Jessica Lunsford, missing Florida 9 year old, dead

[Backtothemac]

I see your point of view, I really do. It makes my blood boil to think of it also.

However, if a mentally ill person who commits this type of crime is seen as a "wart on the butt of humanity" where does this definition stop? Are schizophrenics who assault someone also in this category?

You think then that those who are mentally ill should be executed regardless of their mental capacity?

No I don't. But I think there are a sect of people that are to dangerous to be allowed to live within society. I don't subscribe to the slippery slope idea because I think that society itself would not allow that to happen. There are degrees to danger. People like this guy, Alejandro Avila who raped and killed 5 year old (Yes I said it 5 year old) Samantha Runion are to dangerous even for mental health workers to try to watch. Futhermore, why spend funds to keep them alive when we could use those funds to help decent people get better educations, have better lives, and make society a better place.

 

[Backtothemac]

A couple more.

Carlie Bruce and her killer.


And the so adorable Samantha Runion.
Samantha was kidnapped out of her front yard while playing with a friend. They found her body. Naked. She had been raped vaginally, and anally. Then murdered. Her killer, has sat in prison awaiting trial for over two years now. Motion after motion. Where is the justice for her family, for her?

I will never as long as I live forget Samantha. When I first saw her on TV, I thought she was my daughter. She looks so much like Madison that I broke down right then. I know I come accross as some staunch right wing moralist, but as I have aged, I have changed and become much more liberal. However, I think this is the greatest crime that can be committed on our planet. The murder of a child.

I made a promise to Samantha the day they found her, that I would never forget her as long as I live. I think of her every day. I carry a picture of her in my wallet because she reminds me of how beautiful and horrible this world really is. Her picture sets next to my daughters in my wallet. I hold them equally in my heart. I do this because of the fear that went through my mind when I first saw Samantha. I do this to remind me of how that pain felt. I also do this to pray for that little girl, that she is safe in heaven with someone to walk with her. I do it because my daughter is now six. And still very much looks like Samantha.

 

[regan2]

has no one heard of mercy?

you and i aren't the judge. there's not one of us who isn't the scum of the earth because the price of sin is death. it's a good thing someone had mercy on us. it's time we show some mercy on everyone else.

should he be released? no.

but instead of focusing all your energy on hating him, step back and love your family. live your life and realize that this is the world we live in. a world we made for ourselves.

 

[Backtothemac]

has no one heard of mercy?

you and i aren't the judge. there's not one of us who isn't the scum of the earth because the price of sin is death. it's a good thing someone had mercy on us. it's time we show some mercy on everyone else.

should he be released? no.

but instead of focusing all your energy on hating him, step back and love your family. live your life and realize that this is the world we live in. a world we made for ourselves.

OMG. I will try to say this without insulting you. How can you have that attitude. There are evil pieces of trash that do not deserve to breath the same air as my daughter, and yet I am supposed to deal with it and live with it? Society should hate him, should take his life. Period.

MERCY you speak of mercy. Where was his mercy for the victim? Where was it? How could you possibly defend that piece of slime ridden filth.

Oh and furthermore, I am not talking about our sins. I don't believe that every sin is the same. I cannot believe that telling my wife when she is pregnant and weights twice what she normally would that she doesn't look fat is the same as this scum killing a child.

 

[Backtothemac]

Oh and the three winners that lied to police about where the piece of trash was even when they knew what he had done.

Aren't they pretty!

 

[jsw]

The problem I have with a lot of the responses on this board is that they do not know whether or not this individual was mentally ill and were prepared to condemn him to death irrespective of his condition (if any).

He was mentally alert enough to walk into a house in the dead of night, kidnap her without waking the grandparents or disturbing the house, abuse and then kill her, bury her behind his sister's house, and elude authorities for weeks.

He's mentally stable enough to know what he did.

I couldn't sleep last night because of thoughts of what that poor child's last night on earth must have been like. I am unable to come up with a punishment harsh enough.

Many here believe in punishment during an afterlife. I don't. I think death is an easy escape. This man should be tortured slowly for a very long time before being allowed to die.

