Red Mosquito • View topic - Tell me if I'm crazy to demand this punishment

Samwise · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:10 am

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_ ... ler_beaten

Quote:

YORK, Pa. - A 2-year-old girl died after being beaten with a video game controller by her mother's boyfriend, police said Tuesday. Darisabel Baez's mother overheard the beating Sunday but did nothing until she realized the girl was unconscious, police said

The girl was pronounced dead late Monday at Hershey Medical Center, police Lt. Ron Camacho said.

Homicide was added to the list of charges against Harve L. Johnson on Tuesday; he was already in jail on counts including aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

The girl's mother, Neida E. Baez, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

It was clear from the bruises and other injuries on the little girl's body that Sunday was not the first time she had been abused, Dauphin County coroner Graham Hetrick told WGAL-TV. He said it was one of the worst cases of child abuse he has ever seen.

Baez, 19, called for an ambulance Sunday and said Johnson had brought the unconscious child to her, limp and wet from an attempt to revive her in a bathtub, a police affidavit said.

Johnson, 26, acknowledged beating the girl with a video game controller but did not say why, police said. Baez said Johnson had abused the girl in the past and that she heard the girl scream after Johnson beat her Sunday, according to the affidavit.

Detective Dana Ward said Baez was charged because she did not intervene or try to get help for Darisabel.

Johnson and Baez remained in custody Tuesday. His bail was set at $200,000; hers was $25,000.

Through police, family members declined requests for interviews Tuesday. Court officials said they did not know whether Johnson and Baez had lawyers to speak for them.

Punishment:

This so called mother, Neida Baez, gets at least 5 years in prison and should be made sterile, so that even after her incarceration she can never again bear children.
The boyfriend, Harve Johnson, gets the death penalty.
(admittedly I have the term 'sterilize' in my head from just having caught like 20 minutes of a particular "Law & Order" episode recently where some nurse was in trouble for using some drug to sterilize women without their knowledge)

I suppose this is one of those areas which makes it hard to classify me as simply a liberal. I'm by no means conservative, but I believe very much in the death penalty. Frankly I think that rape should qualify as a capital crime. And here's a case where there's no mystery, no confusion at all, you've got the culprit dead to rights, even flat out admitting that he used the controller to beat this child. There's no possibility that we'd be "killing the wrong guy". This is as clear cut as it gets. And like they said, it's obvious he's been beating the kid repeatedly now. I really can't see how any person can justify how this shit stain on the heel of society has the right to keep on living one more day.

If you want a simple, one line hit for how I feel about the death penalty, here it is: You willfully took away someone else's right to live. Now that means you don't get to, either.

washing machine · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:24 am

the death penalty seems a bit much if you want justice, which the courts constitutionally represent. justice would be to lock these assholes up for 4932 life terms, no parole. revenge would be to kill them. that's the simple answer, as i see it.

the complex answer will no doubt be covered in this thread by people more eloquent, more informed and more well rested than me. it's like 2:30 am here and i have no idea why i am still up.

Samwise · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:40 am

washing machine wrote:

the death penalty seems a bit much if you want justice, which the courts constitutionally represent. justice would be to lock these assholes up for 4932 life terms, no parole. revenge would be to kill them. that's the simple answer, as i see it.

Well, but as far as the cost to the taxpayer, someone please educate me -- has it been shown that typically it costs more to put someone to death than it does to give them free room and board in a prison for the next 50+ years? (which, considering the guy's in his mid-20's, another 50 years I think is a fair estimate of how long he'd last)
And not to go off on a tangent, but the whole concept of "cruel and unusual punishment" in terms of even how they'd put a death row inmate to death just blows my mind. I mean, with this particular asshole, did it not go WAY beyond cruel and unusual as to what he did to this poor little girl?

Anon · **Joined:** Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:10 am **Posts:** 952

live, broadcasted quartering.

evisceration like the end of Braveheart.

old-style electrocution WITHOUT a sponge, a la Green Mile.

Water torture every day for a year.

Firing squad instructed to shoot him in the stomach.

And worst of all, watching every Uwe Boll video game film, over and over, until he dies.

In all seriousness, this guy should get life in solitary confinement. Agreeing that solitary for life is a worse punishment than a quick death is the only thing, perhaps, that I ally with Bill O'Reilly on with his same reasoning.

Anon · **Joined:** Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:10 am **Posts:** 952

Samwise wrote:

washing machine wrote:

the death penalty seems a bit much if you want justice, which the courts constitutionally represent. justice would be to lock these assholes up for 4932 life terms, no parole. revenge would be to kill them. that's the simple answer, as i see it.

Well, but as far as the cost to the taxpayer, someone please educate me -- has it been shown that typically it costs more to put someone to death than it does to give them free room and board in a prison for the next 50+ years? (which, considering the guy's in his mid-20's, another 50 years I think is a fair estimate of how long he'd last)
And not to go off on a tangent, but the whole concept of "cruel and unusual punishment" in terms of even how they'd put a death row inmate to death just blows my mind. I mean, with this particular asshole, did it not go WAY beyond cruel and unusual as to what he did to this poor little girl?

