Can't even get that right

The mother of an executed prisoner in Ohio has sued the head of Ohio's prisons because her son's execution took 90 minutes. Apparently executions should only take 20 minutes or so. Who knew?

The most chilling part of the article:

Prison staff had problems finding a useable vein on Clark, and one vein they did use collapsed. The execution team also apparently tried to administer the lethal drugs through the original IV line by mistake, according to written accounts that the execution team is required to submit.

During the first injection attempt, Clark finally pushed himself up and said, “It don’t work.”

During the second attempt at finding a vein, he asked, “Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?”

Could you imagine having to wait that long? I mean, that is without even discussing the pain possibly involved.

I'm vehemently anti-death penalty. That is not a question here though...it's simply, how much torture must a person endure? And who are we to inflict that torture?

Justice?

The guilty verdict came in much sooner than expected (by me) in the Isaac Lethbridge case. Closing statements finished earlier this afternoon and court was recessed for lunch and then they were to give jury instructions. Apparently no instructions were more powerful than the ones the jurors felt inside, as the jury came back this afternoon at 4 p.m. with a guilty verdict on the count of manslaughter. Oddly enough, though (and perhaps because the trial was so focused on Isaac's death), Charlsie Adams-Rogers was not found guilty of misdemeanor child abuse in the case of Isaac's sister.

Until now I have refrained from posting the picture of Isaac that has haunted me for weeks. Today, as some justice was served, I feel the need to. The little boy to the left is the Isaac.

Will this be true justice for Isaac? Perhaps some. But true and full justice will only be served when the system that bounced him around from one horrendous nightmare to another is fixed...for good. True justice will be served when his sister is placed in a loving, caring, and healthy home. True justice will be served when the now 13-year-old girl who is thought to have held the force behind Isaac's injuries is given proper medical and psychological treatment. True justice will be served when no child is in danger of falling down Isaac's deadly path.

This should be the primary concern of our law makers and yet, sadly, it is not. Too often we let partisan politics, money, and prestige trump the people who need our help the most. Today we should be reminded of the honor and integrity that lies within each act to help a child and the way in which one decision, one law, one administrative act can change the course of history.

The Story that Keeps Breaking My Heart

Charlsie Adams-Rodgers took the stand in her own defense today in the Involuntary Manslaughter case involving the death of foster child Isaac Lethbridge. Her testimony is not shocking in content, but if you think for a minute that she was not responsible, even she admits her legal responsibility for the boy.

Lest you forget, they found blunt force trauma to be the cause of his death, but Isaac had burns, bruises and even cigarette marks on his body.

It made me sick to read this morning in the same article linked above (being updated periodically by the Free Press) that she said the children arrived at her home without anything and were "nasty." Who does she think she is to call two children "nasty"? Granted, I'm sure there's more to the context of the comment, but I think she picked her words wrong because it sounds even worse now that she's spoken.

There's another reason that OJ was smart to take the Fifth.

Crazy Little Thing Called Animal Justice

This story struck me as weird. In it, it details the sentence of a German Shepard to run guard duty at a prison instead of being put down after attacking a person.

I don't even know how I feel about it yet. I mean, I'm glad he didn't get put down, but the whole reason for criminal laws (or at least a main reason) is retribution and rehabilitation. The dog isn't going to know he's being punished. So the point is??? I guess sparing his life. It was a very creative move on the dog owner's part. I'm still on the fence.

Sauer's Sweet

I love it when people cut the games. Just adore it. And that's what Judge Michael Sauer has done in Los Angeles today by ordering Paris Hilton to put down the cupcakes and join her lawyers in court to face possibly going back. That's right--she doesn't get to phone it in, and she now has to ride in with the sheriffs.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I wish I could stand on the side of the road and point and laugh. Someone thought she was getting away with staying home this morning...guess again, darling.

I don't request forgiveness

Turns out Paris was released to house arrest for "medical reasons." Medical reasons that I'm sure wouldn't get me out of work, let alone jail.


John Stossel needs to put this on his "Gimme a Break" segment on 20/20. But I hate John Stossel, so I won't suggest it.

The Bitch is Back

I started to write this entry and all of a sudden Elton John's "The Bitch is Back" came on my iTunes player, which is currently in shuffle mode. Call it fate, call it justice, call it what you will--but the subject of this blog fits perfectly. And I will continue to hit replay as long as I wish for inspiration.

Yes, dear readers, it's true--Paris Hilton is out of the clink.

It just sickens me to the core that someone who willingly and knowingly violated her probation TWICE is allowed to walk away after three days in jail. Mind you, in those three days she was in seclusion, not required to participate in events with other inmates, and given a private cell. Reportedly, she wasn't required to go through the cavity searches that other inmates are forced to endure. Sure as shit, though, she was released early. And I am sure that no excuse I hear will be a good one.

It's a sad day in our society. And I'm not giving Paris Hilton more credit than she deserves, because I'm talking about the state of celebrity and what it brings. If you or I willingly and knowingly violated our probation twice we'd be lucky to get the 45 day sentence she originally received, let alone the reduction to 23 days and now to 3. Granted, the prisons are overcrowded, but people who commit crimes and then are put on probation only to violate that probation should not be allowed to wander off to Rodeo Drive.

This is just another instance in a long line of celebrity crimes that goes without justification or punishment because the person at issue happens to have appeared on People or US Weekly a few times. And then we wonder why people don't respect the criminal justice system, or the legal system at all.

This is bigger than Paris Hilton. I'm not a fan of her, that's no secret. The issue here isn't really her...it's the disregard for procedure, punishment and process so blatant that causes Oliver Wendell Holmes to turn repeatedly in his grave.

Today, justice is not only going to the highest bidder, but the one with the most paparazzi following behind.