Please wear a black arm or wrist band tomorrow in silent protest of the state of Virginia’s execution of Kevin Green. Mr. Green is scheduled to die Tuesday night at 9:00PM at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia for the 1998 slaying of Patricia Vaughan.
Medical testing of Kevin Green found he has an IQ less than 70, qualifying him as “mentally retarded”. This class of our citizens was accorded special protection by the United States Supreme Court, excepting them from the sentence of death. Virginia is openly flaunting that ruling from the highest court in our land. Further, in order to get the death penalty in this case prosecutors used Mr. Green’s indictment for murder in another case to show “future dangerousness”. He was subsequently acquitted in the case, making its use in this case invalid and leading to a mortally flawed sentence. Virginia must cancel this illegal execution immediately!
14 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 27, 2008 at 11:34 am
Jay Burns
Kevin Green was convicted of robbing a convenience store and shooting the store owners, Lawrence Vaughn and his wife Patricia, on August 21, 1998. Mrs. Vaughn, 53, died during the robbery after being shot in the temple, once in the abdomen and twice in the chest. Mr. Vaughn was shot in the neck and elbow and survived.
Green indicated that he did not intend to shoot anyone; he did not have the gun on safety and it accidentally went off.
6 TIMES?!?!?!
I’m not saying I’m in favor of killing this man. I’m saying the defense was incredibly weak.
May 27, 2008 at 1:19 pm
helenl
Hi Jay, The man has an IQ of 70. Death for him is not right.
May 27, 2008 at 3:26 pm
renaissanceguy
Will you also wear a black arm band for Patricia Vaughn, or does her higher IQ mean that Green was justified in killing her?
May 27, 2008 at 3:48 pm
helenl
Hi RG, Pretty hateful thing to say. She’s already dead. Kevin Green isn’t. His death will not bring her back.
May 27, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Mike Lovell
What I find interesting, is often times these symbolic protests often come with some criminal (mentally retarded or not) being turned into a martyr for the cause. Case in point, Stanley “Tookie” Williams, Crips co-founder, and convicted murderer (among other things). Admittedly I found the man fascinating on many levels (some good, some not so good), but he was guilty of a crime he knew the punishment for, arguably more incidences of the same nature than he was convicted for.
Why not carry on a perpetual protest against what you deem wrong, instead of highlighting your protest to save someone (not Mr. Green specifically) who doesn’t exactly in my mind warrant saving by me. Leave his salvation to God, and let these men go quietly without fanfare.
May 27, 2008 at 5:03 pm
helenl
Hi Mike, “Why not carry on a perpetual protest against what you deem wrong?” Now that a legitimate question.
I have stated that I am against the Death Penalty under any circumstances. Life imprisonment is enough. We do not need to play God by determining the time of anyone’s death, regardless of circumstance. Okay, so why not protest full time?
I have been called by God to a ministry of reconciliation, mostly between white and black Americans, and while I believe that King was right right: We must fight the triple evils (racism, violence (War) and poverty) simultaneously, I also believe we must fight other inequity issues, such as the death penalty that is handed out disproportionately to blacks. Thus, I am partnering with those who only want to stop the death penalty so that it can be studied and later handed down fairly. Either way, we spare a life. And sparing a like is worth a lot of fanfare, I’d say.
Fact is, I run out of time before I run out of issues. I’m against all those -isms that divide us. I do have a family, a job as editor of the Dead Mule, and I write poetry. I cook supper most nights, watch movies, watch NASCAR, etc. I lead a normal life and don’t have time to post against the death penalty every day. But I do mention it when someone will be executed.
Salvation is not the issue. We are clearly not in charge of salvation. Taking the life of a criminal (a person) is the issue. I think that is playing God, and I have enough trouble just being a Christian without trying to be God Himself/Herself.
May 27, 2008 at 5:38 pm
renaissanceguy
Helen, I didn’t intend to be hateful.
I don’t understand why the murderer’s life matters more than the victim’s. I’m not talking about bringing her back. I’m talking about your sensibility that the murderer deserves a black arm band but you seem to show no honor to the victim. You don’t seem to want justice for her either.
You brought up IQ. By saying that Mr. Green does not deserve to die because he has a low IQ, you are implying that if his IQ were higher, then he would deserve to die for his crime. That was my point about Mrs. Vaughn’s IQ. If you are unwilling to have Mr. Green forfeit his life to pay for the life that he took, then her life must have had less value, and apparently it is because she had a higher IQ than he. At least that’s how your logic plays out.
