Still an eye for an eye
“WHY DO WE KILL PEOPLE WHO KILL PEOPLE TO TEACH THAT KILLING IS WRONG”
A caption beneath a picture (June 19) of a woman holding the above-worded sign reads: Clare Hogenaver, a lawyer from New York City, protests the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad in Salt Lake City. Gardner, 49, was sentenced for a 1985 murder conviction and declared dead at 12:20 a.m. Friday.”
If she is sincere in her question and not just asking for rhetorical purposes, the answer is the same as why we imprison people who unlawfully kidnap and hold for ransom another person. That simple.
The state can and does act lawfully in ways and means that, done by a private citizen, would of course be against the law. I can’t grab a person off the street and hold that person in my home. If I did that I’d subject myself to the penalty of being grabbed off the street and held in some other home, namely a prison home.
Ronnie Lee Gardner murdered Melvyn Otterstrom and his defense attorney Michael Burdell. The state of Utah lawfully executed him for his crimes. A measure of society’s value it places on innocent human life is the price it extracts from those who wantonly take it. In this case, Utah placed the two victims’ lives at the very top.
Jim Paget
Spokane