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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2003 18:47:58 GMT -6
Cedric Ransom was executed by Texas tonight. One of the most vicious multiple killers in recent memory. This character even attacked his lawyer and the prosecutor while in court. Not a whole lot of doubt he would have hurt someone else given the chance. Who said the DP doesn't deter crime and protect the citizenry (in or out of jail).
Also worth noting. Ransom had turned 18 by the time he committed the killing. If he'd have begun a few weeks earlier Amnesty, International would have been accusing Texas of "executing children". As it turned out, they just had to deal with another phony "retarded" scam. Also worth noting, he got TWO separate trials to ensure fairness. Both juries found him guilty and both sentenced him to death.
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July 23, 2003, 6:40PM
Inmate who attacked his own lawyers executed
Associated Press
A Fort Worth man who attacked one of his own attorneys and a prosecutor during his capital murder trial was executed this evening for robbing and fatally shooting a gun dealer, one of four slayings authorities linked him to during a 17-day spree in 1991.
In a brief final statement, Cedric Ransom thanked a friend and spiritual adviser who were present to watch him die.
"You have been beautiful to me. Without you in my life, I would not have been able to make it like this. Probably I would have put up a good fight. You have calmed me," he said.
Ransom told them he loved them. As the lethal drugs began taking effect, he told them "I'll be OK." He gasped a couple of times, exhaled and stopped breathing. Nine minutes later, at 6:21 p.m., he was pronounced dead.
Cedric Ransom, 29, was the 19th Texas inmate executed this year and the first of two on consecutive nights this week.
"He was a bad guy," said Richard Bland, one of the Tarrant County prosecutors who tried Ransom's case.
Besides the Dec. 7, 1991, slaying of optometrist and part-time gun dealer Herbert Primm, Bland said Ransom was involved in three fatal robberies of convenience stores.
"Most people go to an ATM to get cash," Bland said. "He'd go to convenience stores and not leave any witnesses."
In late appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ransom contended he was mentally retarded and should be ineligible for execution under a high court ruling in another case last year. About an hour before his scheduled punishment, the high court rejected the appeals.
At the conclusion of jury selection during his trial, Ransom used a smuggled 5 1/2-inch piece of broken glass hidden in his hand to try to stab one of his attorneys in the back. Ignoring orders from a bailiff to back off, Ransom turned his attention to a nearby prosecutor.
"He was coming at me and his words were very clear: 'I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!'" recalled Bob Gill, now a state district judge in Tarrant County. "He got to me and the fight was on. He and I went down. I knew what was in his hand and I grabbed that arm with both my hands."
Neither Gill nor the defense attorney, Chris Phillips, was seriously hurt in the November 1992 attack, but both were removed from the case.
Ransom went on to trial and was convicted of capital murder for gunning down Primm, 47, outside Primm's Arlington home. Ransom was 18 at the time.
Gill wound up being a witness to help show how Ransom was a continuing threat, one of the questions jurors had to answer when determining a death sentence.
Ransom's death sentence was overturned in 1994 when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled his trial judge improperly excluded a potential juror. Prosecutors returned him to court in 1997 for another sentencing trial where, against his lawyers' advice, he took the stand, denied he was guilty of the Primm slaying but confessed to multiple convenience store murders.
The second jury also sentenced him to death.
Testimony showed Ransom, a ninth-grade dropout, and three companions went to Primm's house to look at some guns. Primm, who held a federal firearms license, opened the trunk of his car and the four pulled out their own weapons. According to testimony, Primm told the gun thieves to "just take them" but Ransom bent him over the hood of the car and then shot Primm once in the head with a .44-caliber pistol. He was arrested three days later.
While locked up in Fort Worth, records showed he attacked a jailer. And while on death row outside Huntsville in 1997, he and a second condemned inmate used a hacksaw blade to cut through a fence and were on their way to escaping when they were spotted by a guard.
"There is no question at all," Gill said. "This is one of the more dangerous guys I've come across in 20 years in the criminal courts."
Ransom's three companions in the Primm slaying also are in prison, serving terms of at least 20 years.
"We had a couple of the co-defendants to testify against him," Gill said. "We had information that connected him to the operation before hand and connected him to the murder weapon. One or more of the guns stolen from the victim were found at his residence.
"It turned out all right. He got what I feel he deserved."
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Post by Tony on Aug 4, 2003 9:48:13 GMT -6
No apology to the MVS's.
What a guy.
Yes, he got what he deserved.