 

[Backtothemac]

He was mentally alert enough to walk into a house in the dead of night, kidnap her without waking the grandparents or disturbing the house, abuse and then kill her, bury her behind his sister's house, and elude authorities for weeks.

He's mentally stable enough to know what he did.

I couldn't sleep last night because of thoughts of what that poor child's last night on earth must have been like. I am unable to come up with a punishment harsh enough.

Many here believe in punishment during an afterlife. I don't. I think death is an easy escape. This man should be tortured slowly for a very long time before being allowed to die.

Word to JSW! Nice to know someone feels the same for me. I want to eliminate this guy, not make excuses for him.

 

[AppleMatt]

jsw.
Backtothemac.

Please work in a mental health setting for at least 6 months.
You will benefit as a person greatly.

AppleMatt

 

[Backtothemac]

jsw.
Backtothemac.

Please work in a mental health setting for at least 6 months.
You will benefit as a person greatly.

AppleMatt

Man, I do not question the fact that people have mental disorders. I really do. I have family that mental disorders, and we have taken care of them for years, until we could not do it and they are now committed. However, this guy's compentency is not the issue. The issue is how do we change the law to protect our children? That is the question. Making excuses for these guys is not how to do it.

 

[AppleMatt]

Until someone develops a 100% fool-proof test that can predict all conditions that could lead to murder and then screens every single person in the world at intervals...
...there is no way.

Any kind of mental disorder is not an excuse. It's a reason. That is exactly why we have mental health facilities and then we have prisons. Of course, some might argue that committing any serious crime against another human being could be construed as showing a mental imbalance. I don't know brought up competency (maybe jsw?) but let me be adamantly clear: limiting mental disorder to competency is not my view whatsoever.

AppleMatt

 

[MattG]

Jeebus...

Between this, the mess with Terri Schiavo, and having a second member of the Bush family to contend with...makes me want to move more and more

 

[Sun Baked]

Oh and the three winners that lied to police about where the piece of trash was even when they knew what he had done.

Aren't they pretty!

That center guy looks like the trailer trash version of Noah Wyle, and the rest look like Osbornes on the skids.

Now that they found her, who's going to bleach this gene pool?

 

[Backtothemac]

That center guy looks like the trailer trash version of Noah Wyle, and the rest look like Osbornes on the skids.

Now that they found her, who's going to bleach this gene pool?

Exactly sunbaked. They should be bleached out.

 

[AppleMatt]

Eugenics was disproved how long ago now?

AppleMatt

 

[Sun Baked]

Eugenics was disproved how long ago now?

AppleMatt

Jerry Springer and the families they tend to bring on the show may have changed that.

 

[jsw]

jsw.
Backtothemac.

Please work in a mental health setting for at least 6 months.
You will benefit as a person greatly.

AppleMatt

I understand the issues involved with those who suffer from mental illness. I understand how they can commit acts which they are not truly able to control.

Perhaps that was the case here. However, when it comes to the rape and murder of an innocent child, carried out in enough detail that it couldn't have been an act of temporary insanity, I have no sympathy and advocate no mercy.

A despondent mother, suffering from postpartum depression, who kills her child: I understand that and consider it to be a terrible consequence of a chemical imbalance. I know that such mothers often feel crushing and constant guilt once they are healthy again. I can understand their situation. It is horrible, but I can see that it isn't truly their fault.

My belief - which could be wrong, but that doesn't really matter as I have no effect on this man's punishment - is that this bastard is simply evil. I stand by my opinion that a long miserable existence of constant torture is appropriate. It won't happen. But I would feel no sympathy for him if it did.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I assume you would all agree that committing a despicable crime such as this is far outside of the normal range of human behaviour? If that is true, is it not then possible that the person who committed this crime is ill himself? And if so, does that fact change what we should do with him?

Yes, it is not normal for our society. We devised the meaning of the word normal-- and how I hate it. Was he ill of the mind? Possibly. However, he was able to elude authorities for a number of weeks. Why did he do that? A mentally ill person who didn't see the 'wrong' in what they did would not hide from the 'right' and 'just' of the law. He, however, hid from the law.

