Interesting case I just saw on the news

[kosar]

Guy on death row in Indiana. Will be executed in 7 days. There will be no stays. He's being put to death in 7 days, period.

His sister needs a liver. He wants to give her his liver, pending tests.

Couple of things going on here.

The state will not pay for compatibility tests.

Besides that, it's against state law to 'execute' him this way, as you obviously can't live without a liver.

Execution in Indiana is lethal injection, so his liver would be useless after the poisoning.

Any 'partial' transplant, that would allow the death row guy to live until his execution, would severely reduce the recipient's chance for survival.

This is not a political situation, just an interesting one.

They (MSNBC) had someone on who said it was just a ploy by the guy to stay alive a few weeks longer and she(the 'expert') asked why he didn't offer this before.

It seems obvious to me that he waited until his last appeal was spent, and accepted that he was gonna die, and then deicded to save his sisters life. But they won't let him.

Interesting situation, I thought.

 

[StevieD]

I bet the Right to Lifers will find something wrong with this.

 

[dr. freeze]

you dont find anything wrong with manipulating the justice system?

 

[dr. freeze]

Governor should step in and

1. Get state to pay for compatibility test (this should only cost a few hundred dollars good grief)
2. Get legislators to overturn law which says he cannot be put to death after harvesting the liver (knock him out, harvest the liver, give him one final dose of anesthesia)

Let justice be served and his sister be saved.

Unfortunately, we do not have leaders who employ common sense anymore.

 

[djv]

Yes on this one lets see how big the need is when. They tell him his sentence will be cared out 3 days after the operation.

 

[kosar]

I totally agree, Freeze.

Also, I was thinking the same thing. How much could it possibly cost for a compatibility test? You mentioned a few hundred dollars. You would know better than me, but it sounds reasonable.

To me, this is sick that they will 'maybe-probably' allow a woman to die before her time just so this guy can live another few days, especially since he specified that he wanted to save his sister.

Stevie,

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with the 'Right to Lifers.'

 

[kosar]

Yes on this one lets see how big the need is when. They tell him his sentence will be cared out 3 days after the operation.

Dave,

I have no idea wtf you're saying.

 

[gardenweasel]

the judicial system lets people die all the time...guilty/innocent...doesn`t matter...

remember?...

i`d venture to say that the guy`s lawyer probably advised him to do it this way.....

telling the guy to wait until all his appeals were used up.....not to help the guy....but,to extract every last dime out of case that this shyster possibly could...

that sounds a little more believable to my jaded as-.....

 

[dr. freeze]

of course it is a lawyer maneuver

blind bats like StevieD cannot see that far though

they couldnt care less if the justice system is manipulated and think that the best lawyer maneuvers should yield to reason and justice

the courts have been sabotaged and this is why we have ridiculous situations like this happening all the time that are carried out in only the lawyers best interest...they are the ones who write and interpret the law and who are systematically bringing down the country

 

[kosar]

the judicial system lets people die all the time...guilty/innocent...doesn`t matter...

remember?...

i`d venture to say that the guy`s lawyer probably advised him to do it this way.....

telling the guy to wait until all his appeals were used up.....not to help the guy....but,to extract every last dime out of case that this shyster possibly could...

that sounds a little more believable to my jaded as-.....

Well, yeah. As I mentioned earlier, he probably waited until the last possible moment to make this choice. But to me, that doesn't change the fact that this lady shouldn't be 'penalized.' Give her the GD liver!

I don't blame the guy for waiting until all his appeals were up, but let's give him the choice to sacrifice a couple days of his useful life to help prolong his sisters.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

I'd say take his liver for the sister and let nature take its course on him--what they spend on test they will save on cost of lethal injection --just kidding--but do think she should get liver--

 

[djv]

Kosar it my old dumb way I was trying to say lets see the need If he knows it's not a partial and he dies tomorrow and the talk stops. I wish things were not so complicated in the world and he could give the liver and just die. But some folks have to make so much noise about nothing.

 

[bjfinste]

An update... this just just awful, sad and pathetic. They guy was going to die no matter what.... only difference was when in a 90-day span.

Parole Board Recommends Against Clemency

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Parole Board voted unanimously Friday against a death-row inmate's request that his execution be delayed so he can donate part of his liver to an ailing sister.

The board recommended that Gov. Mitch Daniels deny Gregory Scott Johnson's request for clemency or a 90-day reprieve from his execution, scheduled for early Wednesday.

Johnson, who was convicted of the 1985 murder of 82-year-old Ruby Hutslar, said he wants time to donate part of his liver to his 48-year-old sister, Debra Otis, who lives in an Anderson nursing home.

Board member Randall Gentry suggested that media attention over the transplant issue had caused some to drift from the basic facts of the case ? that Johnson had "admitted to the beating and brutal stomping death of a defenseless elderly lady."

Johnson, 40, was convicted of breaking into Hutslar's Anderson home, beating and stomping on her, then setting a fire to hide his crime. The state has said he admitted to the killing but changed his story after his conviction.

During a hearing before the board Monday, Johnson denied killing Hutslar but said he was in the house with an accomplice and set the fire.

The state attorney general's office took no position on the reprieve request, but said Johnson was clearly guilty and that his death sentence should be carried out.

Johnson's attorneys argue that he should be granted clemency on several grounds. Among other things, they said his case was not fully reviewed by the federal courts because an original appeal request was filed one day late. They also say prosecutors did not turn over certain evidence to defense attorneys before trial.

Michelle Kraus, one of Johnson's attorneys, said her client's blood type matches his sister's. She said that could make his liver compatible with Otis, but more time was needed to explore medical and ethical questions about such a transplant.

"He is trying to do something good," she said. "He has struggled to find good in his life."

Julie Woodard, Hutslar's great niece, said she did not wish any harm to Johnson's sister. But if Johnson were allowed to donate the liver, she said, "He is going to be remembered more as a hero for saving his sister than for this brutal murder."

Johnson's mother, Alice Newman, said she was devastated by the board's recommendation, but added that her son recently told her he is prepared to die if clemency is denied.

"I sometimes think that he'd be better off being put to death as he is staying in a little cubicle cell the rest of his life," Newman said.

 

[dr. freeze]

im sure he had 90 days prior to his lawyer maneuver to make this decision

one has to ask why he waited until now?

 

[StevieD]

Why is it so important to kill him on time? Why can't his sister have the liver? I am sure his lawers had something to do with it but what am I missing? He will still be dead when all the dust clears.

 

[dr. freeze]

why is it important to not let the lawyers turn our justicie system into a fiasco?

why must justice be the first and foremost purpose of our courts?

why you ask?

hmmm....are you kdding me?

this bum had YEARS to donate his liver and he and his lawyers waited to pull off this stunt at the expense of our justice system

This actually is a CLEAR example why we CAN NOT have liberals sabotaging the court system any longer

they put "feeling and emotion" over justice, precedent, responsibility, and accountability

we cannot let lawyer maneuvers continue to trump justice and its enforcement in our courts...plain and simple

i even agreed that the reasonable thing to do woudl be to allow the transplant to take place, BUT upon looking closer one has to realize that the convicted put himself and his sister in this position along with his lawyers....

therein lies the blame...let justice prevail