HOW SATAN WON THE BATTLE IN ILLINOIS!

            I will write this rebuttal essay in loving memory of Diann Hoagland who was murdered on this date, August 18, 2010 by a recidivist murderer, Steven Mark Pryer. I would like to rebut an Anti-Death Penalty activist, Gail Rice on two of her articles. I would back up my rebuttal claims with statistics, quotes and opinions. I respect Gail Rice’s stance against the death penalty and respect her as a Christian but I just disagree with what she wrote.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://thinkchristian.net/why-i-take-the-death-penalty-personally Gail Rice 01/31/11

It’s an issue Illinois has wrestled with for years, and one that is personal for me. In 1997 my brother, Bruce VanderJagt, a Denver policeman, was murdered during a botched burglary. The killer escaped a certain death sentence by committing suicide with Bruce’s service revolver. Therefore, I escaped the nightmare most murder victims’ family members go through in death penalty cases — often decades of agony and putting their lives on hold, reliving the murder with every appeal and court decision, slowly waiting for an execution that may not come.

The 18 years I spent working in literacy and Christian ministry in jails and prisons prior to Bruce’s death showed me a different standard of justice for the rich and the poor. Believing the death penalty could never be carried out fairly, I opposed it. Later I became involved with Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation and Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, abolitionist support groups for family members of murder victims and those who are on death row or had been executed. Gradually my opposition to the death penalty deepened far beyond my concerns over the fairness of the system.

REBUTTAL: First of all, I respect your decision to oppose the death penalty but to work for abolition is immoral. Abolishing the death penalty, will not end the unfairness of the system. A retired judge, James A. Ardaiz rather the death penalty be fixed than abolished. Just look at countries like the United Arab Emirates and Singapore who are now placing massive safeguards to fix the justice system and they want to take good care of it.

You became involved with Victims’ Families Against the Death Penalty groups, but as I was a former opponent of the death penalty who became a supporter, I now join the VFFDP Group. Ending the death penalty and allow the guilty and violent criminals to kill again is ANOTHER EVEN GREAT UNFAIRNESS IN THE SYSTEM!

Many Christians disagree about the death penalty. Why have I become so opposed to it? 

REBUTTAL: I disagree here, most former theologians did support the death penalty. 

Lobbying alongside Randy Steidl (seen in the above picture with me), Illinois’ 18th innocent exoneree, gave me a glimpse of the hell blameless men suffer for decades on death row. It made me realize that most exonerees are cleared in spite of rather than because of our criminal justice system.

REBUTTAL: Please see the VFFDP’s response to Kirk Bloodsworth. People like Randy Steidl are alive and exonerated that shows that the system had taken close scrutiny and he is now a free man. You and him are being made used by Organizations like the A.C.L.U to protect the guilty murderers. Two men who were executed in Illinois on 10 May 1994 and 16 March 1999 respectively, The Killer Clown A.K.A John Wayne Gacy and one of the Ripper Crew Gang Member, Andrew Kokoraleis were violent and dangerous criminals who were guilty and deserve to die. They are now terminated for good and the A.C.L.U will never get a chance to let them strike again.

John Wayne Gacy

Andrew Kokoraleis

There is no evidence to show that the death penalty is a deterrent and lots of evidence to show it is capriciously applied. 

REBUTTAL: Ever since the death penalty was abolished in Illinois, the homicide rate had now risen by 60%. Demetry Smirnov murdered Jitka Vesel and he told the DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin, that he had waited for the death penalty to be repealed before he committed the murder. It is all thanks to the abolitionists in the country that removed the deterrent effect of the death penalty, they keep delaying by allowing the murderers to appeal endlessly against their death sentence. Unlike other countries, who are truly tough on crime, the death penalty has a deterrent effect.

It violates my Christian faith because it is a violent act of retribution and vengeance, an act that encourages the state to do what I have so abhorred in the murderer.