By your argument, he is outside the 'normal' range (at least, what we consider to be normal) of human behavior. So then how is that jump made to him being mentally unstable or such? I am not considered to be 'normal' by society. I have mental disorders. But there is a major difference between him and me. I tell myself that certain thoughts are 'wrong' and should not be done. I got and still get help for myself. He didn't get any help and didn't try to do the 'right' thing (again, using our society as a point of reference) but he well could have. He wanted to do this. It was planned, methodical, and executed like he wanted to do this. Because he did want to do this.

It is behavior that I personally find to be horrifying to say the least-- and I do not have children. I hope that the judge and jury agree with me. I also hope that those of you with children never, ever, have to deal with such a tragedy like this.

However, if a mentally ill person who commits this type of crime is seen as a "wart on the butt of humanity" where does this definition stop? Are schizophrenics who assault someone also in this category?
You think then that those who are mentally ill should be executed regardless of their mental capacity?

You seem to think he is mentally ill. Yet, there is no evidence of that. Murder is not something that means you are mentally ill. Collage kids kill themselves all the time, but they just do them in a far stupider fashion. They aren't mentally ill. Just plain old fashioned stupidity.

has no one heard of mercy?
<edited>
but instead of focusing all your energy on hating him, step back and love your family. live your life and realize that this is the world we live in. a world we made for ourselves.

Mercy? Yes, I show mercy to people when they do things without my permission and I forgive them. Would I do such a thing to the person (man, women, child, or alien from Mars) who murdered my child with no reason to? But why show mercy towards someone such as this? He didn't just kill this one girl. He killed her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Everyone that she would have a part in making is now dead. He emotionally killed her parents. Just imagine if someone murdered Eve. Eve from the Tanakh (Bible). Don't have to believe in it, but you know the story, right? What if Eve never existed? Everyone who came after her-- Cain, Able-- would be dead. A midrash (story made by the Rabbis to help explain some bit of the Tanakh) says that there were people outside of the Garden of Eden. But what if their children were all killed? There wouldn't be anyone to go onwards. We exist-- but if our parents were murdered, we would have been too. Because it may just be random chance that we existed, but now it is sure that she will have NO children. Murder of just one? Hell, murderer of an entire group of people. What if one of her kids cured cancer? Came up with some Great New Idea? That cure, that idea, is now dead.

EDIT: This isn't an attack on anyone. Just expressing some rather deep feelings about this.

 

[Backtothemac]

The biggest problem is that this is an epidemic against our children. Why cannot we as a society stand up in a united voice and say enough. When can we know that if someone does molest a child, they are gone. Locked up forever. No parole, no sunlight. Build a special prison for them, and make it beyond maximum security.

Or, as I have said, wax their asses off the face of the planet.

 

[Backtothemac]

Copy of an email sent to all members of congress in my state, the President, and the Vice President.

Senator Shelby,
I write this to you with a broken heart. A heart that has been broken too many times over the last few years. I write this to you as a constituent, as a fellow husband, fellow father, and fellow American. The question that I have is simple, the solution is simple, but sadly, nothing is done. Why can’t we protect our children? Jessica Lunsford as you know was recently found in Florida. Here is some information about her Killer John Couey,

JOHN EVANDER COUEY
• Born September 19, 1958
• 5 feet 4 inches, 125 pounds
• Blue eyes, gray hair

Criminal history:
• Outstanding warrant for violation of probation charge stemming from a 2004 arrest for possession of marijuana less than 20 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.
• Arrested multiple times on various charges, including burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly intoxication, driving under the influence, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, fraud, insufficient funds and larceny.
• Arrested in 1991 on charges of a sex offense, fondling a child under the age of 16.
• Registered sexual offender in Citrus County.
• Has absconded more than once.
• Driver's license suspended for 99 years.


My question is why is this man allowed to walk the street? Remember Samantha Runion in California. Remember that precious little angel that was taken from her home, Raped both vaginally and anally at the age of 5, then murdered and left on the side of the road. Her killer, had been charged with molestation before, but was aquitted on a tecnicality. Why cannot Congress pass legislation that makes child molestation a federal offense, not a state one? Why cannot we protect our children by making the act of molestation carry a manditory sentence of life with no parole?

