The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Bring Back the Firing Squad

Posted on | July 24, 2014 | 71 Comments

Joseph R. Wood III was 30 when he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Debbie Dietz, 29, and her father, Gene Dietz, 55, in Tucson in 1989. Because our legal system has been encumbered by federal court concessions to the “rights” of murderers, it took 25 years to impose justice on this cowardly hateful killer. Also, because of concessions to the Murderers’ Rights Movement, effective methods of capital punishment — the noose, the firing squad, the gas chamber, the electric chair — have been outlawed, replaced by lethal injection drugs, so that those who callously take human life can be dispatched in a “humane” manner. Except when it doesn’t work that way:

A condemned Arizona inmate gasped for more than an hour and a half during his execution Wednesday before he died in an episode sure to add to the scrutiny surrounding the death penalty in the U.S.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne’s office said Joseph Rudolph Wood was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m., one hour and 57 minutes after the execution started. . . .
Family members of Wood’s victims said they had no problems with the way the execution was carried out.
“This man conducted a horrifying murder and you guys are going, ‘let’s worry about the drugs,'” said Richard Brown, the brother-in-law of Debbie Dietz, who was 29 when she was killed in 1989. “Why didn’t they give him a bullet? Why didn’t we give him Drano?”

Shoot ’em. It was good enough for Gary Gilmore.

UPDATE: Did Joseph Wood deserve a “humane” death?

Wood, who was said to have assaulted Debbie during their relationship, walked into Dietz and Sons Auto Paint and Body Shop and shot 55-year-old Gene in the chest.
Then, as a desperate Debbie tried to phone for help, Wood grabbed her round the neck.
The Arizona Daily Star reports that witnesses heard him tell his her “I told you I was going to do it. I love you. I have to kill you, b****” before also shooting the 29-year-old fatally in the chest.
When police arrived Wood turned his gun on officers, prompting them to open fire and shoot him nine times.

Too bad the cops didn’t finish him off then and there.

 

Comments

71 Responses to “Bring Back the Firing Squad”

  1. Bring Back the Firing Squad | That Mr. G Guy's Blog
    July 24th, 2014 @ 10:45 am

    […] Bring Back the Firing Squad. […]

  2. RKae
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:03 am

    Why is it we hear these horror stories about capital punishment but never when it comes to “assisted suicide”?

    If the oh-so-loving fans of Jack Kevorkian can put down your Aunt Minnie peacefully, why do those same people (the left) tell us that there’s simply no way to send a criminal to the Great Beyond?

    For cryin’ out loud! In Scandinavia they’re now doing “assisted suicide” on children!

  3. CPAguy
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:06 am

    I was thinking the same thing as RSM this morning when I heard this story.

    I am against the death penalty. But, if we are going to use it, we might as well go through with it after a sentence has been made.

    Of course, there should be ample opportunity for appeals, but 25 years?

  4. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:14 am

    Matt Yglesias is very concerned for the condemned. I think it should be sparingly used, but some crimes warrant execution. I am not for torture, but if you are going to have an execution, have an execution.

    Firing squads and hangings were fine for your great grandfathers, they should be fine for you now.

    And btw, how is it we can humanely put down animals with a simple painless injection but can’t manage to do that to people?

  5. RKae
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:20 am

    I’m for the death penalty as a bargaining tool. In the case of Gary Ridgeway (The Green River Killer), when facing the death penalty, he decided to tell where other bodies were buried. It also made him confess, shortened his trial, and saved Washington State a mountain of money.

    However, in order for it to be an effective bargaining tool it must be used every now and then.

  6. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:21 am

    End Capital Punishment. If the US is supposedly such a civilized society why are we still allowing the state to execute people like this is the third world? To satiate the bloodlust of our citizens? It’s already been proven not to be a deterrent, and now drug manufacturers are cutting off supply to prisons resulting in this debacle.

  7. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:24 am

    You’re actually comparing a state execution to someone choosing of their own free will to end their life? You’re not very bright. I’m sure abortion will works is way into this argument,too.

  8. ReformedTrombonist
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:28 am

    > It’s already been proven not to be a deterrent…

    Wrong.

  9. Escher's House
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:30 am

    Struck nine times and they couldn’t kill him. Cops are lousy shots.

    I would prefer a return to hanging. If done properly, it snaps the neck and the murderer dies immediately.

    A double-tap to the back of the head would be just as effective, but that seems so closely associated with executions carried about totalitarians, that I’m afraid most Americans would find it distasteful.

    Finally, how come lethal injections seem to have worked for so many decades relatively smoothly and now seem to cause gruesome deaths frequently. Are we no longer manufacturing the drugs that work.