Also noticed the perfect timing of the "I am mentally retarded" claim when all else failed.
Luckily the supreme's saw right through that lie!
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Post by GlennF on Aug 4, 2003 13:11:03 GMT -6
Yeah, another one of the antis' heroes gets his just punishment. No doubt there will be some tears shed in the anti camp - "All life is precious" some of them will say! Cedric Ransom's life, precious? Don't make me laugh!
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Post by david on Aug 4, 2003 13:50:08 GMT -6
Yeah, another one of the antis' heroes gets his just punishment. No doubt there will be some tears shed in the anti camp - "All life is precious" some of them will say! Cedric Ransom's life, precious? Don't make me laugh! I'm calling you on this, Glen. To which particular anti is this murderer a hero? |
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Post by GlennF on Aug 4, 2003 15:14:09 GMT -6
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Post by david on Aug 4, 2003 15:49:10 GMT -6
You'll have to do better than that, matey-boy. I can see a few wack-jobs in there, but it's hardly a consensus, is it. Why not try a little honest debate, instead of another borrowed strawman? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2003 18:54:32 GMT -6
You'll have to do better than that, matey-boy. I can see a few wack-jobs in there, but it's hardly a consensus, is it. Why not try a little honest debate, instead of another borrowed strawman? Is it debate you want on a hot August evening then Boy-O? (Sorry, immigrant Irish grandparents, occasionally can't help meself). Chew on the attached article from the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Notice how nothing is admitted to be proved beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law, but their post rests on such pearls as "according to the state " (used disparagingly) and "according to Ransom" (the killers lies presented as facts). Even where "a shooting" (read murder) is admitted, it has no relevance to the charge for which he is being executed. The simple fact is that, like you, the NCADP has never found a case worthy of the DP. However, since that doesn't sell to the public at large excuses are manufactured wholesale to enlist some support to spare the murderer's hide. The one question these stalwarts of humanity do not ask is, "if these sterling characters are as guiltless of the charge as presented, or are victims of factors beyond their control", then why imprison them at all? ========================================================= www.ncadp.org/html/july-03-texas.htmlThe state of Texas is scheduled to execute Cedric Ransom, a black man, July 23 for the murder of Herbert Primm in Fort Worth. According to the state, Ransom shot Primm, a part-time weapons dealer, in the victim’s driveway on Dec. 7, 1991. Ransom confessed to another shooting shortly before the murder in question, but said he played no part in the Primm shooting. He claims his co-defendants gave perjured testimony in exchange for sentence reductions at his trial. Since his arrival on death row, he has attracted international attention as a possibly innocent man facing execution in the United States. Advocates for Ransom claim another man confessed to the crime, but later gave a contradicting statement that shifted the blame to Ransom. They argue that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his trial, and that a competent attorney could have presented a much stronger, more credible innocence claim. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated his sentence in 1994, ruling that the trial court erroneously barred a prospective juror. However, he received a second death sentence in 1997, which has held firmly throughout the appeals process. Ransom also claims that the court treated him in a racist manner during his trial, and points out that his case represents the jackpot death penalty combination: black defendant, white victim. According to a study of cases in the 1990’s conducted by the Texas Defender Service, racial bias continues to play a major role in the state’s capital sentencing process. The report includes this fact: “Taking into account age, race, location, occupation, prior arrests, education of the defendant, age of the victim, and whether a weapon was used, the combined races of victim and offender were the strongest predictors of a death sentence in Texas.” Several inmates with strong innocence claims have been executed in Texas in the past year – most recently Kia Johnson on June 11. Even those who support the death penalty philosophically should recognize that the risk of executing innocent people is too high to justify executions. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, 108 people have been exonerated from death row in the United States due to actual innocence. Please contact Gov. Rick Perry and express your concerns over the state’s careless and excessive use of the death penalty. Please request clemency for Cedric Ransom. |
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Post by david on Aug 4, 2003 20:17:29 GMT -6
The simple fact is that, like you, the NCADP has never found a case worthy of the DP. However, since that doesn't sell to the public at large excuses are manufactured wholesale to enlist some support to spare the murderer's hide. I cannot speak for the lunatic friend, dear chap. I have always been brutally honest. Capital murderers may be the scum of the earth, but the death penalty is always wrong. My focus is on the penalty, not the penalized. It may be an unpopular stance in Texas, but it's the right one. |
