News and Developments: Victims

EDITORIAL: Imperfections Abound with Death Penalty

Posted: November 07, 2008
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A recent editorial in The Virginian-Pilot points to the problem of arbitrariness in applying the death penalty. The editorial asks, “Is it right to look at who the victims were? Is it fair to consider the strength of the evidence and the time and resources required to pursue the death penalty, a costly process? Does it make a crime less important, a victim's life less memorable, if prosecutors decide that life in a tiny prison cell is punishment enough for the killer?”

VICTIMS: DA To Seek Death Sentence Despite Victim's Beliefs and Family's Wishes

Posted: October 30, 2008
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A North Carolina prosecutor has announced he will seek the death penalty in a case where the victim spoke out against capital punishment and her family opposes it. Before her death, college student and University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson told fellow students gathered for a death penalty discussion that she did not agree with the death penalty due to the flaws in its application.

ARBITRARINESS: Louisiana Serial Killer Sentenced to Life

Posted: September 26, 2008
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Prosecutors decided against pursuing a death sentence for a serial killer in Terrebonne Parish in Louisiana. Roland Dominique, who was arrested at a homeless shelter, pled guilty to the murder of eight young men, and he may have killed as many as 23 men. Terrebonne Parish District Attorney Joe Waitz, Jr. decided against seeking the death penalty after consulting with members of the victims' familes.

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights and the National Alliance on Mental Illness To Launch National Project

Posted: September 19, 2008
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Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) are working together to launch a national project concerned with the intersection of the capital punishment system and people with severe mental illness. The groups will host a press conference in San Antonio, Texas on October 3rd. Speakers will include the Director of MVFHR, the NAMI Policy and Legal Director, family members of victims murdered by people with mental illness, and family members of people with mental illness who were executed. The press conference will be held at 3:00 PM in San Antonio at the University of the Incarnate Word, Bonilla Science Hall auditorium, room 129. (Source: MVFHR press release). See also Mental Illness and Victims.

 

NEW VOICES: Victim's Brother Says Execution left him with "horror and emptiness"

Posted: August 26, 2008
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Ronald Carlson wanted vengeance when his sister was murdered in 1983 in Texas.  But when he witnessed the execution in 1998 of the person who committed the murder he changed his mind.   In a recent op-ed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carlson said he  had no opinion on capital punishment before his sister’s death and remembers feeling hatred and “would have killed those responsible with my own hands if given the opportunity.” But he later discovered that, “Watching the execution left me with horror and emptiness, confirming what I had already come to realize: Capital punishment only continues the violence that has a powerful, corrosive effect on society.”

Victims' Families Petition Against Texas Man's Execution

Posted: July 08, 2008
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On July 10, Carlton Akee Turner is scheduled to be put to death in Texas for the murder of his adoptive parents when he was 19 years old. But a majority of the victims’ relatives are speaking out against the execution. Victim Tonya Carlton's brother, Kelly Johnson, wrote in a petition to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, “I do not wish to see my sister’s only child executed.