  10. Rob Crawford
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:42 am

    Why do you want more people to die?

    Why are you more concerned with the fate of deranged murderers than innocent people?

    People like you are what made Chicago a violent hole. Why don’t you go live in the cesspit you made?

  11. If we are going to have executions, let’s get on with it… | Batshit Crazy News
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:42 am

    […] Alternatively, in the old school way, he who passes sentence could swing the sword… TOM: Bring back the firing squad… […]

  12. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:44 am

    You can petition your state and your fellow voters to support that. If you live in a state that bans it, well good for you. I hope you and your family are never victim of a crime that would warrant the death penalty.

  13. Colorado Alex
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:45 am

    Pretty much. The anti-death penalty crowd has deliberatly made it hard to conduct lethal injections precisely so you get these kinds of incidents.

  14. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:48 am

    Maybe we should just install surveillance cameras in every home and wire them right to the police station? There has to be a limit on state power in this regard, and the death penalty does not save lives. Outside of mid eastern shitholes we’re the only country left executing it’s citizens. The practice is barbaric and beneath us, and this is the breaking point.

  15. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:48 am

    Right. It’s not a deterrent.

  16. JackAfter6
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:49 am

    Fortune, in point of fact it is you who doesn’t seem very bright. RKae wasn’t making an argument about the reason for the death but for the method by which it it would be carried out. This seems so simple and obvious to me that it only allows two possibilities. 1.) you understood his point perfectly well but just want to be an ass. Or 2.) You are an idiot.

    Well, which is it?

  17. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:50 am

    Life without parole is a far worse fate than an execution.

  18. Adriane
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:55 am

    Can James R. Woods III kill again? umm, no, you say? Deterrent it is …

  19. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:55 am

    Your moralizing also sounds as empty as your head. The victims are already gone. Killing their killers is just petty vengeance and does nothing to remedy the situation. Most of the families say the same thst the execution offered no closure, and actually depressed them more because they were now partially responsible for the death of another person. We have all this high wattGe brainpower and ability to reason and the best we can come up with is executions? it’s a joke.

  20. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:56 am

    Fortune, address the issue. I am not for lobbing heads off like in Saudi or Iraq (or having oppressive monitoring by the state), but some crimes (arguably) warrant that criminal being separated from the rest of us. The death penalty is arguably more humane than a life in a prison.

  21. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:56 am

    It prevents it from happening again.

  22. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:57 am

    What works for putting down a race horse with a broken leg (humanely and quickly) cannot be used on a human. Why is that?

  23. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 11:58 am

    It is. So what is wrong with execution?

  24. Adriane
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:08 pm

    “The victims are already gone. ”

    …and you point is?

    Murderers are executed because their victims are gone. If they were still alive, they wouldn’t be murder victims!

    If we could only harness circular reasoning, we could solve the energy crisis …

  25. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:10 pm

    Yes. Drug companies no longer want their products associated with executions so cut supply leading to incidents like this

  26. Adriane
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:21 pm

    Sealing them in an airtight room and walking away requires no drugs at all …

  27. Fortune
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:31 pm

    Yeah, that’s the spirit! Capital Punishment is an archaic practice, and it’s only archaic mentalities like yours that keep it going.

  28. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:33 pm

    Let’s make a deal: We ban both abortions (unless the life of the mother is threatened) and capital punishment in the spirit of promoting life…we can do a constitutional amendment!

  29. DeadMessenger
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:44 pm

    It’s 2

  30. DeadMessenger
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:48 pm

    It is a deterrent. And it would be a more effective one if we imposed it quickly, while people could still make the association between the crime and the execution.

  31. RKae
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:49 pm

    No form of punishment or rehabilitation brings back what any crime takes away.

    Therefore, I guess there’s really nothing we can do to a criminal. So let’s just forget it, huh?

    Legalize crime!

  32. RKae
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:51 pm

    Then I guess you’re in favor of the FAR WORSE form of punishment.

    Wow. You’re one cruel, vindictive and sick individual.

    Oh, by the way: locking them up doesn’t bring the dead people back either. So why would we do that? I mean, bringing back the dead was your stipulation for punishment, so I guess it’s all pointless.

  33. RKae
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:54 pm

    Wow. You’re really bucking for “dumbest comment on the internet,” aren’t you?

    Answer the question, moron: How can assisted suicide be easy and peaceful, but execution not be? Why not use the same method; the same drugs?

    And actually, in many countries now they’re “helping” children and the mentally handicapped kill themselves. So, no, it’s not about one’s own choice.

