Letters to the Editors

Our lawmakers shouldn't meddle with appeals

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 7, 2000

Re: Justice requires limits on appeals in death cases, Rep. Victor D. Crist's May 11 letter.

The mantra "justice delayed is justice denied" is the stuff of demagogues. Its catchy rhythm gives it an air of succinct, incisive logic and is surely a proven vote getter. The fallacy, however, is that justice is a process, not any one single event. From apprehension of a suspect, through arraignment, subsequent trial and sentencing if a suspect is found guilty, justice is happening.

The scary part of the current rush to "kill 'em faster" is that one day you or I could stand falsely or mistakenly accused. Those who think otherwise probably also believe they will never be in a car accident or be hit by lightning or get cancer. If the day ever comes that I am erroneously accused of a crime, I would hope mechanisms are in place throughout the whole process that afford me a fair trial starting with the presumption of innocence and including time and resources to appeal an unwarranted verdict.

For the Legislature to try to design a "one size fits all" schedule for the appeals process scares me for several reasons. First, if the Legislature is willing to ignore the concept of separation of powers, what is to stop it from one day legislating against the presumption of innocence, one of the most fundamental and important concepts in our legal system?

Second, I think the judiciary is the better branch of government to be making decisions regarding the appeals process and the timeliness thereof. These are important decisions -- too important to be left to the gratuitous grandstanding of partisan politics.
-- Roger Harvey, Clearwater

Let's have quick executions

Re: The death penalty.

Rarely a week passes without the editors/writers of the St. Petersburg Times commenting on the horrors of the death penalty. In addition, numerous religious eminences and a few politicians lecture us frequently on the evil of the death penalty.

Once again, as is so often the case, the supposedly enlightened intelligentsia are dead wrong!

A perfect case is the recent killing of five innocent people at a Wendy's in New York City. The people who committed this crime should be executed expeditiously. Oh, I know, they did not mean to do it, they were on drugs, were poor, are a minority, have poor attorneys, are mentally retarded and had bad mamas or papas.

Nonsense. Recognize the fact that there are vicious and crazed killers in this world, and they should be executed. I object to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend them and keep them in prison for life at $15,000 a year. Surely this money can be spent better. In a case like this, after conviction, I like the Chinese way -- a bullet in the neck -- and the families pay for the ammo. And you bet I want revenge.

While you have the right to disagree with my solution, remember that the vast majority of citizens would like to see such a solution for these vermin -- with apologies to the actual vermin.
-- Gary Silvers, Largo

Watch out for con jobs

I was reading Mary Jo Melone's May 25 column regarding her interview with a death row inmate scheduled for lethal injection on May 31 (Behind his sure smile, a prisoner faces death). He machine-gunned two people to death in an orange grove in 1971 and in 1976 was convicted of stabbing another inmate to death. Melone ended her column regarding her interview with the words, "Somehow, he has managed to charm me."

Now here's the interesting part. I turn to the next section of your paper, and Ann Landers' column is titled Women, beware of con job by inmates.

Thank goodness, Melone was too young -- Charlie Manson would have swept her off her feet!
-- Gene Huber, Spring Hill

The court has added to the pain

I disagree with Howard Troxler's June 5 column, If Bush fought the law, who would win? The Florida Supreme Court has done everything it can to overrule or ignore the laws passed by our elected officials. The justices' tortured logic has made the ballot initiative impossible to use. They have done everything in their power to overturn death sentences handed down to obviously guilty criminals. They are not interested in setting the possibly innocent free but in getting the worst examples of humanity off the hook.

It takes 14 to 15 years to execute a murderer. Justice delayed for two-thirds of a generation is justice denied. It is like one more knife being stabbed into the heart of all the survivors and the relatives of those who did not survive. The hurt the justices have caused the people of Florida by their high-handed, arrogant behavior is immeasurable. They have no power to enact laws. That is up to our senators and representatives. They pick and chose what they want to enforce. Their actions have caused tremendous amounts of tax money to be wasted. The group that is in there now should be removed.
-- John Stark, St. Petersburg

The workings of the system

Re: If Bush fought the law, who would win? by Howard Troxler.

This was an excellent, informative article. It sorted out for those of us who have never been students of the intricacies of the state Legislature, governor and courts, how it all works -- or is supposed to work.

Legal issues aside, I cannot understand why, if the parties really wanted to, most of these cases could not be concluded in a couple of years. The reasons they don't want timely conclusions are many. The accused has the ultimate reason. Members of his/her legal team have reputations and egos at stake. The lawyers may have considerable income from the case. There is also constant pressure from those who feel very strongly that there is always a possibility of executing the wrong person, an irreversible action.

On the other side is the strong feeling of the need for swift justice, especially in cases that seem clear cut. There is a strong victims lobby. There is a lesser feeling that the system has become hopelessly entangled in legal evasions and time consuming maneuvers that serve only to assure years on the death row.
-- John E. Russell, Clearwater

Continental fork functions

Re: European dining is a cut above ours, by Howard Kleinberg, May 29.

All Europeans except most of the British, flip the fork over after cutting a small piece of meat. Holding it in their left hand, the fork then is used to cradle additional foods. The implement is designed to be held this way in either hand. Eating off the back of the fork is like digging a hole with the back of the shovel.

It must have been an English visitor that Kleinberg observed. The Parisians never eat off the back of the fork and neither do the rest of the Europeans.

How do I know this? I was born and raised in Europe and lived many years in Paris.
-- Lilo Tipton, Beverly Hills

Share your opinions

Letters for publication should be addressed to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. They also can be sent by fax to (727) 893-8675.

They should be brief and must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Please include a handwritten signature when possible.

Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length. We regret that not all letters can be published.

For e-mail users: Letters can be sent by e-mail to letters@sptimes.com. E-mail messages must be text only and cannot include attachments. If you're using a word processing program to write the message, you must use its "Save as'' function to save it as a text file, then import it into your e-mail program. Please include your return e-mail address, as well as your name, mailing address and phone number, in the text of the message.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.