A Tale of Two Executions

Intellectual Conservative.com ^ | 15 December 2005 | Michael P. Tremoglie

[Miami Vice]

One day after notorious gang leader and vicious killer Tookie Williams was executed in California -- despite weeks of very vocal, vociferous, protests by Hollywood stars, political and civil rights leaders -- another man was executed in Mississippi.

John B. Nixon, Sr. was 77 years old when he was executed December 14, 2005. He was the oldest man to be executed since the death penalty was reestablished in 1976 and the oldest to be executed since 1916.

Unlike the Tookie Williams execution, there were no protests about this execution. There were no claims about discrimination when imposing the death penalty involving John Nixon. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton did not travel to Mississippi to meet with the condemned. Former actor Mike Farrell did not fly to Mississippi to appear in front of the prison on TV and rant about the inequities of this particular case or of the criminal justice system in general. Fox News Channel and Air America host Alan Colmes did not say Nixon might be innocent because there was no DNA evidence.

One has to wonder why this execution went ignored. After all, there were more circumstances involved with this case than with Williams that may have provided a reason for commuting the sentence to life.

Nixon was convicted of the 1985 murder for hire of a Mississippi woman. The woman’s ex-husband hired him. He shot and wounded the woman’s current husband before killing the woman as he was contracted to do.

The man who hired him only received a life sentence (Nixon was sentenced in 1986). Nixon made every possible appeal. All were rejected and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour did not grant clemency.

Many differences between the two cases would lend themselves for clemency for Nixon as opposed to Tookie Williams.

Nixon only murdered one person, one time. Williams murdered four people, two different times. Nixon was twenty years older than Tookie and spent less time on death row. Nixon was a former auto mechanic who volunteered for service in the Navy during World War II and was honorably discharged. Tookie was the founder and leader of a murderous gang.

Unlike Tookie, Nixon was diagnosed with a mental disorder. Unlike Tookie, Nixon saved the lives of other people.

So there were a great many reasons to spare Nixon. Yet the only protests made about executing him was a simple statement from the website of the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty and something from a Canadian anti-death penalty group. Other than that, there were some news reports -- not much though.

Contrast that with the showering of media stories, TV programs, websites, and radio shows all about Tookie Williams. He even had a movie made about him.

John Nixon had no savejohnnixon.org, website going for him, like there was a savetookie.org. There were no articles in the Revolutionary Worker Online for Nixon as there were for Williams. Nothing on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, or anyplace else for Nixon as there was for Williams.

Unlike the Tookie Williams execution, there were no interviews with college professors offering their years-long studies indicating that the administration of capital punishment in the US is discriminatory. When it came to John Nixon academicians, lawyers groups, civil rights groups, and anti-death penalty groups were all MIA.

There were no witnesses when John Nixon was executed chanting: “The State of Mississippi has killed an innocent man,” as there was when Tookie was killed.

Europeans were not outraged by Nixon’s execution as they were about Williams’.

Not one Catholic Bishop made a public statement about the execution of John Nixon. Yet, they were very outspoken about Williams’ execution. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., the chairperson of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Domestic Policy, wrote a letter to California Governor Schwarzenegger requesting Williams not be executed.

Bishop DiMarzio did not write anything to Governor Barbour.

The NAACP said nothing. The Death Penalty Information Center said nothing. Amnesty International said nothing.

They were all there for Tookie. They went AWOL for Nixon.

Why though? This is the real question. Why not protest the Nixon execution? This is the mystery.

As already stated the differences between the Nixon and Williams cases lent themselves to Nixon being more worthy of commutation than Williams. Yet, no sound was made to save him.

However, there was another difference between Williams and Nixon. One that may explain why so many groups coalesced to protest the execution of Tookie Williams and not John Nixon. A difference other than Williams’ history of violence, his history of crime as opposed to Nixon’s history of working for a living. A difference other than Williams’ creation of an organized crime group and Nixon’s military service.