  34. DeadMessenger
    July 24th, 2014 @ 12:59 pm

    No it isn’t. And the point here is quickly removing evil – permanently – from society. In the case of this crime, there was no question of guilt, and the sick puke who did it enjoyed it. I don’t want my tax dollars used to support someone as wicked as this for his entire life, or even for years and years of appeals. People like this gotta go. I’m with Evi L – hang ‘im or shoot ‘im.

  35. DeadMessenger
    July 24th, 2014 @ 1:06 pm

    Who cares how they do it? The killer didn’t give a damn about the suffering of his victims or their family; why should I then care about his suffering? When he walked in that place with a gun and the intent to murder, he lost all his rights and my sympathy.

  36. DeadMessenger
    July 24th, 2014 @ 1:08 pm

    Nah. I say, ban the killing of all innocent people. This would include babies in the womb. Guilty evil people should be killed, and removed from society quickly and permanently.

  37. laura_PH
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:03 pm

    If we must have a death penalty, I don’t see why they can’t be killed with an overdose of heroin. No need to over-complicate things.

  38. RS
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:30 pm

    I’ve become less enamored with the Death Penalty, not because it is cruel, or because Society does not possess the right to say some behaviors are so egregious that the perpetrator should forfeit his/her right to exist, regardless of deterrent effect. My discomfort is based upon the fact that it is inconsistently applied and that our system for prosecuting crimes leads prosecutors–who are by and large politicians–to manipulate evidence to obtain a conviction. Nothing sells better during an election that “tough on crime.”

    That said, if we’re going to have it, it should be quick, sure and consistent. I personally favor public executions to enable society to see that, which for most people, is purely an abstract concept.

  39. ZZZZZZZZ
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:45 pm

    zzzzzzzz………..

  40. Dana
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:51 pm

    I absolutely agree: I’d like to see capital punishment ended completely, but if we are going to have it, we should have it promptly, publicly and painfully.

    I find the notion that capital punishment is a deterrent laughable, because when we do have it, it’s after twenty or more years in the big house. If we hanged the murderers from an oak tree, in public, after three days, maybe, just maybe, it would make some impression on the malefactor’s gang buddies.

  41. JeffS
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:51 pm

    That’s one application, but a minor one. I can see it’s usefulness, but the killer needs to stay in jail until dead dead dead.

    In the end, however, capital punishment isn’t really about punishment or deterrence, although those are certainly major reasons.

    No, the death penalty is for those people who willingly commit heinous crimes such as murder, for being the people they are. A sanitation measure.

    As an added bonus, they won’t be murdering anyone else. Ever.

  42. JeffS
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:53 pm

    “The victims are already gone. ”

    You sure are one cold blooded son-of-a-bitch, hey?

  43. Dana
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:54 pm

    If capital punishment were actually a deterrent, then Texas should have the nation’s lowest murder rate; it doesn’t, but is right in the middle. Near the top are Louisiana, which has capital punishment, and Michigan, which does not, while clustered near the bottom are small, non-death penalty states.

  44. JeffS
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:55 pm

    Unlike your “modern” mentality that wishes a fate worse than death (i.e., life imprisonment) on the killers, AND urinates on the victims and their families at the same time, hmmmmmm?

  45. Dana
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:56 pm

    You know, that’s easy enough for you to say, when you aren’t the one facing the choice of life in prison or being executed. Among those who are facing that choice, a few do opt to get it all over with, and drop their appeals, but most death row inmates keep their appeals going for as long as they can.

  46. JeffS
    July 24th, 2014 @ 2:57 pm

    And it’s all the rage amongst the chic crowd! How many celebrities have offed themselves by ODing on the Big H?

    Lefties everywhere ought to embrace your idea for the gem of wisdom that it is!

  47. Dana
    July 24th, 2014 @ 3:00 pm

    OK, why are you not for lopping off heads like they do in Saudi? If you are gong to execute someone, a Saudi executioner is about as fast and painless as you can find.

  48. Finrod Felagund
    July 24th, 2014 @ 3:24 pm

    George Carlin had a mostly good rant about capital punishment and public executions:

    http://thedailybanter.com/2014/07/george-carlin-perfect-solution-botched-executions/

  49. K-Bob
    July 24th, 2014 @ 3:50 pm

    Well, I’d prefer they tell the “client” it’s heroin, then inject drano.

    But that’s just me, I guess.

  50. K-Bob
    July 24th, 2014 @ 3:52 pm

    You’d kind of be trapped into banning self defense eventually if you go down that road.

    The concept of “Murder” just needs to be explained better. It’s not just killing someone.