Why Senator? There is not one, and I mean not one person in the medical community that will testify that a child abuser can be rehabilitated. There is not evidence of one being able to stop. In fact it is quite the opposite. The honest ones from jail will tell you that you can’t stop the abuse. That if they get out, they will do it again. Why then are the courts continually allowing light sentences for the greatest of all crimes that we face as a society. Imagine the great things that Jessica, Samantha, and all of the others could have accomplished in their lives. What their children, grand-children, and great grandchildren could have accomplished. Why then do we continue to allow these monsters to feast on our children.

I emplore you to write legislation that would bring manditory federal sentences to these people. That will protect not only my children, but yours, and everyones. The voices of those who are to young to be heard, that have been silenced through attrocious acts of hatred are the ones that we should be screaming at the top of our lungs for. They are the ones that need to be heard, protected, and treasured most of all.

God Bless America, and God Bless those slient voices.

 

[gaomay]

You seem to think he is mentally ill. Yet, there is no evidence of that.

EDIT: This isn't an attack on anyone. Just expressing some rather deep feelings about this.

I didn't say that he is mentally ill. What worried me was the response of some folks here when they didn't know the full facts of the case. I just think we should be especially careful when the death penalty is involved, that's all.


I know you're not attacking anyone, no problemos. I'm sure we all have deep feelings about this sort of crime. It send shivers up my spine just thinking about it.

 

[AppleMatt]

However, when it comes to the rape and murder of an innocent child, carried out in enough detail that it couldn't have been an act of temporary insanity, I have no sympathy and advocate no mercy.

...

A despondent mother, suffering from postpartum depression, who kills her child

So your main objection here is to the choice of target. What difference does it make that it was a child? Does that make the crime any worse than someone who rapes and kills OAP's, young affluent businesswomen or healthy sportsmen?

The fact that we 'normal' people see it as a more evil act, perhaps because we have children or we think about the lost potential the child has is irrelevant. To them the person is a target, not a victim, which is hard for many 'normal' people to detach themselves to. Without wanting to sound to callous, there is nothing to say what this child could have gone on and done in much the same way that there is nothing to say what anyone could. A 30 year old scientist who is murdered or dies in an accident could also have gone on to cure cancer.

My belief - which could be wrong, but that doesn't really matter as I have no effect on this man's punishment - is that this bastard is simply evil. I stand by my opinion that a long miserable existence of constant torture is appropriate. It won't happen.

For many, not all, but many, just existing is their torture.
Temporary insanity is irrelevant here. Temporary insanity is made for 'normal' people, this person wasn't suffering from temporary insanity.

AppleMatt

 

[stubeeef]

i cry, i pray, i hope..............

but i am also against the death penalty........

 

[wdlove]

I saw the parents of Jessica on the news last evening. It was heart wrenching to see how much they are suffering. Even the sheriff had a hard time controlling his emotions. It does seem like these occurrences are just happening to often.

 

[Lacero]

Couey is only 46. His mug shot makes him look like he's 62. His face basically reflects his lifestyle and the negative evil thoughts he harbors. Death penalty is only relief for this wretched unsaveable soul.

 

[grimmace]

Death?

There was a time when the death penalty was feared. This behavior seems to be rising and rising. Crimes like this have been around a while but its getting worse.

The death penalty is simply a savior for these type of people. Yes, they are mentally ill, but they know what they are doing and some of them simply want to be caught because they know their punishment (death) will help ease their mental pain and suffering while here. So, they go out and do a crime haneous enough to get everyone wanting to put them to death. The crimes will only get worse since with this type of thought, they now would actually want to be remembered for it as well. After all, they are being put to death.

So, what we need is a new punishment that is again actually feared by people. Perhaps one for this type of crime. I think that if they new they would perhaps be put in a room with a former preditor or type that would love to have their way with them, they would think twice about killing another instead of just killing themselves. If this guy knew that his punishment was not death, but put in a cell with someone that would love to skin him alive and keep him alive for as long as they want say... like in the movie Seven.

He would have thought twice about what he did. He is simply getting what he wanted in the first place. Death. Though he chickened out at the last minute and got his friends involved.

Let's get a feared punishment and not one that will simply help them go. I do see that the prison life up to that point is rather scary. But not sure how mental patients on a death row actually see it.