There are tons of cases where people have done worse. They've raped these girls before killing them, eviscerating them, and dumping the corpse in a gravel pit. There's plenty of precedent to give justice to this ape.

Green Habit · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:04 pm

Samwise wrote:

Well, but as far as the cost to the taxpayer, someone please educate me -- has it been shown that typically it costs more to put someone to death than it does to give them free room and board in a prison for the next 50+ years? (which, considering the guy's in his mid-20's, another 50 years I think is a fair estimate of how long he'd last)

Yes, with the way the death penalty is structure in the US these days:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108

corduroy_blazer · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:07 pm

i'd love to see the average age expectancy for those jailed categorized by specific crimes. i can't imagine certain criminals last a lifetime even if sentenced to it.

Orpheus · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:27 pm

Yep, the chances of this guy being killed in prison are pretty high.

$úñ_DëV|L · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:20 pm

Green Habit wrote:

Samwise wrote:

Well, but as far as the cost to the taxpayer, someone please educate me -- has it been shown that typically it costs more to put someone to death than it does to give them free room and board in a prison for the next 50+ years? (which, considering the guy's in his mid-20's, another 50 years I think is a fair estimate of how long he'd last)

Yes, with the way the death penalty is structure in the US these days:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108

Things were so much simpler when all the death penalty required was a rope...

Orpheus · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:23 pm

$úñ_DëV|L wrote:

Green Habit wrote:

Samwise wrote:

Well, but as far as the cost to the taxpayer, someone please educate me -- has it been shown that typically it costs more to put someone to death than it does to give them free room and board in a prison for the next 50+ years? (which, considering the guy's in his mid-20's, another 50 years I think is a fair estimate of how long he'd last)

Yes, with the way the death penalty is structure in the US these days:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108

Things were so much simpler when all the death penalty required was a rope...

...and a black dude in your town after sunset!

PeopleMyAge · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:24 am

she was beat to death with a fucking video game controller? wow...he must have really been hitting her. repeatidly.
that's sick...

tryinmorning · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:44 am

PeopleMyAge wrote:

she was beat to death with a fucking video game controller? wow...he must have really been hitting her. repeatidly.
that's sick...

Do you see how big those xbox controllers are?

vacatetheword · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:54 am

you're crazy.

McParadigm · **Joined:** Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:07 pm **Posts:** 12393

It's a good thing we build our justice system on that phrase exactly, and not retribution or emotional desire.

washing machine · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:26 am

i mean, i guess i don't really know how i'd feel if i was close to the victim or close to the criminal...but common sense dictates that putting a criminal to death would not reverse the past or heal grief. and i do believe in the possibility of rehabilitation and forgiveness.

Sandler · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:31 pm

The mother should go to jail for a few years, I think. Had it been just this one incident then she should definately have been arrested but maybe not jailtime. The fact that there was repeated abuse in the home makes me feel she's partly responsible though, and should definately spend time in prison.

I don't think the guy should get the death penalty. I'm not really for the death penalty, nor am I really hardcore against it. I feel there are worse punishments for people like this. Someone mentioned solitary confinement for life. That's worse than the death penalty. Only thing with that is, how long before he loses his mind and no longer realizes what's going on? Some may last a lifetime without going insane, but I doubt most would last very long. Once he's out of touch with reality, he no longer knows he's being punished and may even be able to leave prison for a while (or for good) for treatment and live in a (comparitively) more comfortable setting.

I say throw him in a maximum security prison with other murderers, and allow the details of his crime to be "leaked" to the rest of the inmate population. They'll take care of the rest, and it will save us all a good amount of tax money.

Skitch Patterson · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:04 pm

corduroy_blazer wrote:

i'd love to see the average age expectancy for those jailed categorized by specific crimes. i can't imagine certain criminals last a lifetime even if sentenced to it.

I can assure you that in nearly all cases, prison stays end at "a lifetime" at the most.... Typically corpses are not allowed to remain in their cell.

windedsailor · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:20 pm

the shouldn't kill him, just make him live in a coffin for the rest of his life. lights out is too easy.

corduroy_blazer · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:47 pm

this is one problem i've always thought we have had with the system: we sit here and discuss more what should be done and less "why did he do it?"

Sandler · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:43 pm

corduroy_blazer wrote:

this is one problem i've always thought we have had with the system: we sit here and discuss more what should be done and less "why did he do it?"

Well, maybe he was failed by someone at some point in his life. Maybe nobody ever taught him how to control his anger/emotions. Maybe he was a victim of abuse when he was younger. There's a ton of potential reasons. Thing is, a lot of people have miserable lives and go through all kinds of stuff without feeling the need to beat a 2 year old to death with a video game controller. In a nation this big, it's impossible to account for everyone and diagnose everyone who has some sort of issue. He is clearly a danger to others and should be locked up. Everyone learns right from wrong at some point, somehow. Some have a better grasp of the concept and some struggle with it. That's why we have laws to protect us.

Tell me if I'm crazy to demand this punishment

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