Posted on 03/15/2009 1:28:57 PM PDT by Fishtalk
Here’s a Book Review on a book that will keep you awake at night.
It’s short, beautifully written, a true crime story that will have you tossing and turning and maybe crying a little bit.
It’s “A Rip in Heaven” by Jeanine Cummins.
(Excerpt) Read more at fishbookreviews.blogspot.com ...
So, what’s the book getting at, in a nutshell?
Other than that, all you're really talking about with a death penalty in America under present circumstances is giving the Mike Nifongs, Janet Renos, and Scott Harshbargers licenses to kill people and that I could not support.
The St. Louis cops wanted the VICTIM to be the perp.
They messed up this investigation so bad it made me want to weep. Actually I wept all through this book
I think I give it almost a “spoiler” lookover at the post.
click it and read.
Okay, I read it and I still don’t know what the point of it was (i.e., the “end goal” of telling the story). I mean, I read that it was a story about a crime and what happened and some other details and how one was put to death and so on — but I still don’t get the point — other than the telling of the story of the crime.
Perhaps you could tell me what the point is. Maybe there is no point, other than to tell the story of the crime...
[ ... and in saying all this, I already know that crime must be punished and the guilty must pay the price, but that’s not been an issue with me. So, is this story saying something about that, which I just can’t see? ...]
Sorry ST....
obviously you are not a fan of the True Crime genre. Not that there’s anything wrong with this.
The whole point of the story is just as you surmised, to tell the story of the crime.
I’d offer this, however. Often when the public hears of a crime we hear the sensationalism of it. Freepers are well aware of the bias of the media, you know this.
So while I had heard of this crime from news accounts, as have others in this thread, I, for one, had no idea of how the St. Louis police totally bungled this case.
The fellow who was thrown to his death off of that bridge along with his cousins was the sole object of police scrutiny for almost 72 hours.
Tom was a fireman, a really good guy. He managed to survive that fall and he tried until he almost died to save his cousin. then he desperately tried to get those Missouri cops to go looking for his cousins.
But the cops, who all must be so proud of the fine job they did on this investigation, insisted that Tom did the deed.
Like I ask in the review, if Tom raped and drowned his cousins, why on earth would he go to the cops with this cockamamie story? All he had to do was report them missing or come up with some story about how he left them earlier that night or, in fact, not say a damn word as Tom had sneaked out of the house that night and no one would have suspected a thing.
Anyway, I am a fan of True Crime and for the most part it’s the sort of books I review. True Crime books are usually written by folks who know the behind the scenes details either via investigation or, as in this case, are a relative of the victims or even the perps.
This writer is Tom’s sister and a cousin to the murdered girls. She is, in fact, a writer and there are few writers as good as me but this author is definitely one of them, insert tongue in cheek here.
It’s a wonderfully written book, not overly maudlin and that’s the part that causes the weeping.
My life was touched forever by this book.
Hope this helps and suggest you read it.
So, as “in the title” of this thread, how does this relate to the death penalty. I was thinking that there would be something about that in there, but I saw nothing relating to it... (at least from the review, anyway...)...
—
And, by the way, as I said, I can understand a book about a crime and explaining all the details, about something that was only read about in the news. Yes, that’s useful in getting the full story out, because many people only have little bits and pieces and they don’t know the “behind the scenes” details.
But, I was think that somehow there was “something more” to it, than just that...
Maybe that was just me...
Well I don’t know that it’s you. Perhaps I did phrase it wrong and lead the reader to believe that there was more about the death penalty in this book than there was.
I suppose it’s more about personal revelation than anything. I’d been leaning toward the notion of America just getting rid of the death penalty completely. Life without parole is cheaper on the taxpayer and there were other things giving me doubts.
But after reading this story I truly see there are people who should, if at all fairly possible, be put to death. Marlin was one of these guys....just a lowlife with no regard for human life.
There was an especially poignant scene in this book. In fact, the book never dealt with Marlin’s execution as it happened after the book was written I believe. I discovered that Marlin had been executed by a Wikipedia search.
But Tom kept showing up to scheduled executions of that so-called retard guy, who is still alive today when he too should be dead. Tom told his sister, the author, that he didn’t necessarily want to watch his cousins’ killers die.
He just wanted a simple apology, an expression of regret. Something, some sign of humanity that these boys wish they hadn’t did what they did, that two beautiful young girls should be alive but instead died so horrifically.
Well, anyway...maybe you hadda be there.
Read the book. Cummins is a wonderful writer.
Okay..., thanks.
Death penalty isn’t good enough.
Bring back drawing and quartering or boiling in oil.
Hey thanks for the review Fishtalk. They’ve been getting them left and right in Texas lately. I guess that’s no shock.
This guy was put to death last Tuesday.
Tarrant County Killer Set to Die Tuesday for 2000 Double Murder
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2203107/posts
The father of one of his victims witnessed the execution of his dad’s killer early in the 2000’s. What are the odds to have two family members murdered and have them both executed and be in attendance for both? I posted a link down in the thread of a story about the man of the two murdered family members. In that link if the news story is a video of him.
