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Feb. 16, 2006 The article is: “Carlie Brucia's Killer Pleads for His Life”, Tuesday, February 14, 2006, which opens: “A weeping Joseph Smith apologized Tuesday for the abduction, rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia two years ago, telling a judge he had taken large amounts of cocaine and heroin that day in hopes of killing himself.” Mr. Smith offered his tears and an apology. He is asking that his own life be spared however. Quote: “Smith told Circuit Judge Andrew Owens, who will sentence Smith to death or life in prison that "I do not ask for mercy for myself. The only thing I can see to give me a life sentence is for my family. I do not want to see them hurt any further." It is good that Mr. Smith is not asking mercy for himself. He gave none to the 11-year-old child he raped and murdered. That was enough to bring great hurt upon his family. The way to ease the hurt of everyone now is to own up to the killing and submit to death in a final act of selflessness. To continue to live is to continually remind all the hurt parties that Carlie did not get the justice she deserved. When Mr. Smith determined he would kill, he determined his own life wasn’t worth any more breath. Smith admitted he “wanted to die that day” and that he had taken drugs to try to kill himself. He didn’t take enough. He failed to kill himself so he killed someone else weaker and more fragile than him. Smith said: "I take responsibility of my crimes." And that is an important statement. Being high on drugs is not an excuse for killing. There is no excuse for the rape and murder of a child. Ten members of the jury agreed he should be executed for the crime. This is a case where there is no doubt. There is admission and there is a history of uncorrected drug use. It does not matter how many times Mr. Smith sought help. It does not matter whether he was turned away from help or received inadequate help. All twelve step programs involve admitting you have a problem and working out a desire to correct the problem. Mr. Smith allowed his situation to deteriorate to the point of child abduction, rape and murder. It is important that Mr. Smith be executed. To allow tears and an apology to stave off what is surely warranted only shows mercy to the killer. It does nothing to offer justice on behalf of the victim or the friends and family of the murdered. We also have to beware those who are looking for the right precedent. Those who want to harm children are looking hard to see if Mr. Smith manages to survive his sentence. Could they too claim that a history of drug use took them past sanity and civility into the culture of death? And what of Mr. Smith’s 13 previous drug offenses? After 13 offenses why wasn’t this fellow at least behinds the walls of some sanitarium to dry out? How many laws had he previously broken that should have put him behind the bars that might have kept him from such a heinous act? No. There are no excuses here. Joseph Smith needs to be put down. We do not need precedent. We need an example of punishment that fits the crime. ------------ About the Author: Michael John McCrae has contributed over 500 articles to Useless-Knowledge.com. Email: macswordV@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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