The last time I posted my thoughts on death penalty cases, I got a few typically liberal backlash comments from the peanut gallery.
I wish I could justify some other stance, but despite the yowlings of people I assume are well intentioned, like Steve Earle, I just don't swing that way.
I've had someone I knew yanked from this earth by a rapist and killer, and basically everyday that her attacker is alive and coddled by the state, is a grievous insult to her loved ones. It's now been over 10 years since the violent atrocity was committed, and I doubt the victim's family goes a day without knowing that...
In general, I am more sympathetic to a victim's family, than for the convicted killers who reside for years on death row and have committed the crimes in question. I hate to advocate for someone's death, but let's face it people, some folks just don't deserve your empathy & concern. I truly wonder why do you care so much about someone who could care less about anyone else?
Clearly, we are not talking about some mistaken identity here, or questionable circumstances. The people I have no problem with seeing executed are admitted pre-meditated killers of innocent victims. They are the cold, bold & heartless, who've gone beyond the pale and committed crimes far beyond mere accidental or circumstantially suspect killings, or even vaguely definable potential self defense situations. These are the sick mf'ers that yer mama shoulda warned ya about, and I bet she'd want 'em put down too...
Case In Point Du Jour:
I gotta love the Michael Morales moral morass that is, currently as I write this, surrounding some hired killer's fate, and presenting a perplexing plight.Out here in California, a state that is a leading producer of fruits & nuts, a rallying cry has been raised over a death row inmate named Michael Morales.The jist of the hype is his scheduled execution has been twice postponed, because the poor bastard might suffer "excruciating pain" during his upcoming lethal injection. In fact last night, just prior to his execution, a bunch of court appointed doctors got their professional panties in a bunch and walked out because they were afraid if Morales woke up during the execution, gulp, they'd be in an awkward position. Perhaps, it's my understanding, that this would be a possible violation of their "Hippocratic" oath (which I guess is not to be confused with the utter hypocrisy of the whole situation).
However, as much as you are compelled to empathize, let's remember that this Morales is a guy who showed no mercy in the slaughter of a beautiful 17 year old girl whom he mercilessly raped, choked, hammered, stabbed in the chest and left bleeding & naked from the waist down in a vineyard to die alone. According to testimony, he went on to beat his victim Terri Winchell in the head with a hammer at least 23 times, and beat her so brutally and repeatedly that her face was no longer recognizable.
If any of that doesn't bother you, here's some other relevant things to consider though:
Michael Morales, was an adult, aged 21 when he commited his horrendous crime, which he now wants to blame on alcohol & drug use. El wrongo !
Look I myself, and millions of others, have had plenty of experience with alcohol and drug use, but have never even considered any of the sick sh*t that this Morales character has nonchalantly admitted to. In fact he has accepted full responsibility for the fact that his disgusting animalistic actions led to Terri Winchell’s horrible death.
But it don't stop there...
The case of course also has the Bay Area & Bravo network friendly media pre-requisite weird homo angle of course as well, as Morales was a hired assailant, used by the victim's ex-boyfriend, Morales' own closeted bi-sexual cousin Ricky Ortega.
Yep...Ortega reportedly told Glenda Chavez that he was angry at Winchell for accusing him of being a homosexual and for her calling him “gay.” Ortega brought in Morales to harm her because he was also jealous about a new relationship Miss Winchell was having with another guy that Ortega was secretly having a sexual relationship with. Does it get any more small town twisted than that? I sure hope Ortega is happy spending his life in California State Prison having as much happy homo-sex as his $30,000+ a year tax-payer funded prison stud lifestyle will allow.
Within two days of the killing, Ortega's blood spattered car was impounded, and Morales was arrested at his residence. The police found Morales’ broken belt used to choke Terri Winchell with her blood on it hidden under a mattress. The police found knives and a hammer likely used in the killing, hidden in the refrigerator's vegetable crisper. The hammer had traces of Winchell’s blood on it. hmmm... wonder how all that got there?