REBUTTAL: When I was an opponent of the death penalty, I would have agreed with you in that. But as I am now a Born Again Christian, I want to say that the death penalty is not encouraging the State to do the same as the murderer. The State is protecting its people from evildoers. If you see this photo below, do you know the Prophet Samuel did obey God in smiting evildoers, unlike King Saul who lost his kingdom because of his disobedience to God.

Because the death penalty is carried out primarily against the poorest and most powerless, it makes a mockery of God’s preferential caring for the poor. The death penalty asserts that not all people are made in the image of God, and it cuts off the possibility of forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation that Christ wants me to work toward. And in the end, it creates a whole new circle of victims — the family of the executed — who will suffer as I have suffered. I encourage Bible-believing Christians to read “Capital Punishment and the Bible” by Gardner C. Hanks for a comprehensive Biblical view of capital punishment.

REBUTTAL: Gail Rice is as usual mixing up the mercy and justice of God. Regardless of whether the defendant is rich or poor, there always must be a fair trial. I strongly oppose unfair trials but it must be fixed or all the evildoers of the world be left unpunished.

<< The death penalty asserts that not all people are made in the image of God, and it cuts off the possibility of forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation that Christ wants me to work toward.>> Really? Barry Gordon Hadlow, a pedophile was a perfect example of how extremely flawed restorative justice works, he was a model prisoner and a devout Christian. When he was released due to ‘good’ conduct, he murdered again. He is not the only one who played ‘Christian’ to get out of prison, there are many other examples, which I will blog about it more in the future.

<> Gail Rice had forgotten to mention the VFFDP (Victims’ Families For the Death Penalty), she had forgotten to mention about the sufferings those families had to go through. As San Bernardino County DA, Michael Ramos once said, “Where do our (victims’) families go? … They go to the cemetery.”

The Cop Killer who killed your brother had already committed suicide, if he was alive and given LWOP instead. You have to keep pleading with Parole Boards not to release him. Please see ‘No Parole for Cop Killers’.

I encourage Bible-believing Christians to read “Capital Punishment and the Bible” by Gardner C. Hanks for a comprehensive Biblical view of capital punishment.

REBUTTAL: For me, I would encourage those Bible-believing, Born Again or Baptized Christians to read “Punishment by Death: A Defense of Capital Punishment” by 19^th Century Calvinist, George B. Cheever.

“Using both the Old and New Testament as his final authority, George B. Cheever clearly demonstrates that capital punishment was instituted by God for the punishment of murderers and has never been rescinded. Cheever’s commentary and biblical arguments can help guide us to a better understanding of the controversial issue. It contains an introduction and biographical sketch of George B. Cheever by William C. Nichols.”

People like Gardner C. Hanks obviously did not dare to talk about recidivist murderers. If Gardner C. Hanks was alive today, he should have seen my Blog Post, ‘DEFENDING THE DEATH PENALTY: THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST’.

Lawyer, Bruce Fein was quoted in his article, ‘The Death Penalty, but Sparingly on July 1, 2001’:

Could any capital punishment abolitionist stand at the chilling Auschwitz cemetery; look in the eyes of a Holocaust survivor whose mother, father, and siblings had died in Hitler's cyanide chambers; and preach that the death penalty for Der Fuhrer would have been too draconian for the genocide of six million?

INTERNET SOURCE: http://thinkchristian.net/how-gods-justice-prevailed-in-illinois

On March 9, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law the bill repealing Illinois’ death penalty and commuted the sentences to life without parole of 15 inmates on death row. As a Christian opposed to the death penalty, I was pleased to hear that the Old Testament prophets and the teachings of the New Testament, as well as Christians Desmond Tutu and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, had influenced Quinn’s decision. God’s sense of justice has finally overruled man’s.

REBUTTAL: God’s sense of justice has finally overruled man’s? I think it is the opposite, Satan’s plan had now succeeded, Illinois has now been transformed into a land fit for criminals. 

Hopefully, this action will encourage other states to do the same. Illinois was the first state in the country to implement a moratorium and no state has tried harder to make the death penalty fair. Even so, innocent men were exonerated and disparities were revealed.

