Missouri executes man for jeweler's 1991 death

[alp227]

Source: AP

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who killed a jeweler during a 1991 robbery was executed for the crime late Wednesday, marking the state's third lethal injection in as many months.

Herbert Smulls, 56, was executed by a lethal injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre. He was convicted of killing Stephen Honickman and badly injuring his wife, Florence, during a robbery at their jewelry shop in suburban St. Louis on July 27, 1991.

Smulls did not have any final words. The process was brief, Smulls mouthed a few words to the two witnesses there for him, who were not identified, then breathed heavily twice and shut his eyes for good. He showed no outward signs of distress.

...

Smulls' attorney, Cheryl Pilate, had filed numerous appeals challenging the state's refusal to disclose where it obtained its execution drug, pentobarbital, saying that refusal made it impossible to know whether the drug could cause pain and suffering during the execution.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/scheduled-missouri-execution-temporarily-stayed

[another_liberal]

1. Strap an already imprisoned man to a gurney . . .

Pump a lethal drug overdose into his body, and watch him die.

Nothing "cruel" or "unusual" about that, right?

[Lost_Count]

3. Not really....

[another_liberal]

7. Seriously?

Murdering someone in that way is normal and not cruel?

[Lost_Count]

8. Not even close...

[another_liberal]

9. You agree then?

You also feel this kind of State-approved murder is cruel and unusual? Great! I am happy to hear it.

[marble falls]

2. The death penalty is wrong in all circumstances. As well is mandatory life sentences.

[catbyte]

4. I used to think that until a very good friend of mine was brutally murdered last year

for his car keys & an ATM card they couldn't get to work. Stabbed 30 times with a "sharp, pole-like object" by a kid he'd mentored for years & a buddy who then left him to die all alone in his basement. Yeah, I'm glad those murdering bastards are in Jackson State Prison for life. Sorry.

[another_liberal]

6. Yes, I can't help but agree . . .

But do you really think a parole board would ever have found they were ready to be released into society? Remember Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson, just to mention a couple of perennial parole rejection cases.

[catbyte]

10. I don't want to risk it, sorry. They did it "on a whim because they needed money" one of them said

They went there to kill my friend. Why should they be given the opportunity for any kind of nice life after doing that? I agree that minors shouldn't be lifers, but these guys were in their mid to late 20's. Hopeless. They can rot with their memories. I am not even close to forgiveness yet. Yeah, I'm fucking bitter and still fucking sad at the waste of an exceptional human being by scum.

[another_liberal]

11. I did not mean to offend you.

I am genuinely sorry for your loss.

[marble falls]

12. Because getting even is the same as justice? Sorry for your loss and I've had several friends ....

murdered and was also almost murdered myself. I do know what you feel if not how you feel. There is no way to equal up the tally. One murder does not expiate another. And life without parole is a form of death penalty.

[catbyte]

14. Why is sentencing them to life in prison "getting even"? I don't understand that. My friend

has no chance to do anything ever again. Why should they be given a chance at happiness? Sorry, but I just don't think it's vengeance, it's justice.

[marble falls]

15. Because a life sentence is a passive aggressive from of execution. Keeping someone from being ...

"happy" is no part of justice and is written into no law or ethic code I've ever seen. What do you recommend to do to those who have happy days in a cell? Occasional beatings? Sexual assaults? Stale bread and musty water? Introducing vermin to the cell?

Getting even or guaranteeing unhappiness is not justice. Finding redemption and being released is not the same as injustice, either. Justice in neutral. It isn't interested in getting even. The scales of justice isn't about getting even, its about everyone being equal and being treated as equal. If there is injustice in taking a life than there is injustice by taking it through execution. Execution is about what a murder is: the preconceived intent and the concerted effort to kill/murder.

[catbyte]

16. We will just have to agree to disagree because I believe with every fiber of my being

that some crimes are so heinous that the perpetrator must be removed permantly from society. I don't give a damn if they are happy as clams in prison. I don't ever want them to breathe free air again & put others through what they put his poor mother through. Actually, if you think about it, giving them a chance at parole could be thought of as cruel if they never get it. They get all hopeful then are shot down & crushed. You tell me, I don't know.

[catbyte]

17. Also, I was raised by a man who was a cop for 30 years so maybe I'm wired

differently.

