Brandon Rhode Executed After Suicide Attempt Left Him Brain Damaged

[sonomak]

Source: ABC News

Brandon Joseph Rhode, a man whose recent suicide attempt left him brain damaged, was executed in Georgia tonight, after the state and U.S. supreme courts both denied last minute requests for stays.

Rhode, 31, was put to death by lethal injection at the state prison at Jackson. Prison officials pronounced him dead at 10:16 p.m.

He had been scheduled for execution at 7 p.m., but his lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming that Rhode was subjected to inhumane treatment and was not mentally competent to be executed. The high court did not decide to reject the plea for a stay until 8 p.m.

Rhode's lawyers appealed to the high court after the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously rejected the last minute argument that the man's recent suicide attempt left him too brain damaged to justify his execution.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/brandon-joseph-rhode-executed-denied-stay-arguing-brain/story?id=11736714

[hlthe2b]

1. Good God.. what a subject line...

I'm sure someone will come up with a more astute comment, but I'll just leave it at that.

[John Kerry VonErich]

3. It does have an Onion headline feel, don't it

nt

[Recursion]

10. We don't have a national consensus on why we have a death penalty

Which to me is a big argument against having one.

Someone swabs the place they put the needle in with antiseptic. That still seems weird to me.

Great screen name, btw; I used to watch the VE brothers wrestle religiously when I lived in TX as a kid.

[Kringle]

13. state issue, not national ..nt

[Recursion]

22. So?

Murder is a state law; there's a national consensus on why it's illegal.

[Turborama]

48. It is 'legal murder'. They have to put "homicide" as the cause of death when they execute someone

I learnt this fact when watching this very interesting recent Al Jazeera English short documentary...

The politics of death row
With the US continuing to execute prisoners, Fault Lines looks at the politics driving capital punishment in the US.
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/faultlines/2010/09/20109962549468995.html

[mitchum]

56. That's what the anti-choicers say about abortion ("legal murder")...

playing fast and loose with precisely defined legal terms is emotional pillow talk shared among those strange bedfellows

[depakid]

17. I think there's a well established reason- it's an Old Testament obsession with punishment

and retribution.

Same sort of sentiments that led to the war in Iraq, torture of terror suspects- and believe it or not, the same "deserve it - not deserve it" attitude is behind many people's self-destructive rejection of universal health care.

[rug]

4. Nope, you got it. After that raw fact it really doesn't matter what follows.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Wow. This seems to be the week for it.

*facepalm*

Thanks for posting this :( and welcome to DU. :hi:

[Bitwit1234]

5. Just think of the states that conducted these two executions.

Both have butthole republican governors. I think people should be punished for crimes committed, but in the case of the previous who had such a low IQ and now this guy in a coma I think these people can never be associated with the word Christian again.

And it galls me to no end they way they prance and dance before a mike and use that word to describe themselves. I think there is not one, not any single one of the tea bags or republicans who are Christians.

[hughee99]

6. I remember when Clinton left the campaign trail in '92

to personally attend the execution of a man with brain damaged. He was, at the time, governor, so perhaps these things aren't just limited to repukes.

[Recursion]

9. Yes, but that guy was developmentally disabled when he did the crime

Unlike this guy.

[hughee99]

12. So are you saying the Clinton situation

was somehow LESS bad because he was "developmentally disabled" when he committed the crime? It seems to me that would be even worse.

[Recursion]

21. No, I'm saying Clinton's execution was worse

I'm not really any more troubled by this than I am any execution. He was competent when he committed the crime; I don't see how what happens after the crime changes anything.

[bitchkitty]

51. As I recall it, he shot himself

AFTER he killed the police officer. He was not brain damaged at the time he killed the cop.

