, whatever.
I always try to go back to the root and work my way down. I believe in the sanctity of life or something similar. It’s not a religious thing. It’s a human thing. I believe that everyone of us has the right to exist and to fulfill our hopes and dreams, yadda, yadda.
From that basic philosophy/principle, I can delve into things like societal obligations, defense of one’s self, family, nation, more yadda yadda.
Even after a relatively long life, I have difficulty with coming to any absolute answers. I envy those who have been able to do so. In this case, was an eye for eye (retribution) an appropriate action? I don’t know. I’m just glad it was Markell who had to make the decision and not me.
Regarding red herrings. My comment about abortion was not a red herring, nor intended to start a debate about abortion. My inclusion of it was intended to give the sense that I was talking about human life and whether I should have the same convictions for all human life, non-human life, or different categories of life. For example, I am absolutely against killing animals whether they are in shelters, puppy mills in PA, or slaughter houses. On the other hand, I love a good burger. My intent is not make my moral dilemmas anyone elses because they belong me. I was just explaining that I have these dilemmas as I am sure each of us have, including Markell.
One last thought on the death penalty. I don’t know how other states do it, but I think its entirely unfair to ask a jury of 12 everyday citizens to decide whether someone lives and dies. As we can see here, people have differing morals and different feelings about what is correct. I know any juror is questioned whether they could give the death penalty, but saying you would and actually doing it are two entirely different things. I watched the jurors and I felt for them. The defendent was a young man in this case, and the defense played up his age, that he would suffer in prison and would be there for a long time. It was an effective argument in my opinion.
Our judges are qualified and should not need a jury opinion in order to impose a sentence. The jury should decide guilt or innocence and we should have faith in our judges to impose the proper sentence. We have higher courts to argue whether the judge’s sentence was correct. I just think it is a lot to ask a juror to decide the fate of someone they obviously know is guilty, but I am sure there are at least a few jurors over the years who have felt a sense of guilt. And that is unfair to them as they were only doing their part in our justice system.
As someone whose feelings about this issue has morphed a bit over time, and as someone who worked corrections for 10 years, I still take the position that I’ll support the death penalty as soon as we execute Rich White Men. Until we do so, nada for me for the Death Penalty.
Since we’re never going to execute Rich White Guys, I suppose I may never support the death penalty
Enough blather…
Adios…who is next?!
I know QP is being flippant but here are the names:
Craig A. Zebroski
Milton E. Taylor
Emmett Taylor III
Ambrose L. Sykes
Ralph E. Swan
David D. Stevenson
Chauncy S. Starling
Leslie D. Small
Luis E. Reyes
Derrick J. Powell
Gary W. Ploof
Juan J. Ortiz
Adam W. Norcross
Michael R. Manley
Luis G. Cabrera
Mark H,
I agree, it hurts my point of view when the state of Delaware did not execute Tom Capano. It doesn’t change my opinion but I can definately see your argument there.
Your post is still wrong, but I admire the intellectual contortions. Markell’s lawyers were not involved in the appeal. That’s not semantics, that’s a fact. You have enough good points on your side to make a solid argument without untruths and misstatements.
I believe the death penalty is right and appropriate in some cases, and that it’s wrong in others. I’m still working out where I draw the line, myself.
I can’t help but wonder if the difference between Gattis and Johnson is that this is the fourth year in a certain governmental cycle. Too cynical?
If you want to watch (I won’t’), Sean O’Sullivan, a News Journal reporter and witness to the execution, describes what he saw. Video
Nemski, one name sticks out in my mind:
Luis E. Reyes
I wrestled him in middle school. He was an over-aged (15 in 8th grade), hyperaggressive, malicious psychopath then…as he was when he –only 4 years later and a senior at A.I. du Pont HS– executed his two victims with gun shots to the back of their heads and dumped them at Rockford Park.
So yes, ‘throw the switch’, so to speak, this worthless animal isn’t worth an ounce more of oxygen.
“Murder 1st”
“Murder 1st”
“Murder 1st”
http://doc.delaware.gov/information/deathrow.shtml
All animals, all worthless human scum.
@QP: Getting your righteous anger on adds nothing to the discussion, and it indicates some sort of psychological problem that you would feel the need to put on your alpha-gorilla display for the rest of us.
+∞ to Geezer
Stroke each other in your little circle all you want.
But the underlying question still stands, should or should not people like Luis Reyes be executed for their heinous crimes?
@ QP – No.
YES!
