Killing Us

This Wednesday a Florida man will be spared his scheduled lethal injection, thanks to an indefinite stay of execution granted by the Supreme Court.

Governor Charlie Crist had signed the death warrant last month for David Eugene Johnston, who claims DNA testing will exonerate him in the 1983 murder of 84-year-old Mary Hammond. The proof will be found in her fingernail clippings, Johnston argues. Next month marks 25 years since Johnston entered Death Row.

Florida resumed executions 30 years ago today following a lifted court ban on capital punishment. In 2000, the state retired Old Sparky, the state's electric chair that once came dangerously close to killing some officers when a nearby puddle of water caught fire.

Governor Crist has signed a handful of death warrants, but hasn't always gotten his way. Earlier this month, the court put a hold on executing John Marek. A jury convicted him of kidnapping Adella Simmons from the Florida Turnpike before he raped and murdered the 47-year-old in 1983. Marek's attorney now claims new evidence will clear his client.

Today white men comprise the majority of the 392 inmates on Florida's Death Row. Twenty-one executions happened on former Governor Jeb Bush's watch during his eight-year tenure in Tallahassee.

His brother - who would later be "elected" President - served for six years as Texas Governor; 154 people were put to death during that time, according to the state's Department of Criminal Justice. Texas leads the nation in executions.

The irony of capital punishment is that most of its die hard supporters claim to be devout Christians, people who preach from a book that certainly does not condone the act of killing someone. These are typically the same people who oppose a woman's right to an abortion.

By contrast, most liberals support that choice while they overwhelmingly condemn the death penalty. This political issue has had me straddling the fence for years. I admit I would be challenged to not take a firm position if a loved one were victimized.

But let's not forget about those who go free because of DNA technology. The Innocence Project of New York reports close to 200 cases where a convicted killer has been cleared through DNA evidence. The study finds most wrongful convictions happen because of "defects" like "mistaken eyewitness identification testimony." And think about this: DNA technology has been around for only 20 years. How many innocent people were put to death prior to 1989?

Some dated reports claim Death Row costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more than they pay for an inmate's life prison term. At the same time, doesn't it seem like you see jail expansion projects in every town you visit these days?

And then you take a convicted killer like Gary Alvord, who holds Florida's record for longest Death Row sentence: 35 years and counting.

In the early '70s, Alvord raped and killed a 10-year-old girl. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to a mental institution in Michigan. He escaped. He would go on to kill three women - three generations of a family - in their Tampa home.

To this day, Alvord sits in Union Correctional Institute in Raiford. And to this day, we continue to foot the bill. Why? And what's next?

Convicted killer David Johnston will be served dinner instead of his death sentence at 6:00 this Wednesday evening. The stay of execution allows Johnston's counsel to present its DNA findings in August. If they can't prove Johnston's innocence, he'll finally have to brace for the fatal needle.

In the meantime, the legal system needs a thorough examination. We should strive to reevaluate where we stand on life and money, and what matters more. And maybe Texas should get another hobby.

-P.F.