[gratuitous]

52. Actually, Ricky Ray Rector damaged his own brain

As the cops closed in, he shot himself, but succeeded only in blowing away part of his brain:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/25/us/1992-campaign-death-penalty-arkansas-execution-raises-questions-governor-s.html

After shooting Officer Martin, Mr. Rector turned the gun on himself, destroying part of his brain. His lawyers said that even though he could speak, his mental capacities were so impaired that he did not know what death is or understand that the people he shot are not still alive.

"He is, in the vernacular, a zombie," said Jeff Rosenzweig, a lawyer for Mr. Rector before the execution. "His execution would be remembered as a disgrace to the state."

I understand that the night of his execution, Mr. Rector set aside the Jell-O from his last mean, saving it for later. These are the people we execute in this country.

[wisteria]

7. This just wasn't right. How terrible. n/t

[proteus_lives]

15. You know what else was terrible?

The murder of a father and two children.

[emilyg]

18. Perhaps he shouldn't have killed

3 people.

[Bill McBlueState]

25. It *is* terrible,

and the existence of other terrible things, so ingeniously pointed out by the posters above me, doesn't make this execution less so.

[Recursion]

8. "Not mentally competent to be executed"?

It's not a trial where he has to assist his own defense; how much mental competence does being poisoned require?

[Turborama]

49. The Eighth Amendment

The Supreme Court declared executing the mentally handicapped in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), and executing people who were under age 18 at the time the crime was committed in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), to be violations of the Eighth Amendment, regardless of the crime.

Embedded links here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Punishments_forbidden_regardless_of_the_crime

[Recursion]

50. They've ruled that executing people who committed a crime while mentally handicapped...

...is cruel and unusual. That is not the case here, is it?

[Journeyman]

11. Consider the case of Robert Pierce. . .

or better yet, let Evan S. Connell explain:


Robert Pierce, awaiting execution at San Quentin prison,
contrived to slash his throat with a shard of glass,
precipitating a frantic quarrel among the authorities:
some insisted that he be executed before he bled to death
while others thought he should be taken to the hospital.
Presently, with gouts of blood bubbling from his neck,
he was carried into the gas chamber. Witnesses screamed,
vomited and several fainted. The decision had been reached,
officials later explained, because at the time of death
the prisoner probably would still be alive and therefore
conscious not only of his crime but of the retributions
justly demanded by the Sovereign State of California.

Evan S. Connell, Points for a Compass Rose, 1973



Pierce was a contemporary of Caryl Chessman. They shared the Row together, but not a cell, and not even near each other, as Pierce was too dangerous to be kept with the other condemned prisoners; they kept him penned up in a special section dubbed the "Iron Curtain." Pierce was executed in a "double" deed in 1956. The example is old but now all too relevant.

Additional info can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/pqsfpo

[proteus_lives]

14. The state showed him more mercy then he showed that father and two children.

No sympathy for a child-killer.

[tkmorris]

19. Yes they did. And so?

I'm unclear what point you are trying to make here. The state acted properly because they were more merciful than a convicted murderer was? Is that really the rubric to measure by?

I do not think we should judge how proper we are as a society by comparing ourselves to the very worst among us. Perhaps you derive some joy at being superior to Jeffrey Dahmer but I hold myself, and the society that judges in my name, to a higher standard.

[alcibiades_mystery]

26. proteus thinks people should be drawn and quartered, diemboweled in the public square

and subject to similar medieval punishments. There's really no point having a discussion with such people.

[proteus_lives]

32. Do I think that?

Thanks for telling me.

"Such people" :rofl:

Aren't you the guy who wished he could been there killing dogs with Vick?

[alcibiades_mystery]

34. I never wished I could be killing dogs

You, on the other hand, did express desire that his spine be snapped. In any case...

[proteus_lives]

35. Wouldn't bother me if it was.

I take a dim view of people who torture and kill animals for fun and profit.

But you seem to think he's a whiz-bang guy. You're too "star-struck" to see the real person.

[alcibiades_mystery]

37. Yeah, whatever

Like I said, it's not worthwhile having discussions with people who hold such clownish positions.