The police also found blood-stained floor mats from Ricky Ortega’s car in the trash. Terri Winchell’s purse and credit card were also mysteriously in the house. Morales had used $11 from Winchell’s purse to buy beer, wine, and cigarettes on the night of the murder.
Hmmm... Being a good liberal, I uh, I blame the beer, god knows beer is dangerous...Evidence shows that Germany drank so much of it, I hear they started two world wars, and killed millions of people in the process... Beer should be on trial , not Michael Morales... right?
But instead, California taxpayers have paid for his prosecution and defense at his trial, his housing, 3 meals a day, laundry and basic medical upkeep for 25 some odd years for his death sentence and elongated appeals process to finally roll around. Yet, before he can be put down like the bad,bad dog we know he is, Mr. Morales ( or more likely his court appointed attorney advocates) began whining that his death by injection now might make him a victim of state sponsored brutality. In fact, it's his contention that in his case, a lethal injection is "cruel and unusual" punishment... and I guess he would be an expert on what "cruel and unusual" is ...
Boo F*cking Hoo...
I wonder if he found it cruel and unusual to spend the victim's money on beer & cigarettes after strangling, raping, beating, and stabbing her?
Then much to my surprise, who should appear to save Mr. Morales ass, none other than right wing stooge & professed Clinton hater, former Prosecuter Kenneth Starr, now a Professor at Pepperdine. The former Whitewater investigator has been listed as co-lead counsel for Morales’s clemency petition. Huh?
Clemency?
uh, are you kidding?
Memo to Ken Starr : Get a life already... are you that starved for attention?
But really , enough is enough, and all the lurid details and even the presence of Clinton hater Starr are distractions . The real crime is that Morales has been alive for 20 some years after so brutally raping & killing his innocent victim.
Said a family friend recently to the San Jose Mercury News : "He's the monster that killed the beauty, and he needs to pay for a crime that was senseless," Jacqueline Miles said. "We need to actually show the world that people can't get away with murdering people just because they get mad."
Meanwhile teenagers and young men are assigned to be blown to bits doing military duty in Iraq, and no one at the ACLU raises a fury in their defense.
It makes me sick... honestly I'd be interested in what are your thoughts?
Leave a comment, and while you ponder aimlessly on a subject we all have no control over as usual...
Here enjoy some mp3 mayhem y murder musica...
Cobra Verde - Let's Get The Party Started
Papa Roach - Getting Away With Murder
Thrice - To Awake & Avenge The Dead
Mermen - With No Definite Future And No Purpose Other Than To Prevail
OK GO - A Million Ways To Be Cruel
Black Dahlia Murder - Funeral Thirst
The Last Rites - Psycho KillerCradle of Filth - Rape And Ruin Or Angels
Cumshotte - Lethal Hot Beef Injection
The Sexy Magazines - Sex Murder Music
Shabba Ranks - Murder She Wrote
Juelz Santana - Murder, Murder ( clean version
Juelz Santana - Murder Murder ( Dirty)
Enon - Murder Sounds
Varukers - Murder
Carbide Spiral - Execution Of The Brain
Rilo Kiley - Execution Of All Things ( live )
The Family Machine - Lethal Drugs Cocktail
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Mistakes & Regrets
Megadeth - Punishment Due
and here's a nineteen minute spiel from author and history Prof. Richard Moran on the History of the Electric Chair. One of the controversial projects that pitted Thomas Edison vs Westinghouse at the turn of the 20th Century.Plus in the interest of fairness, informed debate and faux intellectualizing of all the issues, here's a link to a radio show that aired on KCRW on Feb 15th in which medical professionals, a victim's rights advocate and an ACLU anti-death penalty activist ponder the Morales situation
KCRW - Death Penalty, Medicine & The Law
My uneducated opinion ?
Money For Schools , Not Death Row Inmates !!!
PLEASE ! Kill This Dog F*cker Today !!!!!!
Another band who've recently signed to The End records is Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. While they've yet to put forth new material on the label, I've linked some past exploits on their own indie imprint still available via 