REBUTTAL: As mention above, rather than abolish the death penalty, fix the problem. The DA Bob Berlin was doing his best to fix the problem, now more innocent lives had been lost.

When Gov. Quinn said, “It is impossible to create a perfect system, free of all mistakes,” he might well have added, “If we can’t fix this system in Illinois, we can’t fix it anywhere.” Quinn could not tolerate a system that could execute innocent people and Christians everywhere should not tolerate it either. When Gov. Quinn said, “It is impossible to create a perfect system, free of all mistakes,” he might well have added, “If we can’t fix this system in Illinois, we can’t fix it anywhere.” Quinn could not tolerate a system that could execute innocent people and Christians everywhere should not tolerate it either.

Prosecutors and police lament the loss of this valuable bargaining chip, the death penalty. But I have little sympathy for them because in my 12 years of abolition work, I have met several innocent men who were tortured, coerced into confessing or pled guilty when threatened with the death penalty by police or prosecutors who would get a conviction by any means possible. One month ago I heard a former prosecutor tell a group of lawyers that it was prosecutors who had the weakest cases, who weren’t sure they could get a conviction, who were most tempted to tell a suspect, “Just confess, and we’ll take the death penalty off the table.”

My heart does go out to the family members whose loved ones were murdered by the 15 men on death row. However, it’s not because they will miss seeing the murderers executed. They remind me of the family members who spoke in 2002 at the Prisoner Review Board’s clemency hearings that preceded then-Governor Ryan’s commutation of the sentences of 167 prisoners on death row. One woman screamed, “I’ve been waiting 23 years for this, and now one governor, with the stroke of a pen, is going to take it away from me!”

REBUTTAL: Please see the VFFDP’s response to Pat Quinn and hear the cries from those Victims’ families who wanted Justice done. Pat Buchanan condemned George Ryan’s decision earlier.

I felt heartsick to see that woman and others like her, many of whom had been locked in rage and vengeance for decades, hanging on to the hope of executions for dear life as their only way for finding peace and closure. If the murderers had all been sentenced to life without parole, family members could likely have accepted the lifetime incarcerations and been freed to get on with their lives. 

REBUTTAL: <<If the murderers had all been sentenced to life without parole, family members could likely have accepted the lifetime incarcerations and been freed to get on with their lives.>> What rubbish! The VFFDP will have to keep pleading with the Parole Boards not to release them. Once the death penalty is abolished, the A.C.L.U will target LWOP next. 

If victims’ family members cannot come to the point of forgiveness, which Christ always wants us to move toward, then perhaps abolishing the death penalty will reduce some of the anger they feel.

REBUTTAL: Abolishing the death penalty will make life more miserable for them. There are Victims’ Families who felt better years later after watching the killers executed. There are Christian Victims’ Families who want justice and not revenge.

            Former assistant warden at Pontiac Correctional Center, Lou Lowery believed that Governor Pat Quinn made a bad decision in abolishing Illinois’ death penalty. This two articles prove that he was correct.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/inmates-attack-3-illinois-prison-staffers

Inmates Attack 3 Illinois Prison Staffers

By DAVID MERCER Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. February 6, 2013 (AP)

Two guards and a chaplain were injured Tuesday in an Illinois prison attack that union officials said involved up to 15 inmates, the latest in a series of violent incidents at the lockup and others in the state.

The violence over the past month led to one death last week at Menard Correctional Center, where the most recent assaults also happened. Union officials say the disturbances stem from Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's decision to close several prisons around the state to save money, a move they claim has put staffers at overcrowded prisons at greater risk.

The assaults Tuesday occurred as about 200 union members marched outside the prison over what they say are growing threats to their safety. Menard is in the southern Illinois town of Chester, on the Mississippi River and about 70 miles south of St. Louis.

One inmate appeared to lure a guard into the attack inside the prison chapel, said Kevin Hirsch, a sergeant at the prison and president of Local 1175 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He said a chaplain and another guard who tried to help were hurt, too, and that 10 to 15 inmates were put in segregation after the incident.

