Sin or Justified?

Sometime ago, there was a thread posted about whether suicide is a sin or a right. What about in this case? He was on Death Row in Texas, scheduled to be executed tonight but instead took his life before lethal injection did.

LIVINGSTON, Texas - A death-row inmate slit his own throat with a makeshift knife early Thursday, committing suicide about 15 hours before he was scheduled to be executed, a prison official said.

Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was on death row for the 1995 killing of a convenience store clerk near Waco. Early Thursday, he slashed his own throat and arm with a makeshift blade fashioned from a small piece of metal attached to a wooden stick, said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville. Prison guards had been checking on Johnson's welfare every 15 minutes, as is customary, when they found him unresponsive in a pool of blood in his cell, Lyons said. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Livingston, where he was pronounced dead, Lyons said.

"At a 2:30 a.m. check, Mr. Johnson was talking to prison staff, and had just eaten breakfast," Lyons said. "He had made no indications that he was contemplating suicide, nor has a note or other explanation been found."

Johnson's execution had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday. His last-minute appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. His was at least the seventh suicide on death row in Texas.

In a recent prison interview, Johnson had denied gunning down 27-year-old Jeff Wetterman, who helped pump gas at the family store off Interstate 35 near Waco. Johnson blamed his companion, David Vest, for the killing. Vest blamed the shooting on Johnson, took an eight-year prison term in a plea deal and testified against his friend. Vest is now free.

Johnson would have been the 22nd Texas inmate executed this year. The state now has 390 people on death row.

Well Damn...He was getting ready to die anyway so I guess he said "To Hell with It". I still don't think he should have killed himself.

"To Hell with It"

thats exactly what he did...

It seems to me like he was trying to make a statement.

Exactly. Because obviously the lethal injection would have been less painful and gory.

as for is it justified...obviously it was to him.

Why is this news?

"I was thinking that surely he'd have done it ages ago,unless he was trying to make a point"

yeah, that too.

"but fair play to the guy,if he really was innocent,and realised he was fucked anyways...."

mmhmm. why allow yourself to be royally fucked by the people who screwed you in the first place.

everyone seems weasely in the court of law...hehehehe

I think it's a matter of dignity and self-determination. Usually people at those extremes of society have a hard time dealing with authority and its restrictions in any form on what they consider their "freedoms".

I agree a point was made.

"I was thinking that surely he'd have done it ages ago,unless he was trying to make a point,dunno how many people will see it that way,and I doubt it will affect anything really,but fair play to the guy,if he really was innocent,and realised he was fucked anyways...."

So let's assume he truly was innocent. From a Christian standpoint, didn't he commit a sin by suicide? He now has to answer to God for why he killed himself. He was convicted by a jury of his peers and he tried to get an appeal of his execution and there have been many dead man walking appeals to come through the gates at the last minute - he just got to the point of not wanting to wait any longer. If he was making a point, I don't understand really what it was. The US is a predominantly Christian nation, so many may see it as him committing a sin and not proving a point.

Anyway, my POV. How is everyone doing today?

It's your body, I say you have the right to off yourself if you want to, though you really shouldn't if people are depending on you. I say it's not a sin. As you can see I don't agree with bible humpers.

Or should I say bible fuckers?

TDA,

Aren't/Weren't you in the armed forces?

Message posted by: houstonpeach74 on 10/20/2006 8:36:17 AM ip: xxx.xxx.xxx.186
"TDA,

Aren't/Weren't you in the armed forces?"

No, not yet, but I plan on joining when I feel ready. I'm leaning towards Army, maybe eventually getting into the Rangers. I'll definately go Airborne before Rangers at some point, since Airborne training is madatory for Rangers, God willing.

I think the dudes a control freak and preferred to take his own life rather than let someone else do it.

That's all.