Carol Forsloff - FBI Uniform Crime Report released on September 13 gave good news about the national murder rate that has dropped from 5.4 (per 100,000 of population) in 2008 to 5.0 in 2009, an 8.1% decrease.
Across the United States the murder rate has dropped, with the Northeast experiencing the highest decrease at 9%. The Northeast at 3 to 4%continued to have the lowest murder rate in the country, while the South continued to have the highest (6.0, the only region above the national average).
In 2009, the South accounted for about 87% of the executions in the country. The other 13% of executions came from the Midwest, the region with the second-highest murder rate (4.6).
John Grisham, the famous novelist, now pleads for the life of Teresa Lewis, a 41-year-old grandmother... pleaded guilty to her part in the 2002 slayings of her husband and son-in-law in their rural home near Danville, which is located about 145 miles from Richmond, Virginia. Belief.net reminds the public that she has a borderline IQ of 72. Her two male co-conspirators were given life without parole.
Gov. Bob McDonnell made his decision against a stay of execution for Lewis. Her response is. "But I'm good." She responded this way to questions about her feelings the day before the scheduled execution, telling people that her love and closeness to Jesus makes a difference. Family and supporters have said she has limited intelligence and was manipulated to participate in the killing by a male co-conspirator.
Deacon Grg Kandra, a Catholic priest, responds, "We can only pray about this, and pray that those who still have the power to decide this woman's fate will search their hearts -- and choose life."
If Lewis is executed as scheduled on Thursday she will be the first woman in five years to be executed, and will die by lethal injection in Virginia, a state in the South.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say something constructive. Negative remarks and name-calling are not allowed.