Readers React: No sympathy for California inmates facing execution

The lethal injection chamber at San Quentin State Prison that was completed in 2010 but has never been put to use.

Nov. 10, 2015 5 AM PT

To the editor: Seeing the photos of 16 California death row inmates on The Times’ front page gave me pause. The captions disclose that all were sentenced to death more than 26 years ago for an aggregate of 33 murders committed between 1980 and 1985. (“California proposes new single-drug method for executions,” Nov. 6)

Of the 30 victims for whom age when killed is given, 26 enjoyed fewer years of life than their respective murderers have lived since then. That’s hardly “an eye for an eye” justice.

These murderous vermin have had their day in court, plus decades in which to file countless dubious appeals and to seek out (putative) exonerative evidence. Any further delay of their long-overdue executions only compounds the unconscionable injustice.

Aaron Mills, Solana Beach

To the editor: We pride ourselves on living in a civilized society that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, bans discrimination on the basis of race and poverty, and guarantees due process and equal protection of the law. Yet when it comes to the death penalty, we cast aside those ideals.

We ignore the evidence that our capital punishment system is riddled with racial and economic disparities, and we ignore the fact that our system sentences innocent people to be executed. Instead, the Orwellian-named California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spends its time, and our money, focusing on which drug it should use to kill inmates.

It’s high time the people of this state restore those fundamental ideals and join the 19 states and 141 countries that have abolished the barbarous death penalty.

Stephen F. Rohde, Los Angeles

To the editor: The most important statistics in your article on death row inmates were blatantly missing: the ages of the victims if they were alive today. I particularly reflect on a 2-year-old who was murdered in 1982. She would be 33 today.

So no, I am not concerned with how many years these inmates have spent on death row or that their executions may be imminent.

One inmate, age 46 — reflecting on the amount of time he has been on death row — summed up the twisted logic in California when he stated, “In the meantime, I have my life.”

In one succinct statement, that sums up the problem.

Wendy Robinson, Saugus

To the editor: The recent search for a more humane death penalty should remind us of the adage that “no matter how well you dress a pig, it’s still a pig.”

When will we learn that the most severe punishment society can inflict on its members is motivated largely by revenge and teaches violence and disrespect for human life? Killers are not our role models. A quicker, less painful death does not justify or make more palatable killing another human being.

No matter how you dress it up, capital punishment is a relic of our barbaric past.

Mark Overland, Santa Monica

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