death penalty news--GEORGIA, CALIFORNIA
Monday, 4-27-98--
GEORGIA:
The following is an editorial from today's Atlanta Constitution:
Fight eye-for-eye impulse
(The Atlanta Constitution Editorial Board)
Texas has a reputation for a rough-and-tumble brand of politics that
sometimes turns kooky. It also is the nation's hands-down leader in
imposing the death penalty, having accounted for half the executions
carried out in the United States last year.
Mix those 2 characteristics together, and out pops proposals such as the
1 put forth by Texas state Rep. Jim Pitts. The Republican wants to apply
death sentences to children as young as 11.
Unfortunately, Pitts' idea can't be dismissed as mere Texas craziness.
It represents an extreme example of a increasingly common reaction to
juvenile crime, especially to sensational cases such as the Arkansas
ambush shooting, in which 2 boys, ages 11 and 13, are accused of gunning
down 4 schoolmates and a teacher. Around the country, such outrages have
inspired demands for tougher penalties for children who commit crimes.
The drumbeat for punishment is drowning out reasoned calls for
prevention of juvenile crime.
Death sentences for 11-year-olds (Pitts would actually delay the
execution until the offender turns 17) will get nowhere in Texas. But
Pitts claims letters he received about the proposal ran 5-to-1 in favor
of it. And instead of dismissing it as crazy, Gov. George W. Bush
opposed the idea by stressing his support for executing 17-year-olds.
In addition, California Gov. Pete Wilson has said he would consider
allowing execution of 14-year-olds, and New Mexico Gov. Gary E. Johnson
says 13 wouldn't be too young.
20 states already have set the minimum age for execution at 16, the
standard endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The United States is 1 of
only 6 countries in the world allowing the execution of juveniles.
Our increasingly punitive policies toward young offenders -- including
the practices of trying children as adults and incarcerating them in
adult jails -- are driven by fear and irrationality. Incidents such as the
Arkansas shootings get attention, stir emotions and bring about changes
in the law. Meanwhile, serious violent crime by juveniles is dropping,
and the efficacy of funding juvenile prevention programs is being proved.
Becoming a society that kills children will not transform us into a
society in which children do not kill. Children who are raised with
no understanding of the consequences of violence or of the value of life
won't be deterred by the idea of having to pay with their own lives. The
solution is to provide all children the means and opportunities to become
law-abiding, productive adults, not to wait until they've gone horribly
wrong and then declare them adults.
(source: Atlanta Constitution)
CALIFORNIA:
On the last morning of officer David Chetcuti's life, he had parked his
big police motorcycle at Millbrae's Taylor Field to watch the local kids
play baseball.
Chetcuti was that kind of cop, that kind of guy.
"Give him an hour, and he'd give you 10," John Aquilina, a high school
buddy, said yesterday. "He'd mow people's lawns, he'd help paint a house
or put up wallboard."
His last act was in keeping with how he lived: The 43-year- old Millbrae
motorcycle officer was gunned down moments after leaving the ballpark
Saturday morning, when he answered a call for back-up from a San Bruno
officer.
Officer Seann Graham had pulled over a blue Chevrolet with expired
registration at the Millbrae Avenue exit of nearby Highway 101, in the
shadow San Francisco International Airport.
The 1st radio call was for routine back-up. It isn't known if Chetcuti
heard a more desperate call for help, when 43-year-old Marvin Patrick
Sullivan -- a San Francisco truck driver with a history of violence and
an apparent hatred of police -- allegedly began firing a high-powered
rifle at Graham. The San Bruno policeman dove for cover behind his car,
then into a drainage ditch, where he successfully dodged a fusillade from
Sullivan's semi-automatic rifle, police said.
Chetcuti was hit almost as soon as he arrived. At least 40 rounds were
fired from Sullivan's weapon, which was apparently home-built and looked
like an AR-15, police said. Several rounds pierced Chetcuti's
bulletproof vest, Police Chief Michael Parker said yesterday.
A search by San Mateo County Sheriff's Deputies at Sullivan's hotel room
in San Francisco's South of Market district uncovered rifle parts,
gunpowder, blasting caps and other bomb-making paraphernalia, Parker said.
When California Highway Patrol officers stopped Sullivan in a parking lot
on the Hayward side of the San Mateo Bridge, 4 crude pipe bombs tumbled
out of the Chevrolet, which also carried a cache of guns. Police say he
has confessed to the shooting. Sullivan was being held yesterday in San
Mateo County Jail.
Investigators kept a tight lid yesterday on information involving
Sullivan's background, or possible reasons why he was so heavily armed.
But sources said he had an extensive criminal record involving guns,
drugs and attacking police officers.
A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections said no
information on Sullivan's prison record would be available until today.
However, investigators said he had enough convictions on his record to
qualify for a 3-strikes lifetime prison sentence if convicted of killing
Chetcuti.
Sullivan could also face the death penalty if convicted of all the
charges possible in Saturday's slaying.
The tragedy appeared to fit an increasingly disturbing pattern of risk
for police officers since the 3-strikes law was passed in the early
1990s. Statistics in recent years have shown that ex-convicts who clash
with police and have at least 2 convictions on their record have become
mor likely to try to kill the officers rather than risk arrest and a
possible 3-strikes conviction.
Stunned Millbrae residents -- many of them, like Chetcuti, of Maltese
heritage -- built a shrine of flowers yesterday.
Flags flew at half-staff all over town. He was the 1st police officer in
the history of Millbrae, a small town of 21,000, to fall in the line of
duty.
"He was the most well-liked officer in the department, and in the
community," said officer Richard Dixon, who remembers training Chetcuti
when he joined the 27- member force 11 years ago.
Chetcuti leaves a wife, Gail, and three sons: David, age 17; John, 14;
and Rick, 11. Millbrae police have set up a trust fund for the family.
Friends and fellow officers described Chetcuti as a remarkable community
man, dedicated to his job, his family and his neighbors.
Family members say Chetcuti always wanted to be a police officer, was
living his dream, and passing that ambition on to the kids of Millbrae.
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
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Private reply: Rick Halperin <rhalperi@post.cis.smu.edu>
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