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Post by david on Aug 4, 2003 20:26:56 GMT -6
I cannot speak for the lunatic fringe, dear chap. I have always been brutally honest. Capital murderers may be the scum of the earth, but the death penalty is always wrong. My focus is on the penalty, not the penalized. It may be an unpopular stance in Texas, but it's the right one. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2003 20:47:12 GMT -6
I cannot speak for the lunatic friend, dear chap. I have always been brutally honest. Capital murderers may be the scum of the earth, but the death penalty is always wrong. My focus is on the penalty, not the penalized. It may be an unpopular stance in Texas, but it's the right one. According to the May Gallup Poll (best I recall) around 75% of the American Public agree that capital punishment is appropriate in at least some cases. In case it missed your radar, the poll was not restricted to Texas. Don't fully appreciate your distinction between the "penalty" vs the "penalized" since neither the "victim" nor the "victimized" seems to factor in your concerns. But again, less than 1 in 4 citizens of this country share your absolute opposition to capital punishment. However, considering our incarceration rate, I'll concede you've "locked up" the convict vote. Too bad they've lost their franchise come election day. Do us both a favor. Go public with your opposition to the DP next Texas election. Throw your support to the most anti-dp candidate you can find. Make your case, raise a stink, and wave the bloody shirt. Let us know your candidate, where we (ok, maybe just Chris and Wonder Woman) can make contributions. I'd really like to see the results. |
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Post by david on Aug 4, 2003 22:54:29 GMT -6
According to the May Gallup Poll (best I recall) around 75% of the American Public agree that capital punishment is appropriate in at least some cases. In case it missed your radar, the poll was not restricted to Texas. Just because there is more of y'all, it don't make y'all right. I'm perfectly happy to be in the minority and right, than wrong with a lot of company sharing my error. I am, however, secure in the belief that, eventually, the death penalty will have to go the way of the dinosaurs. It is a relic of a former age. Don't fully appreciate your distinction between the "penalty" vs the "penalized" since neither the "victim" nor the "victimized" seems to factor in your concerns. Of course they do, your strawman, and your awkward extrapolation (victim is not to victimized as penalty is to penalized) notwithstanding. My concern for the victims is as genuine as yours. I just don't feel we owe them a corpse. But again, less than 1 in 4 citizens of this country share your absolute opposition to capital punishment. They'll learn. Not that it matters. Majority does not equate with morality. However, considering our incarceration rate, I'll concede you've "locked up" the convict vote. Too bad they've lost their franchise come election day. That would depend. Non-violent, non-recidivist offenders would probably like my penal policy, as I believe in community punishment and restitution. Tough penalties, but non-incarcerative. As for the recidivist and violent offenders, they wouldn't like me at all. Long, long sentences in spartan conditions. For those guilty of the worst murders - a whole life sentence. Do us both a favor. Go public with your opposition to the DP next Texas election. I'm public, and vocal, now. Why wait until election time? Throw your support to the most anti-dp candidate you can find. Make your case, raise a stink, and wave the bloody shirt. Let us know your candidate, where we (ok, maybe just Chris and Wonder Woman) can make contributions. I'd really like to see the results. Nope. There is no such thing as an anti-dp candidate in North Texas. I predict that the Lone Star State will be the last holdout and will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern penal age by the federal judiciary, once critical mass has been achieved on a state by state level. |
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Post by GlennF on Aug 4, 2003 23:27:43 GMT -6
It reminds me of a funny little story about someone who thinks everyone else is wrong:
A warning from the radio - "Attention, a car is driving on the wrong side of the highway between junctions 23 and 24!"
The driver of the car (David!?) turns to his passenger and says, "only ONE!?, there are hundreds of 'em!"
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Post by john2 on Aug 18, 2003 0:35:12 GMT -6
It reminds me of a funny little story about someone who thinks everyone else is wrong: A warning from the radio - "Attention, a car is driving on the wrong side of the highway between junctions 23 and 24!" The driver of the car (David!?) turns to his passenger and says, "only ONE!?, there are hundreds of 'em!" .... almost witty !! ..... and similar to the USA against the rest of the civilised world on the use of pre meditated state sanctioned homicide.... Who helped you compose it? |
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Post by squid on Aug 18, 2003 14:18:07 GMT -6
That would depend. Non-violent, non-recidivist offenders would probably like my penal policy, as I believe in community punishment and restitution. Tough penalties, but non-incarcerative. As for the recidivist and violent offenders, they wouldn't like me at all. Long, long sentences in spartan conditions. For those guilty of the worst murders - a whole life sentence. So you are in favor of putting the people that have to watch these guys in harms way instead of removing the sorce? |
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