A Just System Demands Death Penalty For Women Fort Worth Star-Telegram Mark Davis; Special to the Star-Telegram December 21, 1997 You can almost feel Darlie Routier sweat. On womens death row in Gatesville, the tenants have enjoyed the relative comfort of knowing that Texas has not executed a woman since the Civil War. As man after man has been escorted to the chamber for a richly deserved lethal injection in Huntsville, the women have avoided the tension of seeing their line move. Until now. A Houston judge has set Feb. 3 as the execution date for Karla Faye Tucker, the brutal ax killer from Houston who now says she has found Jesus and become a different person. Fine. Strap both of them down. Tuckers jailhouse conversion may be a little more convincing than the average convicts, but it does not erase what she did. And she deserves to die for what she did. Two issues are on the table: her status as a woman and her status as a Christian. It will not be easy to start the solutions flowing in her swabbed arm that day. People who know her now say she is a lovely person with a sunny disposition who seems genuinely devoted to God and to atoning for her past sins. She says she cannot believe she performed such a heinous act. Ive spoken to a woman who has counseled her on spiritual matters, and she says Tucker is a truly changed person. I believe God can do this for people. Maybe He has done it for her. What we must now resist is the temptation to absolve her of punishment because of her newfound devoutness. Heres how the deal works in Christianity. If you sincerely repent and accept Jesus as your personal savior, you are forgiven, no matter what youve done. This means Karla Faye Tucker can go to heaven. This means Tim McVeigh can go to heaven. This means any of historys scoundrels may be there today, if they met the condition. But this does not spare them earthly justice earned through misdeeds. It may rattle the senses somewhat to think of murderers in heaven. I know Im not thrilled with the concept at first glance. But Ive decided to restrict my concerns to the things I can do something about in this life. As a state, we have decided to have a death penalty. Thats a decision for us to make. What happens after we die is beyond our grasp, beyond our knowledge, beyond our understanding. This is where faith takes over. There are plenty of people who may not believe such salvation exists, and that is their right. But among those who do, there is a responsibility not to blur the lines between this world and the next. This is what was so appalling about Pat Robertson, of all people, pitching for Tuckers reprieve on The 700 Club. Here was a supposed authority on Gods word, offering up the notion that being born again should get people sprung from death row. This could not be more unscriptural. A penalty of death is woven through the Old Testament, and is never prohibited in the New Testament. Pat should re-acquaint himself with what the Bible actually says about earthly justice and salvation. It will help him avoid future embarrassments. The proper way for Christians to feel about Karla Faye Tucker? Revulsion over her sins, satisfaction at the justice she will receive, and genuine hope that her discovery of God is authentic. It may serve her well by nightfall Feb. 3. I dont know if she was counting on her womanhood to keep her alive, but among Americas condemned, women have benefited from a basic truth: We are very skittish about executing our female murderers. Only one woman has been executed in America in the 20 years since the death penalty geared back up. Of course, women are a very small percentage of prisoners in line for capital punishment. Part of the sparsity of women on death row comes from the fact that killing tends to be a man thing. Far more men than women commit murder, and of the women who do kill, many get manslaughter convictions or life imprisonment. When we are faced with a woman who is a cold-blooded killer, any instinct we may have to execute her is doused by our societal taboo against physically harming women. What was I told growing up, along with every other boy in America? No matter what, you cant hit girls. And now we plan to kill one. We need to get over that hurdle. Our system should offer an equal-opportunity death penalty. There is no argument that can be offered to treat women differently when they kill. That is why Gov. George W. Bush suggests there is no possibility of a pardon. His possible Democrat opponent, Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, was asked what he would do with the Tucker case. He stumbled over an answer whose essential ingredient was I dont know, sprinkled with an observation that tough cases like hers make him glad hes not governor right now. Well, more tough cases are down the road, and with answers like that, Mauro wont have to worry about being governor for any of them, either. One of those cases will be Darlie Routier, the Rowlett woman who killed two of her three children in 1996. The only interruptions in Routiers death row routine have been for tabloid-style interviews, allowing her time to offer up that phony mystery killer story. A few years from now, though, her time will come, just as Karla Faye Tuckers will six weeks from now. And as it will be when Tucker breathes her last, Routiers passing will be just and proper. Mark Davis is a radio talk-show host on WBAP Newsalk 820 AM. His program is heard from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays and is nationally syndicated on ABC radio Sundays from noon to 3 p.m. His e-mail address is mdavis@wbap. Write him at 3201 Airport Freeway, Suite 108, Bedford, TX 76021.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 20:37:22 +0000
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