[proteus_lives]

39. Clownish?

Looking in a mirror?

Good luck getting that Vick ball signed in dog-blood.

[proteus_lives]

31. What joy?

Some people deserve to die for their crimes. Simple as that. I don't understand the hand-wringing over murderers and rapists.

[SOS]

53. Unless the defendant was falsely convicted

Perhaps some do deserve to die for heinous crimes.
But as long as the system is so incompetent (or corrupt) as to sentence these 138 innocent men to death,
the DP is pretty hard to support.

The Innocence List, 138 men released from death row:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row

Can you imagine anything worse than awaiting execution for a crime you did not commit?

[EFerrari]

42. Our system of justice isn't supposed to be in a contest with merciless criminals. n/t

[proteus_lives]

45. It isn't.

If it was, then his death would been far more gruesome.

[Downwinder]

16. They saved him from suicide so they could have their ceremonial killing.

Hope it didn't interfere with their schedule.

[Eryemil]

20. You Americans and your quaint barbarism

It brings a smile to my jaded face.

[John Kerry VonErich]

23. That's "you stupid americans!"

get it right. :rofl:

[Bill McBlueState]

24. I wish this were something to smile about.

I listen to CBC radio on my commute and believe me, it's awful to hear people in civilized countries reporting on our barbarism.

[Eryemil]

28. My most trusted news agency after the BBC. Our press should be a source of pride for Canadians but-

-like many Europeans, we loathe to bring attention to our own achievements for some reason.

Are you guys every going to abolish the death penalty? It's just getting ridiculous now; along with Japan there are only a handful of developed countries that still have the death penalty and none are Western nations.

[Bill McBlueState]

29. 13 states already have

As with a lot of things, the so-called blue states take the lead on a progressive issue, and after a long time, the rest of the country catches up.

Our Constitution sets it up this way, but it's odd for 300 million people who think of themselves primarily as Americans to be subjected to sharply varying quality of life depending on what state their job or family has taken them to. This is true for civil rights, voter rights, treatment of the poor, approaches to crime, etc.

[proteus_lives]

30. A lot of blue states are DP states.

[Bill McBlueState]

46. definitely

There were, what, 30 states in the Obama column? And at most 13 of them have abolished it.

[hlthe2b]

40. Here is a map showing status of DP by state...

Blue states might slightly predominate, but the correlation isn't so clear cut.

[hlthe2b]

38. state by state... I don't think this will be one that comes from the "top"

(i.e., final outlaw ill not come from Federal legislation, nor even a Supreme Court decision)... As more and more states struggle with the incredible costs of a death penalty program and as technology lends more evidence that the innocent have (and likely still ARE) being executed, I think the public will demand it end, even in states that are more inherently punitive (to the point of ruthlessness) like Texas and increasingly, Virginia and FLorida.

[proteus_lives]

33. You Canadians and your quaint........

What is it that Canadians do again?

You're always right behind America so I can't tell most of the time.

[Eryemil]

36. Not where it matters.

Your massive economy cannot make up for your pitiful human right's record and the way your country continues to treat its own citizens. People are worth more than money and glory, at least to me. Your ego should feel bruised, at least in the context of this thread. Our last execution was in 1962 and we abolished the death penalty in 1976.

This is not an argument you want to have. Lower your head, tuck your tail and walk away. We have our shames, like the Indian residential school system, but most of them are in the past. When future generations of Canadians look back to this time, they will regret the Albertan tar sands and how willing we've been to wet our hands on innocent blood for your sake. The list of American sins is too long to mention.

[proteus_lives]

43. Translation:

We do nothing.

So you abolished the death penalty, it's your choice.

I just had to laugh at "barbarians" :rofl: Yeah, barbarians who went to the moon and barbarians who set the world stage while Canada still meekly held on to England's apron-strings.

You know, there are plenty of things to admire about Canada, hell I hope we get a HCS like yours someday but that's just one "barbarian" opinion.

