Religion
Related: About this forumUtah man closer to death by firing squad after losing appeal
Source: Associated Press
By BRADY McCOMBS
August 12, 2019
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A Utah death row inmate featured in the popular book Under the Banner of Heaven after killing his sister-in-law and her child for resisting his polygamist beliefs inched closer to becoming the first American to be executed by firing squad in nearly a decade after losing his latest appeal Monday.
Ron Lafferty could be executed as soon as next year after his latest legal setback, said Andrew Peterson, assistant solicitor general at the Utah attorney generals office.
Laffertys lawyer, Dale Baich, said in an email that he will use all options to challenge the ruling and will likely ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
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Lafferty was convicted in the 1984 slayings of his sister-in-law and her baby daughter, which he carried out with his brother. He claimed to get a revelation from God to kill the two because of her resistance to his fundamentalist beliefs in polygamy.
His case became well known nationwide when it was included in Jon Krakauers 2003 book about radical offshoots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Krakauer also wrote the popular books Into Thin Air and Into the Wild.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/d03ed571c01f4df59d497b497c4a2361
emmaverybo
(8,147 posts)execution sounds less civilized and clinical than other forms, but I doubt is any more psychologically horrific or painful. I would rather see LWOP be the maximum sentence and it, in the case of heinous crimes, should be handed down more frequently, but good riddance. To think of this woman trying to protect her baby and self from his brother and his predatory religious practices and then at the time of death. Mental cruelty.
edhopper
(34,810 posts)What is the point? Jeez our country is barbaric.
Major Nikon
(36,900 posts)Virtually the entire rest of the civilized world has done away with the death penalty.
edhopper
(34,810 posts)I don't hear much about deterrence any more re the death penalty.
it is usually about "justice" for the victims, which is just revenge.
Major Nikon
(36,900 posts)Along with every other pro-death penalty argument which is allegedly based on reason.
edhopper
(34,810 posts)that doesn't stop them from using debunked arguments for gun control, climate change, tax cuts.......
Major Nikon
(36,900 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Save hundreds of millions of dollars, and eliminate the risk of mis-application.
Done and done.
Cartoonist
(7,531 posts)When Kamala was DA, she chose not to pursue the death penalty for a cop killer. This drove the cops nuts. I thought it was an act of courage.
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)A frightening read if ever there was one.