The State of South Dakota executed Elijah Page on Wednesday night. Page had waived all appeals in a letter to the governor of South Dakota and had asked to be executed. An account of his execution is described here in an AP article in the Sioux City Journal. Page was 25 years old when he died.
Originally from East Texas, Elijah Page was sentenced to die in South Dakota for the brutal torture and killing of Chester Allan Poage, who was 19. Page's family claims that his requests for his own death were based on his inability to deal with his guilt and the memories of his own brutality. Such an attitude is actually one of the (many) reasons I disagree with State-assisted suicide (other assisted suicide is a different story). It may sound strange coming from me, but I don't think that those who have committed such abhorrent crimes should be able to get out of their guilt that easily. Query: how does it serve justice to put someone who cannot stand his own brutality out of his misery? How does it serve justice to give him what he desires? In some cases, death is an easy way out. (Yet, see below on my queries and opinions regarding the State's hypocrisy in suicide situations).
Page's execution was the first execution in South Dakota in over 60 years. It was also the first execution utilizing the State's lethal injection procedure. For more information on this execution and concerns with the death penalty and methods of execution in South Dakota, please see this article in the New York Times. And, for more information on Elijah Page, his crimes and his victim, Chester Poage, please see this article in the Argus Leader.
Showing posts with label South Dakota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Dakota. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Elijah Page
The governor of South Dakota has now said that only Elijah Page himself can stop his execution. Page, who is only 25 years old, has halted all of his appeals and asked to be executed. His execution is schedule for 10 pm CDT tonight. If he does not stop his own execution by resuming his appeals, he will be the first person executed in South Dakota in 60 years.
The South Dakota governor initially stayed Page's execution in 2006 over concerns with the combination of drugs used in the lethal injection process. South Dakota has since changed the drug combination and the governor is now comfortable allowing the execution to proceed.
For more information, please see the AP story published here in the Houston Chronicle.
As those of you who have previously following this blog know, I sincerely object to the death penalty in all cases. I also believe that the execution of an inmate who is choosing to go to his own execution before completing his appeals is no less abhorrent than a State-scheduled execution.
Typically, before an inmate is executed, he or she is held in a solitary cell for 23 hours a day for years. Death row inmates are usually kept on a strict suicide watch. These suicide watches are part of the reason why I am convinced the State does not want "justice" through an execution but rather desires revenge or retribution. A State will put an inmate on suicide watch so that the inmate does not take his or her own life, but the instant the appeals are over, the State will be more than happy to do the job itself. In fact, during the last few days of a condemned individual's life, the suicide watches are increased so that the condemned cannot jump the gun and ruin the State's show. That says to me that the State wants to make sure people watch the inmate suffer and die; that the State wants to make sure the public knows that it is the decider, and it gets to decide fate.
I do not encourage suicide. I'm not sure who does; but if the State's goal is the death of the convicted, why not let them end their own suffering? And, query: if an individual is not afraid of death, does execution have any power over him? Maybe, maybe not. Of course, these are just questions for contemplation. I despise the idea of a condemned individual losing all hope and wanting to die, but at the same time, I can understand why they might want to. Perhaps it is wrong of me to think, but death does not scare me as it does some people. It is part of the cycle of life. I just don't think our deaths should be chosen for us - in any circumstances.
The South Dakota governor initially stayed Page's execution in 2006 over concerns with the combination of drugs used in the lethal injection process. South Dakota has since changed the drug combination and the governor is now comfortable allowing the execution to proceed.
For more information, please see the AP story published here in the Houston Chronicle.
As those of you who have previously following this blog know, I sincerely object to the death penalty in all cases. I also believe that the execution of an inmate who is choosing to go to his own execution before completing his appeals is no less abhorrent than a State-scheduled execution.
Typically, before an inmate is executed, he or she is held in a solitary cell for 23 hours a day for years. Death row inmates are usually kept on a strict suicide watch. These suicide watches are part of the reason why I am convinced the State does not want "justice" through an execution but rather desires revenge or retribution. A State will put an inmate on suicide watch so that the inmate does not take his or her own life, but the instant the appeals are over, the State will be more than happy to do the job itself. In fact, during the last few days of a condemned individual's life, the suicide watches are increased so that the condemned cannot jump the gun and ruin the State's show. That says to me that the State wants to make sure people watch the inmate suffer and die; that the State wants to make sure the public knows that it is the decider, and it gets to decide fate.
I do not encourage suicide. I'm not sure who does; but if the State's goal is the death of the convicted, why not let them end their own suffering? And, query: if an individual is not afraid of death, does execution have any power over him? Maybe, maybe not. Of course, these are just questions for contemplation. I despise the idea of a condemned individual losing all hope and wanting to die, but at the same time, I can understand why they might want to. Perhaps it is wrong of me to think, but death does not scare me as it does some people. It is part of the cycle of life. I just don't think our deaths should be chosen for us - in any circumstances.
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