Anti-death penalty attorney in US commits suicide just when her cause was gaining momentum

Anti-death penalty attorney in US commits suicide just when her cause was gaining momentum

www.iht.com

NORMAN, Oklahoma: A defense attorney who was well-known in the U.S. as an outspoken critic of lethal injection and worked passionately to save the lives of death-row inmates, has committed suicide...

...McCalmont hanged herself at her home in Norman — a suicide that stunned and baffled some of those who knew her.

"She seemed like she was on top of the world," said Dr. William Kinsinger, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist who worked with McCalmont on a capital case. "I'm absolutely dumbfounded."

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She left no suicide note.

Another person, fighting entrenched governmental policies, commits "suicide."

Hangs herself and doesn't even leave a note.

Is this "message" lost on anyone?

Does anyone have any lingering doubts as to which way this country is headed?

www.iht.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by goosdawg


Jesus. This is huge and very disconcerting. I'll look forward to hear more of this before formulating an opinion.

We lost a great woman. Flagging.

What I find rather troubling is the fact it took six days before this event even made the news.

I would venture to guess she's made a few enemies in her campaign to reform the lethal injection method of capital punishment.

What is good for the gander...

Must not be good for the goose... Perhaps this was some demonstrative attempt to re-institute the art of hanging as the method of execution in this great land. Being a strict Constitutionalists Ive always favored the noose and it's application in a public setting as the proper resolution to a death sentence. It was good enough for the founding fathers, and has historical foundation. I'm always amazed when the ALCU and various other groups will read so much into the "thoughts" of those that forged this country, but when there's indisputable empirical evidence of the mindset of those great men and it conflicts with their "more enlightened" views, it's is ignored out of hand.

I'm a big fan of the recidivism rate of those that have had the death penalty imposed upon them... 0%

reply to post by Mirthful Me


Interesting point.

Using the noose also wouldn't require any hand-wringing from the medical establishment, either, since a doctor wouldn't be required to apply the rope.

Physician Participation in Executions and Medical Ethics

All a doctor would have to do is apply the stethoscope and confirm, "Yep, they're dead."

Just so long as there's absolutely no doubt whatsoever of their guilt.

I hate to be the one to point this out, but the use of hanging to execute minority inmates would probably be frowned upon. Considering this country's past history of lynching, and the recent spat of nooses popping up, I'd say hanging as a form of capital punishment is overall a bad idea.

As for the attorney who committed suicide, who's to say it wasn't a case of depression. Dealing with death penalty cases on a regular basis is bound to carry more than a bit of stress. I only wish people facing personal struggles would get the help they need before taking such drastic actions.

Oh please. Why is it that everytime someone dies who happens to be fighting with the government over something, it's automatically a conspiracy? This is especially the case with suicides. I hate to break it to you, but people do kill themselves. And just because they may have a beef with the government does not make them immune from suicidal tendencies. NONE of us know what was going through this woman's mind. We have no idea what kind of demons she could have been battling with. Even those who were closest to her could be clueless as to her real feelings. Some people are just really good at keeping secrets and keeping their feelings to themselves.

The fact that she reportedly didn't leave a note is not surprising. Not everyone who commits suicide leaves a note. In fact, it's fairly common for a note to be absent. Suicide itself, in my opinion, is a selfish act- in the majority of cases. So expecting a note from someone who is committing a selfish act is pretty naive.

Furthermore, if the government was going to wack someone I doubt it would be this person. There are far more important things going on in the world than whether or not we use leathal injection to execute people. It's not as though this woman had some huge secret that she was about to unveil that would bring down the government, either.

I'm sure this woman found plenty of allies within the government anyway. Not everyone supports the death penalty. This is evident in the fact that we don't carry it out nearly as much as we should. But that's an argument for another day and another thread.

Some people that kill themselves don't leave notes, and some of them seem to have no reason at all. She might have not beeing dealing with the pressure of her position as well as she seemed, she might have been having second thoughts of the way she's lived her life, she might have ahd a secret drug problem, she might have been the victim of late-onset schizophrenia, or she might have just "snapped." My condolences to her family and friends. Knowing someone who has committed suicide within the last year, I can say that things like this can literally come out of nowhere.

Husband won't say anything? No note? That leads you to suspect the Government? Vigilance is great, but?

I just don't think the Government really gives a damn about whether we have a death penalty or not. They just go with the flow of Public Opinion.

cough inside job cough. The people who defend this will be hard pressed when US is dropping freedom bombs on there land how there view will change.

Since it takes about a billion years for anyone on death row to actually die, it seems to me that this woman wasted her life and her death.

Originally posted by maria_stardust
I hate to be the one to point this out, but the use of hanging to execute minority inmates would probably be frowned upon. Considering this country's past history of lynching, and the recent spat of nooses popping up, I'd say hanging as a form of capital punishment is overall a bad idea.

With all do respect, I think that regardless the skin color this is not a bad idea. I was a former law enforcement officer and saw many repeat offenders placed back out on the streets.

I don't think hanging should happen to people that are first time offenders, but when you have someone that has raped, torture and killed humans repeated times I believe it is time end the cycle.

reply to post by Realtruth


Surely it would make more sense to rehabilitate these individuals? That would end the cycle, too. Clearly something is wrong with them and should be fixed. I'm sure if something was wrong with you, you'd want to be fixed as opposed to being executed. I'm sure your family would want you to get better, too. There's no such thing as "fair suffering".

reply to post by dave420


Rubbish.

I'll tell you right now, if I EVER rape and/or kill anyone. Kill me on the spot. Don't try to fix me, I deserve to die.

And that's how I feel about others too. If your going to commit a crime you need to accept the consequences.

I'm sick and tired of people wanting to give special treatment to murderers and rapists. These people aren't little children, they don't need you to hold their hands when commit a crime.

Divergent reality...

Originally posted by dave420
Surely it would make more sense to rehabilitate these individuals? That would end the cycle, too. Clearly something is wrong with them and should be fixed. I'm sure if something was wrong with you, you'd want to be fixed as opposed to being executed. I'm sure your family would want you to get better, too. There's no such thing as "fair suffering".

And what exactly will comprise of this rehabilitation you speak of? Please provide some evidence of success in this endeavour.

As I previously indicated, the recidivism rate for those that have had the death penalty imposed upon them is 0%! A perfect record... Will your proposal guarantee the same results?

Executioner Monkeys, not just for the hanging them high anymore...

Minority "leaders" would be up in arms. I meanseeing racial injustice everywhere is easier then getting a real job. Rev. Jessie Jackson has how many illegitimate kids, working a 9-5 is not going to cover his expenses.

I agree that minority leaders would come out and say something like ...the noose was one of the worst symbols of slavery...yadda yadda yadda all while wearing a cotton shirt

reply to post by nyk537


Agreed. Murderer and rapists should be given the death penalty, no question asked. Attempting to rehabilitate is just a waste of resources -- like MM said, there's no guarantee it will work.

As for child molesters, I propose a series of public tortures followed by a public hanging. That should discourage other would-be molesters.

Jesus Christ! I can't believe there are people here that want to bring back hanging as a form of capital punishment. But then again, I guess I'm a bleeding heart "liberal" right?

Why bring back such a barbaric form of punishment? Lethal injection not good enough? And with all due respect, I highly doubt that this anti-death penalty DA wanted to make a hollow thumbs up for hanging. People who are depressed don't particularly care about how they are going to die. Any loss of life is a tragedy.

hanging makes way better youtube videos then lethal injections.

hanging snaps the neck...no pain. lethal injections means needles, not there's some pain