Jedidiah Murphy was pronounced dead after an injection. He had been sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham in Garland, Texas.
A Texas man who unsuccessfully challenged the safety of the state’s lethal injection drugs and raised questions about evidence used to persuade a jury to sentence him to death for killing an elderly woman decades ago was executed late Tuesday.
Jedidiah Murphy, 48, was pronounced dead after an injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the October 2000 fatal shooting of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham of the Dallas suburb of Garland. Cunningham was killed during a carjacking.
“To the family of the victim, I sincerely apologize for all of it,” Murphy said while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber and after a Christian pastor, his right hand on Murphy’s chest, prayed for the victim’s family, Murphy’s family and friends and the inmate.
“I hope this helps, if possible, give you closure,” Murphy said.
Absolute fucking barbarism. We live in the future, we shouldn't be putting people to death. I pray that he isn't among the 1-5% of people executed by the State who turn out to be innocent.
Executions are never the answer. We need to find better ways to deal with people who can't manage themselves in society. Especially with the goal of reintegration. It may not be possible with everyone, but execution is just giving up, and giving in to barbaric methods.
I worked with this population for years. People can change and redeem themselves. I learned at that job that we all really live in the grey, and that anyone is capable of bad actions when pushed beyond their threshold for rationality or are out of their mind on drugs.
I helped reintegrate someone who was guilty of a very heinous murder, and he arrived at the residential care facility in my catchment in shackles and a Hannibal Lector mask. Made all the other residents terrified of him..
But he soon became the most liked resident by residents and staff alike, and he helped out the facility in many ways, including cleaning and maintenance.
After 24 years in prison, he would say "I'm not going to screw up. I'm not going back." He may have still been a little antisocial and manipulative, but he wasn't a terror to behold.
In fact, most of my favorite clients were from the DOC. Clients who came from incarceration tended to handle the ridged rules and routine at the care facilities a lot better than those who were not previously incarcerated. Contrary to what a lot of people would assume, my DOC folks tended to offer more respect to care staff and authority figures. They also tended to have good senses of humor and I would often have some fun with them.
One of my favorite clients was a prolific bank robber in the 70s who was banned from his home state. He was one of the funniest people I ever met. Definitely the most contagious laugh that would bring you to tears. He had scars all over him; he was missing part of his ear and had scars on his eyelids from the same knife attack where the attacker tried to cut out his eyes; he still had buckshot in him; and he was stabbed in the chest by one ex wife, and stabbed in the back by another!
He was such a character and I genuinely miss working with him. He could be an asshole, but so can we all. He had a sordid past but he was a great person who enhanced the lives of those around him (usually..). He died shortly into the covid lockdowns.
With the systems we have in place today, I agree that we should never execute anyone, there's too much room for error and even a single wrongful execution is inexcusable. And we should be focused primarily on rehabilitation and reintegration.
That said, playing devil's advocate a bit, I'm not opposed in general principle to the death penalty provided that
Guilt can be proven with absolute certainty. I would even go to almost comically paranoid extremes on this, like if the suspect was off camera for even a second between committing the crime and execution the death penalty is off the table because we can't be 100% certain that they weren't somehow swapped for a body double in that second. This is of course a very difficult, maybe even impossible standard to meet, but there cannot be any doubt that the preson being executed is guilty. Any tiny inconsistency, mishandled piece of evidence, broken chain of custody, conflicting witness accounts, etc. and the death penalty is off the table.
The person is unable to be rehabilitated. This is probably beyond our current ability to determine with our current understanding of psychology and such, so again that puts the death penalty off the table for the foreseeable future. Maybe we'll reach a point where we can actually determine that, but we're not there yet, and possibly never will be.
They will continue to present a danger to others (whether in regular society or to others in prison.) I think the point of execution is that the person is likely to cause enough harm to others that they are unsafe to be allowed to continue living. Even if someone is determined to be guilty beyond any doubt and totally beyond rehabilitation, if they were to, for example, end up as a quadriplegic before they were executed, it would no longer matter that they're an incurable homicidal psychopath, if they can't act on it they're no longer a danger and so execution is no longer called for (at that point they may opt for assisted suicide, but that's their choice and really a separate conversation)
There must be a humane execution method. My current understanding tends to favor nitrogen asphyxiation, but I'm certainly no expert and there may be other options that may be as good or better.
As a final check, I think the judge, jury, prosecutor, etc, provided that they're still alive and able to, should have to be present to witness the execution and take part in it by flipping a switch or something. If they were willing to pass down that sentence they should be willing to see it through to its completion. If they have any misgivings or doubts about their verdict, it gives them a final chance to act on them, and it would make the consequences of their decision more "real" by taking an active part in the actual execution as it happens compared to making a decision in a courtroom that likely won't be carried out until years later. They each go into a private booth, flip their switch or don't, and if anyone doesn't, the sentence is commuted to life. It's never revealed who or how many of them chose to or not to flip their switch.
I'm in my mid 40s, mid 20s feels like a lifetime and a few different versions of myself in the past. A shame there's no way to give us this perspective when we're young, maybe some hallucinogens could help but I'd doubt it'd be the same. I couldn't even imagine myself at 40 when I was in my early 20s but that's how life goes for now.
As orbitz said, my comment is mostly about how much of a different person you are at that point.
There is an ethical argument to be had. After such a long time, the more noble purposes of punishment fade out (e.g. protection of society, correction of the offender), and then especially with death penalty, this looks rather barbaric.
But we would need a lot of details for this to be anything but a theoretical exercise, so I did intend to formulate it in a fashion that even if someone thinks eye-for-an-eye is peak morality, they could still be onboard with it.
I took the comment you replied to as a topic of how we change as people rather than not wanting criminals to be punished. I do agree people who murder and commit other violent crimes should be punished but doing it nearly double the age you committed the crime at is like punishing a different person, assuming they grow like most people.
Again I want to state I don't think they should have been let off or treated lightly, murdering anyone let alone the more vulnerable is a heinous act and deserves stiff punishment if we want to remain a just society. Just wanted to comment on a more philosophical side where we mature and are rarely the same person 20 years later so there seems to be a bit of a gap in justice being done timely. I'd rather die sooner than living in prison for a couple decades but I say that who has never been so maybe my opinion doesn't meant much.