Should the state have the power to kill people? If you think that the state is perfectly rational, humane and just, you can make a case for “yes” but if you think that the state isn’t perfectly rational, humane and just – it is better to go with “no.”
I think the state is human, only as good as its people.
@ Jason330, you bring up an interesting point. The Right Wing always tells us the government can’t do anything right, yet, they somehow believe this is the one thing the government can do right. Odd that they throw away the “logic” for their blood lust.
Yes. I’ve noticed that for all the “pro-life” talk, wingnuts think that killing is the highest and best use of the government.
No, the government CAN do right. It’s just that those certain corrective actions ought to be done within LIMITED sectors, law enforcement being one of them. Stop trying to purposefully confuse the argument and make equivocations like a high school sophomore would.
@QP, first and final warning today, stop the name calling.
Yet another sophomoric equivocation by Jason330.
Did you warn Jason330 for using the term “wingnut”?
A murderer convicted by a jury of peers has given up his or her right to life, while an unborn fetus has yet to do any wrong. There IS a difference.
Take note. The three comments above demonstrate what it looks like when a death penalty advocate confronts the “logic” of his arguments.
“A murderer convicted by a jury of peers has given up his or her right to life, while an unborn fetus has yet to do any wrong. There IS a difference.”
First and most important: Your opening phrase is wrong. The law does not say that, nor do proponents of state execution make that argument. The vast majority of murderers do NOT give up their right to life. If you want to argue intellectually, please drop the gorilla behavior. I really don’t give a flying fuck what a toughass you think you are.
And the difference between the murderer and the fetus is that the fetus has NO RIGHT TO LIFE until it can survive independent of its mother. That IS the law.
Your positions about both abortion and capital punishment are no different from those voiced by an entire nation full of thwarted aging white males (and no, I don’t give a fuck that you’re Hispanic, either) sputtering in impotent rage because the world doesn’t run the way they’d like it to.
You have nothing to add to the discussion, and you don’t really want to. You’re a pathetic rageaholic who wants to rage about people who don’t “share your values.”
So fuck off.
“should or should not people like Luis Reyes be executed for their heinous crimes?”
Which one specifically? Pinning you in a middle-school wrestling match, thereby spurring a lifelong inferiority complex that manifests itself by spewing tough-guy rhetoric on liberal blogs?
I’ve also thought about capital punishment in terms infection and antibiotics. If society is an organism which is suffering from violence and damage due to an infection, doesn’t the society (the body) have some obligation to eliminate the infection in order to protect itself? I am sure the answer is yes but do you isolate the offending virus or bacteria) or do you eliminate it? If you do not eliminate it and instead isolate it, the virus could escape it’s confines causing additional damage.
There was a movie named “No Escape” where criminals were sent to an island from which there was no escape and they got by as best they could in a barbaric society. The notion of that was interesting to me because it meant the infection could be isolated without eliminating the organism.
I continue to be troubled by killing but lacking other viable solutions, I can’t say it’s not an appropriate action in some cases. However, my greatest bias against it is the possiblity of someone losing their life for a crime they did not commit. Nothing is worth that cost. So for me, if there is even the slightest possibility that someone is innocent of a particular crime then no, no capital punishment. And my standard is greater than beyond a reasonable doubt. I need more absolute proof.
Pass a law banning the death penalty. Problem solved.
Epworth Church here in Rehoboth will be hosting an exonerated death row inmate who was released after DNA evidence was introduced. May 4th, 7PM
Wow, Geezer, who’s the sputtering, Bob Beckel rageaholic???
Can you not discern between generalized statements on a blog, with the detailed prose of a position paper?
(The murder conviction I was refering to was in the 1st degree. Fetuses can survive outside the womb at 6 months if not earlier in the pregnancy, and science is moving that bar lower all the time.)
As for the execrable Luis Reyes, I sought to inject some of my personal knowledge of him, from having wrestled against him in middle-school as a 12 and half year old to his 15 years, to witnessing his psychotic behaviors both on and off the mat through the time he was at my high school until he was expelled, only to later re-emerge at A.I. (despite Red Clay officials knowing his past) and continue his animalistic ways that ultimately resulted in the execution-style murders of two of his classmates. Basically, he was a beyond-his-years maniacal sadist who, even as a teenager, had no business being placed in any school, at any level. You woundn’t want your kids or loved ones around this type of animal, whether he was 15 or 50. Hence, after doing what he did, in concert with his previous behavior, he should be put down like the rabid sub-human dog that he is.
