You've probably heard by now about the botched execution in Oklahoma, the one in which a man died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution took place.
But did you know that the man that died of a heart attack-Clayton Lockett-shot and buried alive a 19-year old who just graduated high school and that the man who was scheduled to be executed after him-Charles Warner-raped and murdered an 11-month old baby girl? Probably not, because for some strange reason there hasn't been any TV coverage of why these two men are on death row in the first place.
In 1999, Lockett forced 19-year old Stephanie Neiman to witness one of her friends being gang raped and then ordered his accomplices to bury her alive after shooting her. Two year later, Warner raped and murdered Adriana Waller, the baby daughter of his girlfriend.
Now, I'm not saying that you are wrong if you don't believe in the death penalty. If you believe nobody should be executed no matter how heinous a crime that person commited, that's a valid opinion to have.
But I do not believe anyone should immediately start being against the death penalty because of what happened in Oklahoma without knowing all the facts.
For me, after discovering the circumstances that led these two men to be on death row, I feel that they got/are getting exactly what they deserve.
The debate about the death penalty has been going on for quite a few years now. But I believe a bigger debate needs to take place on how to prevent horrible acts like the ones Lockett and Warner committed from happening in the first place.
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