Barbarians.....:rofl:

When future generations of Americans look back they'll see a long list of American sins and American accomplishments. Future generations of Canadians will like back and see sins and......a bunch of great hockey teams.

[Eryemil]

47. Seriously?

You went to the moon; you know what that little trip was? Your equivalent of this:

It is easy to stand in awe at the sight and forget they were built by slaves.

Your people still die because lack of access to medical treatment and your country's income inequality is worse than many third world nations. Homosexuals in the United States are still second class citizens; we struck down our sodomy laws in 1969 and extended full equality under the law to this group in 2005. There are millions of non-violent "criminals" in your prisons being raped, killed and abused while we speak while your country kills and rapes others around the world.

Bend your proud neck low for once, young Libertad. Your patriotic pride can chafe under my words, I do not care, but you will not deny them.
It is barbarism that a Western nation should kill its own citizens in the twenty-first century and the sooner more of you admit it, the sooner it will end.

[T. Count]

54. Much better to keep them suffering in a little box for the rest of their lives. nt

[proteus_lives]

55. Hmmm, I don't remember if they had to whip people onto the space shuttle....

Hmmm. I'll have to look that up. What book told you that slaves used in the space program?

Yeah, you're repeating what I said. America has issues. What nation doesn't? We're working on them.

Equality in 2005? Ooooh. You're going to a couple of years ahead of us! DADT will be struck down, Obama's already extended partnership protections and soon all the states will fall in line.

But here's the thing my little Canadian friend, we have these problems and we're still America. We're the good, the bad and the ugly.

I wonder how Canada would react to the same issues we face? Oh well, that's the point.

Stumbling blocks and sins included, the history books will be filled with American history and the Canadian section? "Canada: small, maple syrup based nation located north of the United States. See entries for Michael J. Fox and William Shatner."

[Eryemil]

57. "I wonder how Canada would react to the same issues we face?"

Here I thought that was exactly the point of my post. We have faced the same issues which you struggle with and we have conquered them.

It's all about ego and posturing with you isn't it? History books and monuments---they don't matter. People matter. Is that so hard for you to understand? Those people that cannot afford to see a doctor matter; the ones serving decades in prison for drug charges matter, the thousands that have been killed due to your senseless wars matter, those innocent people awaiting execution MATTER. If you cared half as much about the people around you as you seem to care about the size of the scars that your empire will leave upon this world then most of these problems would be a step closer to be being dealt with.

I repeat: swallow your pride. YOU are part of the problem.

[proteus_lives]

58. Really?

"We have faced the same issues which you struggle with and we have conquered them."

Really? I don't think I agree with that. Where's your civil war? Where is your massive immigration? Where is your massive and diverse population? Where is the road that Canada that so matched the States on the local/national/world stage? Where is the Canadian struggle and strife?

You know what? I agree with about 60% of what you're saying! :rofl: I want massive reform of the HCS, I want minor drug laws changed and I don't think I've ever agreed with the way we've waged the WOT.

Innocents do matter and they must be protected. Which one of the reasons why some people deserve to die for their crimes.

We've been here before and we'll be again. Expect the "barbarians" to change, grow and evolve. Expect big things from your largest trading partner.

Why? Because we're a dynamic nation. We've never been a content little ex-colony like our quiet neighbors to the north.

I expect big changes in my lifetime. Good? Bad? We'll see! Either way, it's going be a helluva ride.

P.S.
One more from the "barbarians"

Canada has 18 Nobel Laureates in it's history.

The United States has 320.

So barbaric....;-)

[hlthe2b]

41. Oh, come now... can you say "health care" access?

Canada has plenty to be proud of and I don't mind the "needling" from our friends from the North. I just hope they kick their RWers to the curb. That's certainly not something I'd like to think they have adopted in our example.

[proteus_lives]

44. I don't mind the needling either. But don't dish it out if you can't take it.

;-)

Ribbing between little brother and big brother is perfectly alright.

[Name removed]

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