Jackson Free Press

"I think we do it as dignified and humane as you can execute a person," said Grantt Culliver, the warden of Holman Correctional Facility and, as such, the state's executioner. "There's no glory in it. It's a matter of law."

The Birmingham News announced in an editorial today, called "A Death Penalty Conversion," that it is reversing his long support of the death penalty:

It's a matter of law that deeply troubles The News' editorial board. After decades of supporting the death penalty, the editorial board no longer can do so. Today and over the next five days, we will explain our change of mind and heart.

We know that many of our readers, including families and friends of murder victims, will disagree. We acknowledge we cannot grasp the profound grief experienced by those who lose loved ones in senseless, savage killings. We well understand some crimes are so great that those who commit them don't deserve to live in the free world ever again, and that some don't deserve to live at all. Yet we can no longer in good conscience continue to advocate the death penalty in Alabama.

_____

This stands in sharp contrast to The Clarion-Ledger's ace editorial board's ridicule of people on death row.

Previous Comments

ID

171975

Comment

Over the next five days? I can understand the change of heart (I dislike it on the grounds it's not actually doing any good), but to span five days sounds like the newspaper version of "Sweeps" to me.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2005-11-08T10:34:37-06:00

ID

171976

Comment

The death penalty is a difficult subject for many of us to reconcile. It seems most people support it in some instances. And there are too many fools who would vote to kill the defendant in every case of capital murder regardless of the facts or circumstances of the defendant's life or upbringing. I believe this unreasoned support for the death penalty is an over reaction to tiring of sensationalized crime coverage by the media. No doubt we're otherwise sick of crime, too; regardless of the media. I doubt these same people wouldn't support the death penalty for their children or love ones for a similar or the same crime. I have and will probably always have mixed feelings about the death penalty. I wasn't against Timothy McVey getting the death penalty for killing all of those innocent people including children. I visited the memorial to those crimes and came out even happier that he got the death penalty. Some of my colleagues argue I'm not really against the death penalty although an anti-death penalty lawyer. Perhaps they're right. Perhaps this is the reason I have been so successful in talking jurors out of voting for death. I understand their feelings quite well. I agree with Iron that having a death penalty available isn't having any effect on the crime rate. There are many other reasons to not blindly support the death penalty such as the class and race issue, to name only a few.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2005-11-08T15:29:58-06:00

ID

171977

Comment

I meant to say "I doubt these same people would support the death penalty for their children and love ones for similar or the same crimes."

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2005-11-08T15:33:05-06:00