VERNE STRICKLAND: BY A DIVINE MIRACLE, FLORIDA INMATE JOHN ERROLL FERGUSON MUST BE SPARED EXECUTION MONDAY IN FLORIDA. HIS PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA RENDERS HIM UNDESERVING OF THE DEATH PENALTY. GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT IS DEAD WRONG ON THIS ONE, AND THE U.S. SUPREME COURT SHOULD INTERVENE. PLEASE PRAY THAT MR. FERGUSON WILL BE SPARED AND GRANTED MERCY. After suffering a traumatic brain injury at age 21, Ferguson spent years in and out of mental hospitals. In spite of warnings from doctors that Ferguson should remain hospitalized because he was dangerously mentally ill, Ferguson was released. And in the next several years, he faced charges for several murders. No one disputes his conviction. But in articulating why it is cruel and unusual to execute those who cannot comprehend the punishment that “offends humanity, the U.S. Supreme Court has explained: [T]oday, no less than before, we may seriously question the retributive value of executing a person who has no comprehension of why he has been singled out and stripped of his fundamental right to life… . Similarly, the natural abhorrence civilized societies feel at killing one who has no capacity to come to grips with his own conscience or deity is still vivid today. Florida’s commitment to execute Ferguson in spite of this concern reflects its general approach to capital punishment. In June, Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill to speed up executions and limit the time for lawyers to prove their clients innocent, despite the state’s track record of sentencing people to death who were later exonerated. Tags: criminal justice Death Penalty
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 02:14:45 +0000
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