12/16/05

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The Penalty Is Death

by Terry James

The death penalty debate has been in the news this week. In the U.S. there was a good deal of hubbub over the execution of the 1,000th person since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. In Singapore, a 25-year-old Australian national was hanged for drug trafficking. A firestorm of complaints failed to prevent Nguyen Tuong Van from going to the gallows.

I find it most displeasing that the liberal media is always trying to find new trivial ways to attack the death penalty. The press needs to figure that as long as the dregs of society continue to commit reprehensible acts, there is going to be an ongoing number count. If the Lord tarries, the justice system will eventually execute the 2,000th or 3,000th person.

Since just 1999, we've had 100,000 innocent people murdered in America. If liberals want to establish a limit on murder, I think they should focus on that sad number. I'm sure the criminal elements in society would gladly respect a moratorium on murder.

The individuals being permanently removed from planet earth are not petty criminals. Here is a brief description of the two runners up and the one with the dubious honor of achieving the 1,000 milestone.

• Mr. 998, Eric Nance, was executed in Arkansas for killing teenager Julie Heath of Malvern in 1993. She was found in the woods with her throat slashed from a utility knife. Nance offered no last words. Family members of Heath took note that Nance did not say he was sorry.

• John Hicks was 999 on the list. He was put to death for strangling his 56-year-old mother-in-law Maxine Armstrong and his 5-year-old stepdaughter Brandy Green. Hicks killed his mother-in-law to get money to buy drugs. Apparently while he was high on cocaine, Hicks returned to her apartment at the Alms to kill Brandy, the only witness to see him in the apartment before the first murder.

• Convicted killer Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1000th prisoner executed in the United States since reinstatement. He was sentenced in 1994 for killing his wife, Julie Curry Boyd, and father-in-law, Thomas Dillard Curry, on March 4, 1988 in Stoneville, N.C. At the time, Boyd was separated from his wife, who was living with her mother and father.

I've received several emails from spammers who wanted to save the Australian from the hangman. His fate was tragic, but I failed to see the injustice. Nguyen received a mandatory death sentence after he was caught in 2002 at Singapore's airport on his way home to Melbourne carrying about 14 ounces of heroin.

When it comes to grievous crime, the Singapore government does not play around. While in Europe to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ruled out a reprieve. He was very frank with the media, saying, "We have stated our position clearly -- The penalty is death."

The big problem with the death penalty is people's failure to see how sin has deadly consequences. I would guess that the vast majority of people who face execution never turn to the One who can grant them an eternal pardon. Even when facing a hopeless situation like capital punishment, people fail to realize the gravity of their fate.

The first person to die after the ban was lifted was Gary Gilmore. While incarcerated, Gilmore developed a deep dislike for two of his fellow inmates, convicted murderers and rapists Dale Selby Pierre and William Andrews. Gilmore had to pass the men's cells on his way to the firing squad, and as he was led past he laughed at the men and uttered his final words to his fellow inmates, "I'll see you in Hell, Andrews and Pierre!"

In the afterlife, there is no escape from judgment. All who are not found in the Lamb's book of life will be cast into the lake of fire.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

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