This guy was executed the next day:
Luis Cervantes Salazar: Texas Executes Another Thug
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2204767/posts
Also, Dennis Prager was talking about a death penalty case on his show on Tuesday of last week if you are interested—it’s at about 32:00 minutes into the show—the first part of the audio got cut off by commercials but you can get the point of it:
http://townhall.com/MediaPlayer/AudioPlayer.aspx?ContentGuid=2f9c3f32-82cb-4eca-984c-fffd0786fc28
...the audio continues at about 40:00 minutes into the show
Here’s an article about the case Prager was referring:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/09/death.penalty.supreme.court/
updated 5:28 a.m. EDT, Tue March 10, 2009
Bill Mears
CNN Supreme Court Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two Supreme Court justices on opposite sides of the ideological aisle exchanged tough words Monday over the fate of a Florida murderer who has been on death row for 32 years.
The high court has refused to hear the appeal of William Thompson, who had plead guilty twice in the March 1976 kidnapping and torture-murder of a woman. His case and subsequent appeals have been litigated since, but a new execution date has not been set.
A key part of his request to be spared lethal injection is that three decades as a capital inmate constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
“Our experience during the past three decades has demonstrated that delays in state-sponsored killings are inescapable and that executing defendants after such is unacceptably cruel,” said Justice John Paul Stevens, who disagreed with the court’s decision to allow the execution to proceed. He was supported by Justice Stephen Breyer in his objection to the court’s ruling on Monday in the case, Thompson v. McNeil (08-7369).
But Justice Clarence Thomas took issue with his colleagues’ conclusions. “It is the crime and not the punishment imposed by the jury or the delay in execution that was ‘unacceptably cruel,’” he responded.
Thomas took time in his concurrence to detail the graphic crime that led to the conviction of Thompson and his co-defendant.
The men had held Sally Ivester and another woman in a motel room and were demanding money from the victim’s families. Ivester had promised she could raise hundreds of dollars but was only able to secure $25. That enraged the men who savagely beat the woman with a belt, chair leg and nightstick, causing internal injuries. She was also burned with cigarettes.
The other woman witnessed the murder and said she feared for her life if she tried to leave.
Thompson and his co-defendant both pleaded guilty but the state’s high court initially tossed out Thompson’s sentence. The man’s lawyer had told the defendant if he accepted responsibility for the crime, he would not get the death penalty, a crucial mistake.
Thompson later pleaded guilty a second time and again received a capital sentence. Then he began a series of appeals, claiming ineffective counsel, trial errors, limited mental capacity and a dysfunctional childhood. All those factors were ultimately rejected by state and federal courts.
Stevens noted that during a third penalty hearing, five members of a state advisory jury recommended against lethal injection, but the court again imposed death.
The circumstances of his current imprisonment, said Stevens, no longer justify such a sentence.
“As he awaits execution, petitioner has endured especially severe conditions of confinement,” said Stevens, “spending up to 23 hours per day in isolation in a 6- by 9-foot cell. Two death warrants have been signed against him and stayed only shortly before he was scheduled to die. The dehumanizing effects of such treatment are undeniable.”
But Thomas said all such inmates are subjected to a “restricted confinement” because of the security risks they pose. And the prisoner had only himself to blame for his prolonged imprisonment on death row.
Quoting his conclusions from a similar 1999 capital case, Thomas said, “I remain unaware of any support in the American constitutional tradition of this Court’s precedence for the proposition that a defendant can avail himself of the panoply of appellate and collateral procedures and then complain when his execution is delayed.”
Thomas has long backed the right of states to impose death sentences. Stevens, who as a newly seated justice cast a key 1976 vote upholding the death penalty, has since grown increasingly frustrated with how it its carried out. Last April, he declared his open opposition to it.
“I have relied on my own experience in reaching the conclusion that the imposition of the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes,” he wrote. “A penalty with such negligible returns to the state (is) patently excessive and cruel and unusual punishment violative of the Eighth Amendment.”
The 88-year-old justice was supported by three of his more liberal colleagues. But Stevens also said he would respect court precedents in favor of capital punishment.
Thanks BM.
You’ve been a good help and going to get the one you recommended.
You will LOVE “A Rip In Heaven”.
Yep, I’ll have to get both of those books—the more recent story and the one in Wyoming. I don’t think I’ve ever read any true crime books—maybe Ann Rule’s book about Ted Bundy a long time ago, but I always find those type of shows interesting on Discovery ID, Biography, TRU TV etc.
I have book reviews on almost every book by Ann Rule on the same Blog where this review is posted. Check the sidebar, the books are listed by name.
I love Dateline, 48 Hours, etc, too.
Maybe I shouldn’t be proud of that. ;)
I haven't watched it in a while, but the I Surived series was good the episodes I saw.
And Forensic Files--I like those cases where they get them on the tiniest piece of evidence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.