7.20.2010

A Long Time Coming

Twenty-two years ago, a man broke into an apartment near Houston and brutally murdered two men.  One of the victims he didn't even know, he just had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That victim was T's cousin.

This evening at 6:00, the killer was executed by lethal injection.  T and his uncle were in attendance.

People feel a lot of things about capital punishment: from 'an eye for an eye' to 'execution is just another form of murder.'  I know how I feel about it, but I wouldn't try to change someone's mind if they disagreed with me.

Here's what I do know:  aftershocks of the murder are still rippling through this family's lives. That one act of unspeakable violence sucked the spirit out of a family.  They will never recover.

I hope they have some peace now.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I am glad that your in laws finally have some sort of closure. It's a shame that it took 20 years. I believe in the death penalty. NO ONE will change my mind on that.

    I used to work in the prison system, so I have seen this up close. Our criminal justice system is broken. I have no idea if it can ever be fixed. There are women in the state prisons who are there for killing their abuser or the person who molested their babies.

    They have life sentences. I think that is wrong. It was self-defense. Or defense of the defenseless.

    I also don't get why a molester or rapist can spend an average of 7 years in prison, but an embezzler can get 40+. It seems that it is still all about the bottom line and not the lives that were irreparably damaged by the crime.

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  3. wow just wow...I put myself in this families shoes and think I would be in the same mind frame as them...I would like to think GOD will take care of it...BUT ...well life just sucks thank goodness there is something on this earth that makes a family feel like they have closure...I can imagine this was a hard post...no matter which side of the fence you sit on...

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  4. How you doing RaeAnn???
    Thinking of you. This is one very big post.
    xx

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