You also insult people with a low IQ. Do you think that they cannot know right and wrong? That they are simply doomed to commit crimes like murder because they don’t know any better? I don’t believe that.
I regard Mr. Green as a fellow human being who is subject to the same moral laws that I am. What else can he give that is worth what he took?
May 27, 2008 at 6:06 pm
helenl
RG, You are being obtuse. The victim’s life is not less important than the murderer’s life. The victim is already dead. Nothing we do or say will bring the victim back. She’s dead. Dead is dead.
I printed a letter sent to me concerning Mr. Green. Now I don’t think he should die for his crime (although I think her should pay for it) regardless of IQ. This is a talking point for those who see the death penalty as merely an equity issue. I am against the death penalty under all circumstances. The death penalty does not bring justice: It just increase the number of dead people.
Of course Mr. Green is a fellow human being subject to the same laws as you (and I) are. That’s why he should spend the rest of his life in prison. An eye for an eye is Old Testament justice. Jesus died to usher in the Age of Grace.
A big problem with the Death Penalty, other than people playing God, is that sometimes we get it wrong. The state kills the wrong person: a person not guilty of murder. And since dead is dead, under those circumstances what can the sate give him that is worth as much as what they took?
Life is too precious to support the death penalty.
May 28, 2008 at 9:22 am
renaissanceguy
So. . .
*Only a measure that could bring back the murder victim from death is valid.
*The death penalty cannot bring back the murder victim from death.
*Therefore, the death penalty is not valid.
That’s strange logic.
Where did I say anything about bringing Mrs. Vaughn back from the dead? I am talking about honoring her memory and seeking justice on her behalf.
I notice that you have not once written her name, but you have written the murderer’s name.
Life is too precious to oppose the death penalty.
May 28, 2008 at 11:12 am
helenl
Hi RG, Don’t criticize my logic on my blog!!! People do that enough elsewhere.
That’s not what I said, and you know it. I said, Nothing can bring back the victim’s life. One person is dead. Why have two dead people instead of one?
You are entitled to your opinion. But many people think the way I do about the death penalty. In fact, the US is about the only first world country that still practices it. Are we all “strange”? All but the folks who think like you.
The Death Penalty is vengeance not justice.
May 28, 2008 at 11:58 am
renaissanceguy
I will drop the subject after this comment, unless you ask me to say anything further.
You didn’t say that only a penalty that would bring back the dead is valid, but you used the fact that executing the murderer won’t bring back the dead as a reason that it should not be imposed. Before that you used his IQ as a reason that it should not be imposed.
What’s true, and what I can respect, is that you have a conviction that capital punishment is always wrong. Your real basis, I believe, is that it’s simply wrong to take a human life for any reason. Although I disagree, I respect your right to hold that view.
I disagree with you that the death penalty is vengeance. I beleive that it prevents vengeance by having the state deal with the murderer rather than the angry survivors of the victim.
May 28, 2008 at 12:59 pm
helenl
Hi RG, I think we’ve about exhausted this one.
I stated in my reply to Mile Lovell (see above): “I have stated that I am against the Death Penalty under any circumstances. Life imprisonment is enough. We do not need to play God by determining the time of anyone’s death, regardless of circumstance. . . .
I have been called by God to a ministry of reconciliation, mostly between white and black Americans, and while I believe that King was right right: We must fight the triple evils (racism, violence (War) and poverty) simultaneously, I also believe we must fight other inequity issues, such as the death penalty that is handed out disproportionately to blacks. Thus, I am partnering with those who only want to stop the death penalty so that it can be studied and later handed down fairly. Either way, we spare a life. And sparing a life is worth a lot of fanfare, I’d say.”
I did not write the words in my post: I agree with them so I posted them. I partner with others who not agree with me 100% to fight a cause that needs fighting. I think the death penalty needs to be eliminated but stopped temporarily is better than nothing.
May 28, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Mike Lovell
MILE lovell?? Good Lord Helen…that’s the most credit this guy has ever been given. Thank You!! Your typo is the most beautiful gift I have received for the day!
May 28, 2008 at 1:29 pm
helenl
Hi Mike, Enjoy. Enjoy. LOL