Should This Man Still Be Executed?
Claiming his client is "on the verge of death" with advanced lung cancer that has spread to his brain and his hip bone, defense attorney David Autry told the five-member Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that his client's life should be spared.
Jimmy Dale Bland is to be executed June 26 for the Nov. 14, 1996, murder of 62-year-old Doyle Windle Rains 11 years ago.
Even if the 49-year-old were not executed, doctors have said Bland has as little as six months to live, Autry said.
He said Bland's death sentence should be commuted out of "simple decency and mercy for a person who is terminally ill and is going to die anyway."
Why is this even an issue? He was found guilty of murder, he was sentenced to death, he's had over 10 additional years to be alive. Stick a fork in the guy. He's done.
We felt the same about Tookie Williams, the black gang banger who started the The Crips from the streets of South Central Los Angeles.Known for being a straight-out thug, Tookie later turned his life around in prison and was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-gang work.
His defense was that he didn't commit the heinous 1979 murders of four Asians he was accused of, despite an incredible amount of evidence to the contrary.
From Jesse Jackson and Desmond Tutu, to celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Jamie Foxx (who portrayed Tookie in a television movie), efforts to save him Williams were to no avail. The 51 year-old was taken out on December 21, 2005.
By the way, the board voted 5-0 to deny clemency to Jimmy Dale Bland!