The Death Penalty - Does it Work?
I know that this might stir up a major debate but I don't think of it as being Politcal as much as a social issue.
Exclusive: Convicted killer speaks out the night before his execution
For those of you who don't want to register, I'll Copy & Paste here:
Quote:
Twenty years ago, he murdered a father of two and Thursday night he is set to die for his crime. Hours before his execution, Troy Kunkle sat down to speak for the first and only time since his arrest.
Kunkle has spent more than 7,000 nights on death row, but Wednesday will be his last. On Wednesday, he gave a glimpse into the mind of a murderer before his execution.
Kunkle says he has never stopped fighting for a chance at life, even after spending 19 years on death row.
"Hope is really something that's kept me going the last 20 years," Kunkle said. "Somebody who doesn't have hope I guess wants to die."
On the night of August 12, 1984, Kunkle, then 18, wanted to kill. Drunk and high, the former Roosevelt High School student and four friends drove to Corpus Christi. Kunkle robbed 31-year-old Stephen Horton of $13 and put a bullet in his head.
He gained infamy afterwards as "the killer with no remorse," after reciting lyrics from the song "No Remorse" by Metallica after he committed murder.
Asking him if he has remorse now, Kunkle says, is saying that he didn't have remorse then.
"Well to be honest with you, it was basically a situation where a juvenile mistake made with juvenile peer pressure," Kunkle said.
It's that argument Kunkle's defense attorney made after his conviction. They say the jury never had a chance to consider his troubled childhood with abusive and mentally ill parents.
He doesn't believe he was given a fair trial.
"Honestly, no I don't, really," he said.
Right now, Kunkle's hope comes from experience. This will be his second date with death. In July, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an eleventh-hour stay of execution.
But that stay was lifted in October, and Kunkle is now out of appeals.
As he looks toward the death chamber, he reflects on an adult life spend entirely behind bars.
"I have to look at myself in the mirror every day. I have to look at my mother's tears when she comes to visit," Kunkle said. "There's nothing about this to be proud of. Really, it's a shame and embarrassment, to be honest with you."
And for the inmate who says he's reformed and found God he knows what his final thought will be.
"I'm hoping that I will be forgiven," Kunkle said.
The Horton family says they will not attend the execution, but say it is a just price and that they have no remorse.
Stephen Horton was a really good friend of mine. And he was killed as a result of this random violent crime. Testimony came out in court that this scumbag and his buddies were doing LSD and drinking loads of beer. They had already robbed some tourists out at Padre Island and went into Corpus Christi looking for somebody else to rob. They came across Steve walking home from a pool hall and picked him up. This Kunkel character was egging on one of his buddies to go ahead and shoot Steve but this other guy didn't want to do it. So, Kunkel snatched the gun from the hand of the other guy, put the barrel up to Steve's head and pulled the trigger. They dumped his body unceremoniously on the side of the road after getting the grand total of $13 from this wallet.
It is still hard talking about it.
They caught up to him later after an undercover cop heard him bragging about wasting somebody down in Corpus. He sure wasn't feeling any remorse then.
At the time, I thought that the Death Penalty was justified in this case. I've been looking forward to it happening but now that it's arrived, I just don't know any more. It has been twenty years now and it seems to have been forgotten by most if not all of society.
Is the Death Penalty serving it's function as a deterrent to violent crime? I would like to think so. But I think it is one of those things that will never definitely be answered one way or the other.
