Enoch Hall, 40, murdered Donna Fitzgerald in June 2008. A jury recommended Hall get the death penalty and, Friday, a judge agreed.
Hall waited in a work shed that day in June 2008. Fitzgerald had to come find him and, when she did, he pulled out a sheet metal shank and stabbed her in the heart.
As so often happens in these cases, the reason for the maximum sentence is explained.
"I'm just so relieved. It's what everybody has wanted. It's the justice she deserves. It's shocking, it's almost surreal that it's actually happening," said Dana Shaure, the victim's sister.
Inside the courtroom, about two dozen corrections officers were sitting along with Fitzgerald's siblings and there were tears all around. Officers’ jaws were trembling as Fitzgerald's killer was sentenced to death.
Fitzgerald's family did not hold back in telling the judge what they thought Hall's sentence should be.
“Immediate death. Immediate. If it could be at noon time today, I’d be thrilled. I’d be ecstatic,” said Donald Shaure, the victim’s brother.
While the true motive for the sentence was expedience, the family quotes are all about vengeance dressed up as justice. It's ironic that supporters of the death penalty, usually conservative folks, are unabashedly basing their opinions on emotion. The family and the colleagues of the victim want payback, an eye for an eye.
The judge and the State have a more calculating agenda. Like any dangerous animal, Enoch Hall needs to be put down. He's just too dangerous. The only problem with that is Enoch is one of us. He's not an animal. And as convenient as it will be, killing him is wrong.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
pro-life, progun, and pro-death penalty
ReplyDeleteDo you see the inconsistency in this position?
NotJadeGold
I believe this is a case where the death penalty is absolutely justified.
ReplyDelete"The judge and the State have a more calculating agenda. Like any dangerous animal, Enoch Hall needs to be put down. He's just too dangerous."
And for once the State is actually right. We put down mad dogs? Why not mad people? Enoch Hall has proven himself to be not only a danger to society, but a danger to those charged with keeping him away from society. The most pragmatic thing to do is to kill him before he kills someone else.
"The only problem with that is Enoch is one of us. He's not an animal. And as convenient as it will be, killing him is wrong."
I disagree. At the end of the day, man is just another animal. And because of our so-called "intellectual development", we've become the most dangerous animal of all.
So extreme measures are needed to protect ourselves from the even more dangerous animals within our species. Sometimes that means putting down our "mad dogs", whether it be in the execution chamber or while they are in the process of kicking in your front door.
This is one of the strongest cases for the death penalty--someone who is already serving a life sentence commits a crime deserving a life sentence. Really only a few options on sentence:
ReplyDeleteYou can either do nothing or add time to his life sentence, effectively the same thing.
You can make his prison time worse, but not significantly without it becoming torture.
You can execute him.
The biggest argument against the death penalty is erroneous conviction. Extremely unlikely in this case that he was convicted several times erroneously, and getting the death penalty for one of them isn't a miscarriage of justice. I don't think a proven murder should go unpunished, I don't think we should torture. That leaves only the death penalty.
(BTW: I'm relatively consistently pro-freedom. Pro-choice, pro-gun and pro-gay-marriage for that matter. We don't all fit the stereotypes)