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Battered woman's life should be spared
Gov. Phil Bredesen holds the life of a battered woman in his hands. The state will execute Gaile K. Owens, 57, by lethal injection unless the governor commutes her sentence to life in prison.
Gaile is a victim of severe domestic violence who was arrested in 1985, and later convicted, for hiring a man to kill her abusive husband, Ronald Owens. After exhausting her appeals, her lawyer and two public defenders have filed a formal plea asking Gov. Bredesen to commute her sentence to life in prison. Though she was diagnosed with battered woman’s syndrome, Gaile’s jurors never heard about the physical, emotional and sexual abuse she endured from her husband.
Among nine comparable cases over the past 25 years: two are serving life sentences, six have received probation or early parole, while only Gaile is facing death. Unless Gov. Bredesen commutes Gaile’s sentence, she will be the first woman executed by the state since 1820.
Not only were there very few, if any, resources for a battered woman in the early 1980s, but a woman who has suffered severe and consistent abuse is not in a competent state of mind. Gov. Bredesen should commute Gaile Owens’ sentence to life in prison, and save the state from executing a battered woman.
Caitlin O’Leary, 37215
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Brian - What are the ruling families wanting. JimmyU spoke a little about it once but not much. Really, it was just on the net recently about al quida.
Thanks Brian. That is good to know. I must admit that I have not kept up with all that goes in Chad.
Anyway I will be thinking of you Dusty and Jimmy.
It's all about money, BN... the rapist is going to be harder to catch in the first place because you can't just troll along the interstate and toss everyone's car you stop looking for empty beer cans... then it ties up money to prosecute... for the indigent defense... for the courts and with the bother of a jury trial... then we get to pay for him to sit in jail with nothing better to do than nag the PD about appeal. They can run through hundreds of marginal DUIs, simple possession, or probation violation cases racking up huge fines and using the jails for their real purpose... to punish people who don't pay their fines and court costs.
Every now and then in the process of herding the largely compliant population through the for-profit arrest, prosecution and incarceration machine they will stumble upon a real criminal and if it's not too much of a bother and they can get a headline out of it then they do their job.
i see where you're coming from and i agree with you to a point, Ben. however, i also think that it becomes a morale problem with the officers who repeatedly arrest the same guy over and over and the D.A.'s office doesn't prosecute, the PD coaches them as to how to get away with it and the judge doesn't give a damn. so even the best of officers gets burned out.
so then yeah, they're not going to put their life on the line when it doesn't matter because the jerk is going to get away with it anyway and it's safer and easier to give speeding tickets.
btw, the perp does have to pay the court costs and the PD if found guilty. and they do have to pay for the food they eat in prison and a fee for the probation officer when they get out. and they pay $25 per drug test. at least that's some $$ the taxpayer isn't paying.
As is usually my point, bn... it's all about the money. Currently we have hundreds of billions of dollars being sucked out of the productive economy of every city and municipality in the country and pumped into this non-value-added process of arresting people on minor improprieties, ruining their lives and turning them hardened criminals who have no respect for authority.
When you consider how much damage this does to the economics of society then it explains much because violent crime tracks most closely to economic destitution than any other social factor.
Then there is another side also. Everytime they pull a car over, walk in on a domestic dispute or really just put on a police uniform and walk outside, they are taking a chance. With all the dope running and crazies in the World, I would not want their job.
bfra the ruling families like most other in-power groups wants to stay in power while maintaining the pretense of free and democratic elections which has gotten a lot more difficult recently with the slow emergence of an educated middle class with internet access making the population more difficult to manipulate.
"btw, the perp does have to pay the court costs and the PD if found guilty. and they do have to pay for the food they eat in prison and a fee for the probation officer when they get out. and they pay $25 per drug test. at least that's some $$ the taxpayer isn't paying."
It's all a tax, bn! Unless the whole process is adding value to society then IT'S JUST ANOTHER FORM OF TAX that is going down a black hole rather than other more productive uses for society.
We could close half the prisons and fire half the police officers and close half the courts and not suffer one bit less security if we focused on crimes where people actually did harm to someone else rather than focusing on the much larger group who they deem have the remote possibility to do harm to someone else.
