The execution of Karla Faye Tucker has generated many comments among the general public, as well as letters to the editor both before and after the fact. Some of these will be referred to throughout this article, but we begin with a question which came via e-mail:
I just read your article, “Crime and Capital Punishment” and am wondering what your thoughts are about Karla Faye Tucker who was executed earlier this evening. God bless….
One wonders what the intent of this question was; it seemed to be asking if, in light of this woman’s execution, I had changed my mind about what was written in those earlier articles. Below is my reply.
My thoughts are pretty much irrelevant, but since you asked, they are these. Publicity, conversion, and emotions do not change the Word of God. Too much is being determined by public opinion polls today (how do you feel about that?) rather than, “What is the truth? What ought to be done?” The facts declared her guilty; she merited death.Personally, I am not moved by the argument that she is a different person today. I would be surprised to learn otherwise. But the person she killed is the same–dead. And if our justice system were the least bit timely, she would not have had nearly this many years of life. Hezekiah the king prayed earnestly and had 15 more years added to his life, but a criminal worthy of death gets almost the same amount that that righteous man got.
Anyway, she had the opportunity for salvation, and if she availed herself of it, she will be far better off than remaining in this world. I have no pleasure in her death, but the Scriptures make it clear that it is necessary to teach respect for life and accountability for one’s actions.
Fortunately, because it has discarded capital punishment, Wisconsin doesn’t get caught up in spectacles such as the one that surrounded Tucker. The legislature must keep Wisconsin death-penalty-free.
Yes, how fortunate for Wisconsin that there are no spectacles, such as Jeffrey Dahmer being beaten to death in prison. Tell us, Mr. Editor, was anyone ever arrested, tried, and convicted for that “non-spectacle”? And if he was, what kind of punishment will be given to the inmate already serving life imprisonment? Imagine arresting someone who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole who has just murdered again and knows he cannot be executed! “Man, you’re in big trouble now.” Such is truly a spectacle.
Then there is the letter from Paris pointing out that 100 countries have abolished the death penalty and that the United States is one of 93 remaining countries who have not as yet done so–along with Iraq and China.
The last paragraph of this insulting editorial reads:
But as Robert Badinter said when he obtained the abolition of the death penalty in France in 1981: nothing can justify “a justice that kills.”
Nothing? Perhaps Mr. Badinter is unfamiliar with God, who said that killing murderers is justice (Gen. 9:5-6).
In the last month I have seen countless pictures of the smiling, sweet-looking and arm-waving religious lady.Now I want to see the pictures of the two dead bodies she murdered. Let the people look at the pictures of the pickax still sticking in the hacked bloody body where she left it. Let the people see the ugly visual pictures as well as the sweet ones.
In the 14 years since the murder while Ms. Tucker was smiling and making friends, where have the victims been (Glenn Powell, The Dallas Morning News, 2-8-98, page 3J)?
A news story from the Denton Record-Chronicle did detail the crime that was committed.
Ms. Tucker and a companion, Daniel Garrett, were convicted of killing Jerry Lynn Dean, 27, and Deborah Thornton, 32, on June 13, 1983.Garrett beat Dean with a hammer, and Ms. Tucker used a 15-pound pickax to stop Dean from making a gurgling sound. Then Ms. Tucker attacked Mrs. Thornton, who had been hiding under a blanket. Ms. Tucker told friends she experienced a sexual thrill each time she swung the ax.
Garrett was sentenced to death, but died in prison in 1993 of liver disease (2-4-98, 9A).
The media devoted a great deal of attention to this case because the last woman executed in Texas was in 1863, and the last woman executed, period, was in 1984 (9A).
To be sure, her mother was a failure as a human being and should herself be punished. But even this depraved background is no excuse for murder.
Pope John Paul II and Pat Robertson tried to intercede for her. Robertson attributed the execution to “vengeance,” and said, in light of her purported conversion, “It makes no sense. This is not the same woman who committed those crimes” (DRC, 4-4-98, 9A).
Had Judas lived 14 years after his betrayal of Jesus, could not the same be said of him? Who is not different after 14 years? Our justice system needs reforming badly to allow a convicted murderer to live so long without being put to death. The argument about a murderer’s rehabilitation, which is often made, is irrelevant. Neither Tucker nor any other criminal is given the death penalty for purposes of rehabilitation; they are given it because they have merited it.
The sad truth is that many Americans do not want to hold anyone–even a criminal–accountable for her actions, particularly if she apologizes or says she has changed. How many prisoners would not claim to be rehabilitated if it meant a lesser sentence?
This too is extreme; many stray from the Biblical pattern of forgiveness. Some are willing to forgive when no one has repented, and some cannot forgive when a person has repented. The Bible teaches that we must forgive WHEN a person repents. Tucker should be forgiven; if she was insincere, God will judge her.
But to return to Horton’s comments, she also becomes extreme. She says: “I thought we had moved past the days of flogging and hanging someone in the town square while the citizenry observed” and “Can we honestly say a parent who brings his child to an execution is acting in a civilized manner? I hope not” (6J). (TDMN, 1-15-98, 6J). What, exactly, is wrong with the populace seeing what happens to those who commit capital crimes? What better way to instill the fact that society requires accountability for one’s actions? It should be a grim event (not one of “raucous celebration”)–but one that impresses upon young people the penalty for wrongdoing.