"In Texas barbaric laws prevail…"

Sean-Paul Kelly who writes at the Agonist lost his best friend, Michael LaHood, in August 1996. LaHood was murdered by Mauriceo Brown. So, why is Kenneth Foster, Jr., who killed no one, scheduled to be executed by the state on August 30th?

You can read the tragic tale in Kelly’s own words at the Agonist. Now Kelly not only suffers from the loss of his best friend, he is also twisted in agony over the unjust state sponsored murder of Kenneth Foster, Jr.

Here is something Kelly wrote a few years ago that should give us all pause:

Whenever people ask me about the death penalty I always reply: when you make it to the Pearly Gates, and Saint Peter asks, “justice or mercy?” Which will you choose?

Usually they sputter or blurt something out like, “the death penalty doesn’t have anything to do with that.” I reply, “the death penalty has everything to do with that. You just can’t see it.”

Then they say, “what if it happened to someone you know.” And I reply, “In 1996 one of my best friends, Michael LaHood was murdered. And I don’t want his killer to die. I want his killer to repent. And then spend the rest of his life in prison helping other prisoners with less onerous sentences to see the light.”

That’s when they say, “you’re a softy, wishy-washy feel-good, self-helping liberal wimp.” By that time its too late to ask them, “what requires more courage: revenge or forgiveness?”

I prefer mercy, wimp or not.