Ohio Executes Man Who Said He Didn't Recall Crimes

[The Straight Story]

Ohio Executes Man Who Said He Didn't Recall Crimes

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — The state on Tuesday executed a man who said he didn't remember fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend at the woman's Cincinnati apartment in 1984.

Daniel Lee Bedford, 63, became the third inmate in Ohio and the nation to be put to death using the surgical sedative pentobarbital as a stand-alone execution drug. He was pronounced dead at 11:18 a.m.

Bedford's attorneys pushed to block the lethal injection in a last-minute legal battle. They argued Bedford had dementia and a mild mental disability and wasn't competent enough to understand why he was being executed. They also said he was denied legal proceedings to which he was entitled.

Prosecutors challenged the idea that Bedford wasn't competent and successfully appealed a stay of execution issued Monday by a federal judge.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2011/05/17/story-columbus-execution-planned.html?sid=102

[gratuitous]

1. Simple revenge anymore

It's not about "deterrent" or "closure" or any of the other high-minded appeals in favor of the death penalty. It's about revenge, pure and simple. Now that the legal standard is pegged at "close enough," we can look forward to more blood-letting in the name of calming the demons we've ginned up. What a frightened bunch of children we've become - or at least allowed to run things.

[Taverner]

2. That's a tough call

On one hand, he probably did it

On the other hand, was it still Bedford who lived in his body?

This is why I am almost always against the death penalty - there is no way to undo it, very often the cases are so full of specifics, that its not an easy 'hedidit!' and even if they did it, what good will come out of it?

I cry no tear for the executed - and in some cases I find the killing justified (OBL, Eichmann, the Nazis, etc)

But really, what is the goal of the execution? Is it the rabid dog instance, where if alive, he is a danger to others? Is it revenge, and if so what good comes of revenge? Is it punishment, and if so exactly what did he 'learn' by being executed? Is it a deterrent? Because if so it is having the exact opposite effect.

When we discuss the Death Penalty, we end up asking some very hard questions - ones of which there are no answer. What is the definition of 'self'? How much is beyond the killer's control, and how much is their choice? Do these things even matter?

In my 40 sum odd years of life, I have learned there are no answers, only more questions.

[brooklynite]

3. I don't support the death penalty, but...

..I do support penalties for crime. If "not remembering" a crime is justifiable grounds for avoid capital punishment, why is it also not justifiable grounds for avoiding imprisonment?