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Post by zeopold on Sept 19, 2023 20:30:09 GMT
My late stepfather was a court reporter on various newspapers from the 50's - 90's, covered some high profile murder, sex and terror cases. I once asked him if he'd ever seen a defendant he considered truly evil, and he cited Peter Manuel, recalling with a shudder the black cap being placed on the judge's head.
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Post by politician2 on Sept 19, 2023 20:51:29 GMT
My late stepfather was a court reporter on various newspapers from the 50's - 90's, covered some high profile murder, sex and terror cases. I once asked him if he'd ever seen a defendant he considered truly evil, and he cited Peter Manuel, recalling with a shudder the black cap being placed on the judge's head.
Manuel was a truly, truly nasty piece of work. He falls into the narrow category of convicted murderer where the old right-wing cliché "I'd happily operate the lever myself" applies. Another example would be Russell Pascoe and Dennis Whitty, the penultimate pair of murderers to be hanged in the UK: www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/03/britains-last-hangman-harry-allenThis Guardian article, by one of their warders, captures the claustrophobic horror of the condemned cell very well, but cynically glosses over the details of their crime. Pascoe and Whitty tricked their way into the home of an elderly farmer, then beat and tortured the old man to death in a bid to force him to reveal where he had hidden his life savings. When they couldn't get the information, they beat him senseless with an iron bar and stabbed him over and over again. Later that night, Pascoe wiped the old man's blood off Whitty's face whilst the pair of them laughed their heads off at what they had done; one of the girls they lived with was so disgusted that she called the police. In court, the two old friends turned on each other like wolves, with each trying to get the other hanged to save his own neck. The jury unsurprisingly found them both guilty of murder and they were sentenced to hang. In the condemned cell, Pascoe spent his time stuffing himself with cream cakes and cracking jokes with the warders, confident that he would be reprieved and would cheat the hangman. He was wrong. The narrative created in the article that he was a pleasant and hapless young man caught in the throes of a capricious justice system is entirely false – he was a complete scumbag and thoroughly deserved to hang. |
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Post by zeopold on Sept 19, 2023 21:52:09 GMT
^ The state reduces itself to their level if it takes their lives. Put them on the wing with the normal crooks and let them take care of it.
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Post by politician2 on Sept 19, 2023 21:54:06 GMT
^ The state reduces itself to their level if it takes their lives. Put them on the wing with the normal crooks and let them take care of it. In the case of Manuel and Pascoe, I don't agree: the latter, in particular, had a much more pleasant death than the one he administered. The reason I have grave doubts about the death penalty is the justice system's lack of infallibility, not because I think it is inherently wrong. |
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Post by zeopold on Sept 19, 2023 22:20:09 GMT
^ The state reduces itself to their level if it takes their lives. Put them on the wing with the normal crooks and let them take care of it. The reason I have grave doubts about the death penalty is the justice system's lack of infallibility Likesay, that's the foundation of my opposition to it, but it could also be said that the state punishing killers by doing the same to them sends out confusing signals. |
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Post by politician2 on Sept 23, 2023 21:37:32 GMT
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Post by zeopold on Sept 25, 2023 19:01:32 GMT
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