Then all of that savings could be directed to more productive uses in society like building schools and hiring teachers and special needs people to be pro-active and prevent these kids from going down the wrong path in the first place.
you make some compelling points, Ben.
Brian - That usually is the object of ruling families even here in the States. Here they just obtain it in a different way. It has long been established that our News media is not always reliable. Be sure to let us know when you hear from JimmyU & his family. Again tell DustyU Hi and not give those nurses a hard time!
bfra thank you hopefully we hear from Uncle Jimmy soon
i'll pass your message for grandpa on to Joey
By: dargent7 on 3/3/10 at 1:47
Sid: You takin' calls? What's your phone number? I will call you.
634-5789 You can call me any time.
Signing off for a while; gotta get some work done. Dishes are calling. Great conversations today. Hope I don't get robbed at the grocery store; wouldn't want the PD's office to have to face me.
dargent, looks like you've got a date.
Nemo - Now do you remember what I was referring to?
house - How did your sleep study go?
Didn't sleep too well. I had more wires connected to me than NES.
bfra I think he is asleep
At the Java Junction right now, thought I'd check the board (bored?).
I gotta agree with Ben Dover on the prison/industrial complex; it's a scam, a sham and a flim-flam. Thousands of people are now in prison for Cannabis-related offenses, for example.
The born-agains ought to seek an arrest warrant for God the Father; he created Cannabis on the Third Day - Genesis 1:11.
Cannabis was not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which Eve picked the forbidden fruit; therefore it was created for mankind to use and enjoy. Those who would outlaw the work of the Creator are not godly people, they may be satanic agents, however.
By: bfra on 3/3/10 at 3:46
Nemo - Now do you remember what I was referring to?
_________________________________________________________________
Yes and No lol
By: house_of_pain on 3/3/10 at 3:48
Didn't sleep too well. I had more wires connected to me than NES.
I have been tied to a CPAP machine for 10yrs. They are life saver.
You know, Loner, it's even illegal to lick toads in some places.
"Thou shalt not cop a buzz"
I am glad that you came back Loner. Now I have to go. Tell them hi at the Java Junction.
You know, Loner, it's even illegal to lick toads in some places.
"Thou shalt not cop a buzz"
I would not want to lick sid. YUCK!!
House, it's illegal to lick toads in some places, but not others? I suppose the genital area of the toad is off limits. I can undersdtand that.
I'm back, Captain Nemo. I've been running around all day doing errands.
Gotta hit and run, folks, more errands to do and folks want to use the terminal....later!
"errands"? Is that anything like Pilates?
Very similar, House...Loner out.
Born to be wild plays has Loner heads home.
i didn't know loner was a pilot.
hit and run sounds more like a drunk driver
well, at least it wasn't a drive by! LOL
By: Captain Nemo on 3/3/10 at 3:59
You know, Loner, it's even illegal to lick toads in some places.
"Thou shalt not cop a buzz"
I would not want to lick sid. YUCK!!
Nemo, didn't you get that Lysol link i posted earlier?
409 kills radiation.
i'm scared to ask how you know that, house.
house - Was that therapy where they can read all your thoughts while you sleep? If so, bet they got entertained. lol
It's what I clean the lab with. We use carbon 14 & tritium.
Hopefully, my sleep study will result in something to stop my snoring.
blanket, I wanted to let you know that of the 3 or 4 people I know who have "been in trouble" none of them, I repeat NONE of them have paid a penny on their fines and have not gotten into one iota of trouble or grief about it. My ex probably owes several thousand in fines for all the sh!t he's been into and not one cent paid out. just FYI. He doesn't pay taxes, either.
Talk wtih you guys tomorrow!
MamaG do you know they have increased the bounty on reporting tax evaders?
up to 30%
By: Blanketnazi2 on 3/3/10 at 4:19
By: Captain Nemo on 3/3/10 at 3:59
You know, Loner, it's even illegal to lick toads in some places.
"Thou shalt not cop a buzz"
I would not want to lick sid. YUCK!!
Scarey post. Who asked you to. Who are you? Scarey! And I thought things were getting normal.
Go lick a stamp of O'bama!