The death penalty is an easy escape for convicts
Elise Hunter
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Ed-Op
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In a matter of five short minutes, John Allen Muhammad painlessly died. This man, along with his 17-year-old accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, had killed numerous innocent people. I still recall when the confirmed fears of terrorism closely loomed over America's head just after the one-year anniversary of 9/11. Infamously known as the Beltway Sniper or the D.C. Sniper, Muhammad, 48, was administered lethal injections at Virginia's Greensville Correctional Center Nov. 10, 2009, and he was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. His sentence specifically was for the murder of Dean Harold Meyers, yet he killed a total of 10 people in his three-week shooting spree and injured others.
Reactions from the victims' families varied. Bob Meyers, the brother of a murdered victim, watched the execution and reflected that "watching the life be snapped out of somebody intentionally was very different and an experience I'd never had. I'd watched my mother die of natural causes, but that was very different." Nonetheless, he so eloquently said that he had forgiven Muhammad, since the bitterness would rot him from the inside out, not hurting Muhammad or anybody else-only himself.
The father of Cheryll Witz died during the three-week long shooting spree. She felt entitled to watch the execution and claimed, "He basically watched my dad breathe his last breath. Why shouldn't I watch his last breath?"
If I could play only one round of "would you rather," with these reflectors, I would ask if he or she would rather see the man dead or to potentially suffer a miserable life until death. What if the death penalty did not exist?
Death by lethal injection, quite simply, seems like an easy escape from the consequences of one's actions. For those who believe in an "eye for an eye," a five-minute, peaceful death for countless murders and striking fear in the hearts of millions does not equate. Daughter Witz's bitter comment focuses around revenge for death, and while quite primitive, still seems logical when a girl loses a father by such a sickening act. If she had the choice, laws aside, would she rather have seen bloodshed, or even a death sentence equal to what her father received, a shot to the head? As for Meyers, he seems content with the sentence, though saddened by the entire situation. His "eye for an eye" is different from Witz's "eye for an eye," and so we turn to dictation of the law.
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