[marble falls]

20. We disagree and still talk over things in an adult manner with fair hearing for both of us. DU is ..

is a place that makes me smarter every day. Thanks for letting me be able to see your points.

[catbyte]

24. Hey, we're all good people around here. Groupthink is kinda creepy & very

bagger-like. That's why I've been a DU member since 2002 even though I don't have a lot of posts to show for it. I learn something new every day and I thank you for it.

[Kurska]

5. So do you think Ted Bundy should have been given a chance to get out?

How about the DC snipers or the columbine shooters? Do they get second chances aswell?

I'm opposed to the death penalty. But there completely are people who should have their right to life in our society revoked forever, that is what prison is fore.

[marble falls]

13. Do you think Bundy was an average criminal?

[catbyte]

18. Do think murderers are average criminals?

[Kurska]

19. What is this about "average criminal" you said in all circumstances.

Ted Bundy is clearly a circumstance. If you're going to make the agreement that mandatory life sentences is wrong for the average criminal that sounds like a very different argument. I'd say the average criminal isn't a murderer either.

[marble falls]

21. Thank you for saying it better than I could. I've always said that finding a poster child for .....

or an exception to no death penalty only demonstrates how unequally administered the death penalty becomes. And pretty soon there are no exceptions and everybody becomes the next poster child.

It is about making the state responsible for certain "righteous" murders we want to reek some sort revenge with. The problem is we are the state and we commit these murder/executions.

The victim gets no justice, either way. Compounding it with another death is either about getting even or its about nothing. "The survivors get closure"? That is code for "revenge".

[Kurska]

23. My lord, I'm not talking about the death penalty. I oppose the death penalty.

I'm talking about mandatory life sentences, which you said were wrong in all circumstances. You seriously think it is a cruel to deny Ted Bundy the possibility of walking our streets again? Victim's families deserve to know their loved one's killer will never walk among them again in cases of outstanding cruelty and disregard for human life.

[marble falls]

25. Life sentence with no parole is a death sentence. Do you think Ted Bundy represents an average ...

criminal? Was Ted Bundy a criminal or a psychopath? Is being psychopath synonymous with being criminal? Which is more suitable for psychopathy - prison or mental institution? Is the death penalty a proper treatment for psychopathy?

I was agreeing with you on execution. I was thanking you for putting your opinion the way you did. We only disagree on life sentence with no parole. I am against it.

Victims families have no explicit rights regarding the taking away of the rights of others.That's why they don't get to be judge, jury or prosecutor. We have no rights to prior restraint of others, in fact we have the right to be protected from prior restraint. People are placed in custody for past crimes not the ones they may commit in the future,

[Kurska]

28. Ted Bundy doesn't represent the average criminal, obviously.

However, he is perfectly representative of a particular class of criminal for whom a mandatory life sentence is entirely appropriate. The "average criminal" doesn't need life without parole, but criminals who murder others in particularly malicious way or murder many people do.

A person who murders someone in a cruel and outrageous way has no right to societal return. Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and other monsters wearing the skin of human beings should not be afforded to possibility of a return to society. This protects not only the victims family, but all potential future victims and society as a whole. You're wrong when you say people are not kept in prison for the possibility of future crimes. The parole process heavily considers the probability of recidivism when considering if they will release a prisoner. I believe simply allowing these people to live in prison for their natural life span is perhaps too kind, but it is something that we as a just and fair society must afford them. To say they, in addition, deserve even a slight possibility of return when the crimes these people committed may have deprived tens of people of their natural life span is just too much.

I hate to use an example like this, but should Hitler have been afforded the possibility of parole if he was caught? There are simply some crimes so heinous that they should permanently exclude an individual from a free society.

[marble falls]

29. Bundy isn't typical and life without parole shouldn't be typical or mandated either.....

And yes, of course Hitler should be subject to same ustice as we all.

[mokawanis]

22. They had to kill him

to make the point that killing is wrong. Or something. State-sponsored murder is still murder. Shame on them.

[marble falls]

26. Exactly: shame on them.

[democratisphere]

27. If the 'system' is wrong just once, putting innocent people to death is the biggest atrocity.

The 'system' has been wrong, more than once.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty

[anasv]

30. I'm in favor of the death penalty

for murder or rape. What's a disgrace is it takes 20 years to get these sentences carried out.

[Revanchist]

31. I disagree

A long time between sentencing and execution means that there is ample time for appeals or for new evidence that clears the convicted.