Texas inmate kills self on day of execution.

[Bunny]

How the hell did this happen?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_re_us/death_row_suicide

<snip>
LIVINGSTON, Texas - A death-row inmate slit his own throat with a makeshift knife early Thursday, committing suicide less than 18 hours before he was scheduled to be executed, a prison official said.

Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was on death row for the 1995 killing of a convenience store clerk near Waco.

He was in a death-row cell early Thursday when he slashed his own throat with a makeshift blade fashioned from a small piece of metal attached to a wooden stick, said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville.

Prison guards had been checking on Johnson's welfare every 15 minutes, as is customary, when they found him unresponsive in a pool of blood in his cell, Lyons said. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Livingston, where he was pronounced dead, Lyons said.
<snip>

[soothsayer]

1. Now they can drop the charges against him. like they did with Lay.

Clear his name and all that.

[geek tragedy]

2. Appeals process hadn't been exhausted in the Lay

case, which is why his conviction was wiped out and why he committed suic-, er, had a myseterious heart attack.

[Tesha]

17. Wasn't exhausted here, either. There was a SCotUS appeal pending. (NT)

[geek tragedy]

21. Last-ditch appeal.

Different scenario where there hasn't been any appeals process whatsoever.

[acmavm]

3. 29 years old. How damn sad. What a wasted life.

But then again there are a few thousand dead in Iraq, executed by their government but in a different fashion.

[hlthe2b]

4. I think a bigger question is why ...

we work so hard to prevent a condemned man from taking his own life--only so that the government can do so? Beyond officials' being sensitive to suggestions that they not sufficiently protect inmates from harm during incarceration, this issue just seems so rife with hypocrisy...:shrug:

Then again, being against the death penaly personally, none of this makes sense...

[Coventina]

5. Because if the condemned take their own lives, the State doesn't get to

make a "statement".

It's about power, the State doesn't want the people to have the power to take their own lives.

[Bill McBlueState]

6. it only makes sense in light of blood sacrifice

It's tied into a mystical belief that the shed blood of sinners somehow sets the world right. If they kill themselves, it doesn't count, but if "we" kill them, there's some kind of magical closure. That kind of thinking is only enabled by the major religions.

[Stuckinthebush]

7. You have a good point

By taking his own life, it could be construed that he was denying his victim's family and society the feeling of vindication. It's a revenge thing. So based on this analysis, the death penalty is not about getting rid of a dangerous member of society for good, but its primary purpose is for revenge.

[Bill McBlueState]

8. yes, revenge

And I don't have a link handy, but I believe studies have shown that executions don't really provide closure for the victim's family. They're still without their loved one; the death of the killer doesn't fix that.

[Marrah_G]

10. There is a reason

Because up until the last moment there is a chance that there with be a stay of some sort.

[Bunny]

15. You may have a point. I think that's why they remove your belt and

shoelaces before you go into the lockup. A distraught prisoner could commit suicide in a moment of despair.

I suppose a death-row prisoner always has a chance at the proverbial "last-minute call from the Governor". So we're obligated to prevent him from succumbing to despair in the unlikely chance that he might be spared.

[acmejack]

12. They would have rushed him to the hospital & spent $1000's

To save his life! Just so they could kill him. They did it before with a guy who had a heart attack I think it was.

[rd_kent]

9. Wow, he just saved us thousands of $$$$.

and we didnt even have to switch to geico insurance!

[dkofos]

11. Good for him

[JackintheGreen]

14. I gotta agree

I'm anti death penalty - anti death in general - but if the guy was going to die anyway, why give the state the smug satisfaction of "setting things aright."

Wonder if I'd have the stones?

[hlthe2b]

16. to slit ones own throat...

my heavens....what to say? Somehow, I doubt I'd have the "stones" to do that, but I can't say I don't feel something akin to respect (again, that's probably not at all the right word) for this guy in taking control of his own fate against the State's desire to kill him "in the name of justice."

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. I'm sure you don't have the "stones".....

...to murder another human being either, like this prick did. That's not a bad thing.

[rock]

13. Last laugh

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. How Dare He!!!! They oughta sue him.

[Jacobin]

19. What does it matter?

Is the state all upset that they didn't get to do the revenge themselves.

This whole thing is barbaric and stupid beyond words.

[spanone]

20. Cheat the hangman.