You Have To Laugh or You Will Go Nuts
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Most every profession, job, or field of work I have ever encountered tends to have their own version of private humor. You know, inside jokes, sort of like stories that cops only tell cops and doctors only tell doctors, that kind of thing. It tends to be that way because other folks may not actually understand the ha ha in the story not having been in that particular situation before.
I remember overhearing my drill instructors at Pariss Island roaring with laughter one night when I was standing night watch. As I listened closer they were laughing at how stupid we (the recruits) had looked going down this rope they call the “Slide for Life” when they would scream “Attention” at us. This, of course, required us to turn loose of the rope with was said “Slide for Life” which then caused us to fall some fifteen or twenty feet into a pond of muddy water. At that particular time I really didn’t see the humor in it but on a later visit to the Island I got quite a kick out of watching others do it. So, I guess it was all in one’s perspective. But, that is just an example of what some in my consulting field call gallows humor because we tend to deal with dead people and other people who soon may be dead people.
I work with criminal defense attorneys who are defending indigent clients charged with capital murder as an investigator, crime scene re-constructionist, mitigation specialist, case manager, and chief cook and bottle washer if necessary. Indigents in Alabama get the bare minimum required by law and nothing more. I have been doing these cases for almost 25 years and I must admit they can really wear on you. Unlike what most people think the defendants are not monsters; well, the majority are not anyway, and the goal of the defense team is not to get killers off scott-free.
Just because a person is charged with capital murder does not mean that the crime he or she committed was capital murder. Capital murder requires specific circumstances to be met so that the state can get permission to kill the defendant. Prosecutors tend to charge people with capital murder every chance they get. But, they don’t always take all the circumstances into account like they should. The following is an actual case and is an example: (of course, the names, places, events, etc. have been changed to protect, blah, blah, blah, you know the drill)
Frank was actually a very pleasant man. Middle aged, African-American, seemingly in good physical health and was what most people felt, a gentle giant. Standing 6’5” and weighing about 275 pounds Frank was an imposing figure. I remember thinking at one point that when he walked through a doorway it seemed as if he blocked out the entire outside light. But Frank was a forgotten victim of a war this country did not want to remember. His life had become an existence between episodes of flashbacks of combat in the jungles of Vietnam. The medication provided by the Veteran’s Administration helped but at times Frank forgot to take it. During those times he could be seen hiding in bushes around his parent’s home as if enemy soldiers were looking for him. I was told by neighbors that he had been known to assault his father when his father had gone out to get him out of the bushes because he thought he was a Vietnam Soldier.
One night things got out of hand. When Frank’s father went outside to check on him he had taken a pistol, although no one really knows why. Frank took the pistol from his father and shot him twice killing him. Frank then ran into the house and shot his mother killing her. The neighbors called the police and when they got there Frank was sitting in the living room floor holding his mother’s body.
In the State of Alabama killing two people in essentially the same action meets the criteria to be charged and convicted of capital murder. This could lead to a person being sentenced to death. Frank was charged with capital murder. In such a case it is not about getting the defendant off it is about saving their life. Would a jury sentence Frank to death? I don’t know because I had the perfect mitigation point. You can’t sentence this man to death because…
…he’s an orphan.
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I agree with the spirit of the article that humor, black humor, is important in the world of first responders, and I also found this story humorous, but I am disturbed to think the author found this murderer to be a sad case. He’s a murdering killer who should have been executed.
hstrybuff, I guess I can try to understand your feelings but I don’t believe in capital punishment. I believe that it demeans our society as a whole when we kill people to show other people that it is wrong to kill people. In Frank’s case we can thank the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense who put so many young men in those god awful positions and taught them to kill in Vietnam, a place they should have never been in the first place. It is much the same as the young people coming back from Iraq these days with PTSD. The law did not excuse what he did, but America never seemed to give a damn what it had done to him. I had many buddies that came back from there with the same problems as Frank. Some killed themselves, some killed others, some just lived in the hell that was left of their mind. As I pointed out, the circumstances of these cases have to be looked at on a case by case basis.
If your screen name implies that you are a true history buff then you should know that executions have never deterred murders of any type and certainly none of this type. Unless of course you are seeking vengeance and then I would ask, “What is your standing to seek vengeance in this case?” After all of the trauma he was dealing with from the war he also had to live with the fact that he killed his mother and father in one of his traumatic rages. Whatever lucid moments he had before was most likely taken from him.
You are correct. The death penalty is unconscionable in a civilized society but then again America is not a civilized society. When I responded to you earlier it was from anger and a vengeful heart. I apologize to you sir for my comment, as it was neither right, correct or proper. I hope you can forgive me.
No problem hstrybuff.
Like Mr. Formby, I also do not believe the death penalty to be appropriate, but in addition to his reasons, I add the irrevocable nature of capital punishment. Enough prisoners on Illinois’ death row were found to be wrongly convicted to compel then governor George Ryan to impose a moritorium, commuting all on death row to life sentences.
It is bad enough for someone to lose years of one’s life, and very likely their home, family and livlihood to a false conviction, but at least some compensation can be granted. When you kill a prisoner later found to have been innocent, you have the state committing murder with a collective guilt borne by all citizens. The kill-happy state of Texas is notorious for providing questional defense for accused who end up on death row and governors who are quick to order the executions.
I know that if I wanted to commit a random murder and might get caught, I would do it in a state that does execute, because I value what little freedom I have left and would rather face death than years and years of confinement, but that’s just me.
E.A. Ryan placed that moratorium after 17 men on death row had been found factually innocent of the crimes they were charged with. 13 of them had given false confession to the Chicago Police Department.
Just FYI. I called a friend this morning just to check. Frank passed away a couple of years ago at secure medical facility very peacefully.
Good story Bill. You are clearly a “spin” master 🙂 and could learn a lot from how you think.
Thank you Carol though not really a spin. Every word is true. To this day we still call it the “Orphan Case.”
HA HA!! Funny and perfect for a dreary Tuesday morning. Thank you Bill.
Thank you Peeler. Glad to brighten a dreary day.