"It was a very violent assault," Hirsch said. "A wave of inmates attacked them. ... These inmates planned to do some damage. They stomped these staff pretty bad."

The prison was locked down and the injured staff members were treated at a local hospital and released, Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano said in an emailed statement. Solano didn't provide further details about the assault.

The first guard suffered the worst injury — a cut to the forehead that required stitches, said Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, in an email.

Neither the Department of Corrections nor union officials would identify the staff members involved.

An inmate died last Thursday at Menard in what one official described as suspicious circumstances. On Jan. 28, a guard was attacked at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Pontiac in central Illinois and had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery as a result.

A guard also was injured Jan. 19 at Menard. And on Jan. 3, a guard was assaulted at Pinckneyville Correctional Center in Pinckneyville in southern Illinois.

A court gave Gov. Quinn the OK last month for a plan to close several prisons and other correctional facilities around the state to save money. Quinn started with the "supermax" prison in Tamms, some of whose inmates ended up in Pontiac.

AFSCME officials have complained that the governor's plan will place staff and inmates at other prisons that are overcrowded and at risk of violence.

"We are no longer talking about the threat of violence, but a rash of real and disturbing attacks by prison inmates on staff and others," Bayer said in his email. "The real-world consequences of Governor Quinn's reckless program of closures, layoffs and inmate transfers have arrived."

Solano defended Quinn's plan, citing cost savings and saying all prisoners from Tamms in southern Illinois were sent to what it called "appropriate maximum security facilities." She would not speak on the record about the number of inmates sent to Menard.

"The safety and security of staff and inmates remain the department's top priority," Solano said.

Quinn's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The closing of the prison in Tamms eliminated space for 700 inmates, leaving the state's prison system with more than 49,000 inmates in space designed for 33,000.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Convicted-murderer-accused-of-killing-again-while-wearing-ankle-monitor--219510531.html

Convicted murderer accused of killing again while wearing ankle monitor

by Lauren Trager / News 4

KMOV.com

Posted on August 13, 2013 at 10:46 PM

Updated yesterday at 8:08 AM

(KMOV) -- Scottie Thompson, 42, is already a convicted murderer. But he was let out of prison 20 years early, and just months after his release, he’s accused in another brutal murder.

But because Thompson was convicted of murder in 1989, he and other murderers are exempt from those laws. The Illinois Parole Board allowed him to get out after serving just 24 of his 45-year sentence.

“They let him out on parole and he came and stole my son from me,” said Sharon Roberts.

Roberts can’t believe her 20-year-old son, Dakota Jones, is gone.

“It’s hurting because of the way they found my child, he just through my child out there like he was nobody,” she said.

On Sunday, Jones’ body was found by fishermen on the north shore of Horseshoe Lake in Madison County.  The coroner said he’d been badly beaten and his body was dumped.

On Tuesday, Thompson, a man Jones had just met, was charged for the murder.

“He was on parole from the Department of Corrections,” said Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons.

Gibbons said under Illinois’ newer “truth in sentencing” laws, murderers must serve 100% of their sentence but the laws didn’t apply to Thompson.

He was let out in February 2013 and was on ankle monitor at the time of the recent murder.

“Do you think this murder could have been prevented if he had still been in prison?” asked News 4 Reporter Lauren Trager.

“I think had he still been in prison, and sentenced under the laws today, absolutely, these two would never have met,” Gibbons said.

Roberts believes the justice system failed. She said Thompson took away her son’s bright future.

“He should never have got out, they should never have released him,” Roberts said.

News 4 couldn’t reach the Department of Corrections for their comment.

Recidivist Murderer, Scottie Thompson

Victim, Dakota Jones

              Gail Rice, while I respect you as a Christian and your opposition to the death penalty, please do not ask for abolition or more innocent people will die for sure. I rather you call for massive safeguards.

            Please see this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, if the State does not do anything to serve justice and protect its people from evildoers, the State has sinned against God.