I love when folks are champions for the rights of the folks who fuck up. It just really makes me wonder what kind of paint chips people have been eating. Also, people who get pissy and defensive because you don't agree with what you think is a warped point of view is amusing as well.
It's all good, Act. You and people like you can stand up for the monsters who carry this heinous crap out. And I'll keep standing up for the ones who are truly the victims in situations like this, and i'll do it every time. You can make all the excuses for them you like. He had anger issues, momma didn't breastfeed him long enough, his parents used to smack the snot out of him all his childhood long... or even as simple as he lost his job and his best friend in the same day... blah, blah blah. Last I checked, no one has had a perfect life. Everyone has moments that make them angry or points when they are pushed to the brink by something, someone, etc. But what separates a human being from... say, a dog... is the ability to discern what is right and wrong. What is legal and illegal. Everyone makes choices. You make a bad one and you deal with the consequences. Welcome to modern society with all its flaws and "judgements."
I don't know what you expected when you came in here and posted something to the effect of, "hey you don't know what was going on in this guy's mind." No, I don't know. I don't need to know to know that he murdered a toddler for pulling over a videogame system. There aren't other suspects in there, there's no question who did it, so don't give me this "judge and jury" shit. Judge and jury you're damned skippy. In the USA you get judged by "a group of your peers;" meaning could be me, you or anyone else hearing his case. And all the bad days and anger management bunk in the world wouldn't make me think he's any less deserving of a harsh and EARNED punishment for taking another human life. That's what I think.
See? Now there's me being pissed because I believe in something passionately and I didn't even kill anyone over it. It *can* be done.
*EDIT* Eliott, you know I <3 you. I totally respect anyone's support or condemnation of the death penalty. That's a personal thing, and everyone's entitled to feel how they feel about it. My objection is to the idea that "35 years is a long, boring time," and that somehow that's sufficient for robbing someone of their entire existence, no matter what excuse the person who did it has to offer. By the logic Act is offering, a person can get away with murder. They'd get to live their life at some point after serving time even though they've deprived someone else of that right. Do you see what I'm getting at?