To me and to many others, the bacterial parasites, once identified and quarantined, should be eliminated.
QP has gone full blown Sci-fi/nazi/zombie/horror. If you were wondering if some people take ‘Walking Dead’ too seriously, now you have your answer.
QP- it is a short walk from where you are now to George Zimmerman’s state of mind. Be careful.
“Pass a law banning the death penalty. Problem solved.”
Yep. But it exacerbates other problems. Occams Razor rarely applies in complex societies unless one looks at each issue in isolation. There is a cost to lifetime incarceration, there is a cost for letting a violent criminal out and there is the whole, prisons are a breeding ground thing cost.
I’d love simple solutions but the simple ones mostly just have an appearance of a solution.
Nemski-
I know this isn’t an executable offense. But if it was legal in his case, and Earl Bradley was sentenced to death, would you still oppose it? No judgement just curious.
I wish he could have been given a death sentence, but I can appreciate why the death penalty is only applicable in the case of 1st degree murder.
@Anon – Nope. No to Bradley, McVeigh, bin Laden, etc.
There is also a cost to putting a person to death. Aside from cost of appeals, incarceration, etc. There is the cost of putting the WRONG person to death. Which is a cost that cannot be recouped.
And if you are worried about cost, would you support abortion, knowing it would save “costs” to the mother, family and society? I would hope that you wouldn’t.
Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t cheap.
When I used the cost I did not mean dollars and cents. There is a cost to society that cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents or affect, as well as the economic opportunity costs.
The cost of a life to save society.
The cost to society to save a life.
I’m happy to not be in the chair that makes those decisions.
“Not everything that can be counted, counts.
Not everything that counts, can be counted”
Sign on wall of Albert Einstein’s Princeton Lab
Fun fact about costs: Death Penalty costs more than life in prison
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty
Just watching out for the community…like George was.
“There is the cost of putting the WRONG person to death. Which is a cost that cannot be recouped.”
I wasn’t talking about dollars and cents exclusively either.
Nemski –
With all due respect, you are wrong. Twice. First, this is not Governor Markell’s execution. He has no control over the Attorney General’s office or the conduct of the lawyers who work there. Second, absent a recommendation from the Board of Pardons, the Governor has no power under the constitution to commute a sentence. All he could have done was issue a reprieve for up to 6 months. With all of Mr. Jackson’s appeals dismissed, there was no reason even to do that.
Clayton Bigsby…My favorite black white supremacist!
Facts don’t concern him when he can just BLAME MARKELL.
LOL – State Board of Pardons, seriously that’s what you are going to go with. You don’t think Markell could express his desire for any outcome with the State Board of Pardons?
Hmm, let’s see who is on the State Board of Pardons, shall we?
Lt. Gov. Matt Denn,
DE Secretary of State Jeff Bullock
DE Secretary of Treasury Chip Flowers
DE Auditor Tom Wagner
The Honorable Leo Strine, Chancellor of the Court of Chancery
Thanks for the laugh this morning. Keep it up that Markell could not do anything. Please.
Nemski –
You’re really digging yourself deeper and deeper. The person has to file an application with the Board of Pardons; absent that, the board can’t act. Johnson didn’t file for a pardon. Ergo, no recommendation and no commutation. Unless you want Markell to simply start issuing executive orders that overrule the other two branches of state government, he had no options.
Face facts, man. This was not Markell’s execution. It was ordered by the courts, and supported by Johnson himself. Markell’s hands were tied.
Oh, and Chip Flowers is the State Treasurer, not the Secretary of Treasury.
The Public Defender did in fact ask Gov. Markell to temporarily halt the execution and he did not. Yes, this is Markell’s execution.
OK, now you’re just deliberately being stupid.
What would a temporary halt have done? Johnson wasn’t fighting the appeal – he was volunteering to be executed. His PDs had no standing. All that would have gotten him was a delay.
No, the execution would have been delayed and Johnson would not be dead right now.
And a lot can happen in 6 months.
You forgot one possible avenue, Nemski. The Governor could have busted into the Smyrna Correctional Center, guns a-blazin’, and he and Johnson could have shot their way out of there. It worked in “Shaft”…
What do you envision happening in 6 months that would have changed the outcome? The U.S. Supreme Court turned down his attorney’s appeal. He was on the record as opposing the appeals. There was NOTHING MORE TO BE DONE, unless you live in a fantasy world where governors can just ignore the courts.
Well done. Keep up the good work there’s plenty more to go!