Sick of it

Re "When the caged bird writes," July 31: As a UT student, I am often
subjected to the editorial ramblings of your publication while waiting on
the Forty Acres bus. The trend I have seen in The Daily Texan is not only
disturbing, but inappropriate. How much coverage are you willing to give
convicted criminals to satisfy your jailhouse fantasies? Not everyone in
prison is a misguided, wrongly prosecuted soul that needs saving.

My mother was murdered on Nov. 22, 2004, and her former lawn man and his
daughter were convicted of the crime. Ronnie Joe Neal and his daughter Pearl
Cruz tricked my mother, Diane Tilly (an Alamo Heights school teacher and
founder of The Robbins Academy in San Antonio) into letting Pearl into her
home. Pearl said her car had broken down and she needed to use the phone.
Pearl pulled a gun on my mother and let her father in. The ensuing hours
were consumed by the rape, kidnapping and murder.

Pearl Cruz finally led police to my mother's grave site and told police the
brutal details. The nearly two-year-long ordeal of the trial and sentencing
is still not over for me and my family. Ronnie was sentenced to death row,
but Pearl pled to lesser sentencing for her cooperation. We will constantly
be reminded of that night before Thanksgiving in 2004 when our lives were
devastated by a senseless crime.

Next time you print a series of letters from convicts (or hop on the
bandwagon of a convicted killer facing the death penalty) try thinking of
the victims and see if you still feel as strongly. Not everyone is who they
make themselves out to be.

Stephen Tilly
Kinesiology senior

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Source : The Daily Texan

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/m ... 8646.shtml

Letters: Examining death sentences

Dallas Morning News

But what about the number who were killed?

Re: "Death Penalty Uneven - Where you live is a factor in whether you die,"
Saturday Editorials.

You highlight 921 executions in 11 states since 1976 but say nothing about
63,419 murders in those states between 1995 and 2005 (FBI statistics go back
to 1995). Adding a mere 50,000 murders per decade back to 1976 equals more
than 150,000 killed - and only 921 prosecuted and executed.

A murderer has earned his death penalty.

James E. Walling, Azle

Sentences appear arbitrary, don't prevent crime

I also disagree with an arbitrary legal system that allows serial killers
and contract killers to be sentenced to 25 years to life with possibility
for parole, while others convicted of single-victim homicides are sentenced
to death.

As stated, neither the death penalty nor prison actually reforms criminals
or deters crime. U.S. courts dispense neither justice nor protection. There
are many more injustices, inequalities and issues than the death penalty,
but that's a good place to start.

Mark Domens, Dallas

Don't forget victims when you point out inequity

The fact that some murderers aren't executed while others are is unjust not
to those who receive the death penalty but to the victims of those who
don't.

Gary P. Nabhan, Dallas

You forget these people chose to commit crimes

Your editorial cries foul over the seemingly unexplainable discrepancy in
how death sentences are handed down, but if capital punishment is how a
state or county chooses to deal with violent criminals, it is their right.

Your subhead reads, "Where you live is a factor in whether you die," which
is somewhat correct but misses the point. What of behavior? If you choose to
be involved in a horrendous crime, get caught and are convicted, you take
this risk. You can't leave out behavior when discussing consequences.

Does the death penalty deter crime? Wrong question. It should be, "Will the
individual executed for a violent crime against society commit this offense
again?"

That answer is obvious.

Bob Kirby, Plano

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Source : Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c4da5.html