You’re familiar with the phenomenon of “Suicide By Cop.” Below, however, is a situation that may serve as a troubling forecast for another developing phenomenon: “Suicide By The Criminal Justice System.”
In the following article, you will read of the murderous lengths to which an inmate was willing to go to earn the death penalty in order to avoid serving his full life sentence. In this instance, he murdered a fellow inmate, but it’s certainly clear that his target could just as well have been a corrections officer, law enforcement officer or other prison worker, as one of those quoted in the article points out.
In light of this, we would like to hear your thoughts on how -- if at all -- situations like the one detailed below could be avoided. Can the criminal justice system prevent inmates from pursuing the death penalty by committing murder behind bars? Is there a way that in the face of a life sentence, an inmate could be prevented from using another crime as a catalyst to end his life sentence and be sentenced to death? We’d like to know what you think ...
Share your thoughts on this issue: visit the Police1 Forum.
For more information on “suicide by cop”, Police1 recommends the new book, “Suicide By Cop: Inducing Officers To Shoot” by Vivian B. Lord and published by Looseleaf Law Publications (available by calling 800-647-5547 or e-mailing llawpub@erols.com or via website).
Florida Executes Man Who Wanted Death Sentence
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) -- Florida executed a man Wednesday who strangled a fellow prisoner to get a death sentence rather than serve a life term for sexually assaulting a child.
John Blackwelder, 49, was executed by chemical injection at the Florida State Prison near Starke for the 2000 murder of inmate Raymond Wigley.
He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. ET, said Jacob DiPietre, a spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush.
Blackwelder had a history of criminal convictions and was sentenced to life without parole in 1998 for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy, a crime he said he did not commit.
He said he wanted to die but could not bring himself to commit suicide and that he strangled Wigley in order to force the state to execute him.
Blackwelder pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and told the judge at his sentencing hearing that if returned to prison he would kill “as many times as necessary” to be put to death.
“I’m stuck in prison the rest of my life. There’s no way of getting out. I’m not being in there. I can’t handle it,” Blackwelder told the judge.
He had been scheduled to die on Tuesday, the 25th anniversary of Florida’s resumption of capital punishment. On May 25, 1979, John Spenkelink became the first prisoner Florida put to death after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital punishment.
But the governor delayed the execution for 24 hours to investigate another prisoner’s claim that someone else had confessed to Wigley’s murder.
State investigators found no reason to doubt Blackwelder’s guilt and Bush allowed the execution to proceed.
Wigley, also serving a life sentence, was convicted of raping, torturing and murdering 47-year-old Adella Maria Simmons in 1983.
Death penalty opponents said executing Blackwell would send a dangerous message to all prisoners serving life sentences.
“The message goes out to every lifer in the state,” said Abe Bonowitz, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “If you don’t like your life in prison, kill a prison worker or kill a fellow inmate and the state will assist in your suicide.”
Death penalty critics said Blackwelder is the seventh Florida prisoner to “volunteer” for execution in recent years. Others, including serial killer Aileen Wournos and anti-abortion activists Paul Hill, dropped appeals guaranteed under Florida’s death penalty statute.
A total of 911 executions have taken place in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court approved the death penalty in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Blackwelder was the 59th executed in Florida since then.
Texas, with 322, has the most among the 38 states with the death penalty, followed by Virginia’s 91, Oklahoma’s 73, Missouri’s 61, and 59 in Florida.