20 years later, justice waits in double murder

Clarion Ledger ^ | March 6, 2002 | Sid Salter

[Dawgsquat]

I took the coroner's photos out of the dog-eared, three-inch thick file I've kept on the case and the carnage still overwhelms me.

Why did he stab two middle-aged women? "It felt good," he said later on death row. "It felt good." I can still hear the echo of his words.

[Dawgsquat]

This was written by a Mississippi liberal.

[Dawgsquat]

Those appeals bore fruit when Wilcher won new trials in 1994 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Mississippi juries couldn't comprehend the words "heinous, atrocious and cruel" in instructions given them in the 1982 trials.

What a crock!

[Still Thinking]

Sometimes I truly don't understand why they're phasing out the use of the electric chair.

[VikingsRazeAVillage]

No, it's IRONIC. What the Court meant to say was, THE COURT couldn't comprehend the meaning of those words --- a freudian slip on the Court's part. This explains why the US Supreme Court has trouble comprehending the US Constitution. You see,.....there are lots of big words in the Constitution and the US Supreme Court never heard of a dictionary. See, even "dictionary" is a big word to them.

[Dawgsquat]

Well said.

[archy]

Sometimes I truly don't understand why they're phasing out the use of the electric chair.

Mississippi supposedly uses lethal injection as the sole legal means of capital punishment, though the last execution in the state was on June 21, 1989, when convicted murderer Leo Edwards was put to death in the gas chamber.

-archy-/-

[Still Thinking]

Mississippi supposedly uses lethal injection as the sole legal means of capital punishment, though the last execution in the state was on June 21, 1989, when convicted murderer Leo Edwards was put to death in the gas chamber.

My "they" referred to the states in general, not Mississippi specifically.

[archy]

My "they" referred to the states in general, not Mississippi specifically.

I'd suggest that there are two advantages, at least, to lethal injection: that it's more likely to survive court challenges or opponent propaganda as being *cruel and unusual,* particularly since it's now the official federal government means of execution. And by way of being less brutal, those yet to be apprehended may be a bit more compliant about accepting an imminent arrest and custody with that possible end to their career paths, thereby saving the lives of a couple of cops or citizen bystanders who will inevitably be lost as some of those who figure they have little to lose, instead opt to battle to the death, taking as many others along with them as possible.

My preference is for the gas chamber, but using non-lethal gas rather than the poisonous cyanide usually used in US and Nazi gas chambers, with hanging or the firing squad reserved for certain cases.

-archy-/-

[Inge_CAV]

"My preference is for the gas chamber, but using non-lethal gas rather than the poisonous cyanide usually used in US and Nazi gas chambers, with hanging or the firing squad reserved for certain cases.

After waiting twenty years, he deserves all three. Just to make sure the sob is gone.

[Dawgsquat]

Outraged Bump!