Nixon was white. Tookie was black. Maybe that explains the reason why the silence was deafening when John Nixon was executed and a din of protests for Williams.

Could it be that the protests about the Tookie Williams execution were just another example of racial exploitation by liberals?

Probably.

A former police officer, Michael P. Tremoglie recently published his first novel, Sense of Duty. His work has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Human Events, FrontPage Magazine, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He has a Master of Science degree from Saint Joseph's University,Philadelphia.

[dixiechick2000]

"Nixon was white. Tookie was black. Maybe that explains the reason why the silence was deafening when John Nixon was executed and a din of protests for Williams."


He forgot that Tookie was nominated for a Nobel Prize.
Nixon wasn't.

I'm sure that was the difference...(/s)

Good article, MV.
Thanks for the ping, WKB.

[Miami Vice]

Thank Tremoglie he wrote it. He is William Tell 2 on FR

[antiRepublicrat]

By that math, 50% of the people on death row ought to be black, but they aren't.

In Philadelphia, of those convicted of crimes eligible for the death penalty, blacks were found to be 38% more likely to be given the death penalty. Being black was also statistically found to be an aggravating factor for harsher sentencing, right between multiple stab wounds and torture.

I'm not against the death penalty, but the system definitely needs fixing.

[Uncle Vlad]

There was a mental illness question. Of course, Clinton allowed a guy missing 40% of his brain (Rector) to be executed for political reasons.

I remember reading about that case. Rector was eating his last meal when they came for him. As he was being led down the last mile, he was so clueless about what was about to happen he said, "Don't let them take my pie away--I want to save it for later," or words to that effect.

Bill Clinton's "legacy" rears its ugly head yet again.

[dixiechick2000]

Thank you, MV...I will do just that.


This is a very good article, WT2.
Thank you for your efforts.

[ncountylee]

It was pecan pie too.

[Uncle Vlad]

That's right.

[William Tell 2]

Thanks Dixiechick2000

As usual thanks Miamivice for posting it. I don't know if I told you. My novel is finally published.

One of the two main themes of the book is the exploitation of race by liberals.

Oh BTW - to antiRepublicrat that Philadelphia study you mentioned is a great example of a post hoc fallacy. Even if you accept the data as true ( there were questions about its credibility), the fact remains it did not establish that racism was the cause.

In order to prove a cause/effect three things are necessary:

1- Temporal Precedence (One must show cause occurred before the effect)

2- Covariation ( there must be a relationship; like clouds are dark before it rains)

3 - No Plausible Alternative Explanations ( you have to eliminate all other possibilities)

These racial studies used by race hustlers and liberals always have the first two yet conveniently forget number three.

[Little Ray]

There ain't nothin' wrong with the death penalty, but ya gotta keep an eye on them DAs and their idiot juries.

Also, a punishment has to be BOTH cruel AND unusual to be wrong - ain't nothin' unusual 'bout death. Happens to everybody at least once.

IN Tookie's case, however, the was not much of a question of guilt; nor was there in the case of Nixon. My gripe is that Tookie died much too easily. If he was in good shape and drug free they shoulda sent him to a hospital and cut him up for parts...

[gondramB]

"I don't think that was the point. The point was that it is okay to execute white criminals, but not black criminals."

i know that i missed that point and I think some of the other posters did too - I did not notice in the story that he was white.

[ozzymandus]

If somebody is executed and BJ Hunnicut (aka Mike Ferrel) doesn't show up to get his face on TV, does the execution make a sound?

[Miami Vice]

Good one

[ErnBatavia]

[katiebelle]

What is the %?

[ozzymandus]

Thanks. My favorite (bad taste) joke in this line is: "If Helen Keller were alone in a forest and fell down, would she make a sound?"

[tifajk]

that is the funniest thing I've ever hear about John Nixon. I'm related to him. I honestly agree with him being executed and I can't believe his last words were accusing his son of doing it instead of him, I can't see him doing that at all! Don't get me wrong, I'm a very big family person but it's about time he was executed!