"This commutation in no way relieves Mr. Gattis of his moral or legal guilt, and I am mindful of the fact that an innocent victim lost her life on the night of May 9, 1990," Markell said, adding the decision to spare Gattis life was "among the most difficult I have had to make in all my years in public service." - News Journal
Apparently the Gov. was not mindful enough the respect the sentence bestowed on Mr. Gattis by the jury of his peers for the murder of former girlfriend Shirley Slay.
Normally, I wouldn't talk the death penalty on this blog - but this is just one more instance of poor judgement exemplified by Gov.
"Keeping the person in prison is still protecting society,"said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.Lest any one among us is confused... Keeping murderers in prison is "still protecting society." But, the issue is deeper... Gattis murdered someone and was sentenced to death.
"At last week's Board of Pardons hearings, Gattis acknowledged for the first time that he intentionally executed Slay in cold blood inside her New Castle-area apartment."
For twenty years, Gattis has had a free ride in prison and my tax dollars have supported him. Gov. Markell can see fit to expend more tax payer money to keep an admitted murder in prison for life, but he doesn't bat an eyelash when it comes to cutting state education funding and pushing the expenses off onto the local share...
The Gov.'s obligation was to uphold the decision of the jury and to do so in a fiscally-acceptable way. He failed in both arenas.
How very, very sad.
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