Kinja reply list

Read More
stacyinbeanHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:17pm
If one of you whiners can point out where we're being asked for sympathy for this man (outside of his own tone deaf appeals) I'd appreciate it. I seem to be missing the sentence where Hamilton begs for us to write letters demanding this man be exonerated. The point of this series, in my eyes, is to give a voice to those who do not have one. To shine a light on what it looks like from the eyes of the death row inmate. No one is saying this man didn't commit these crimes, no one is saying he should not be punished. You can find every gory detail of his heinous crimes with simple Google searches, that is not the point of this. All of my sympathy belongs with those murdered and their families, that doesn't make this a less interesting read.
Reply
- Read More
  Katstacyinbean
  11/12/14 4:23pm
  I struggle with giving him anywhere to be heard, after what he did. Ray Jasper was much worse, though, in the obvious sympathy shown for him.
  Reply
- Read More
  bingggstacyinbean
  11/12/14 4:26pm
  This guy needs a voice like I need a flat tire on my way home today.
  Reply
Read More
BIlllingtonHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:04pm
I have a real question, as in, I'm not trying to be difficult: what do we do with people like this?
Reply
- Read More
  bigfatweirdoBIlllington
  11/12/14 4:18pm
  If they refuse to live by society's rules, take away the benefits offered by society and exile them to a place with no laws or infrastructure and let them sort things out for themselves.
  
  Kind of like Escape From New York, but much further away from the mainland US.
  Reply
- Read More
  Hamilton NolanBIlllington
  11/12/14 4:25pm
  The whole idea of constructing a robust social safety net is to help people like this from day one. Help the poor, help the disabled, help the needy, and hopefully by helping people early on prevent them from becoming the next Robert Ladd.
  Reply
Read More
RonnieBwashereHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:01pm
I think the fact you don't include any kind of parallel response from family or friends victim makes this a very slanted podium for the murderer to garner sympathy. This isn't journalism. It's amateur activism. Any real professional journalist or reporter would make sure that both sides were heard from. However it's clear that you're neither professional, a journalist or any permutation of those two concepts.
Reply
- Read More
  GlutenFreeRonnieBwashere
  11/12/14 4:13pm
  What do the family and friends matter in this scenario? No on is arguing that he didn't murder the victim. They're arguing that it's inhumane and hypocritical to take another human's life. You're demonstrating that we're allowing the state to kill people based purely on emotions. Which is scary as hell.
  Reply
Read More
davidj211Hamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:06pm
I notice that his letter does not express any remorse for the four murders he committed. It's all just "Well, I'm stupid, so they shouldn't be able to execute me".

Other commenters have pointed out the same thing in previous Death Row letters. They're all just full of excuses about why they don't believe they should be executed. No remorse.
Reply
Read More
ElliecooHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:17pm
Would it not be worse for him to live out his life in jail, in solitary confinement? I abhor the death penalty, but this fellow deserves no mercy, does he? Or do we all deserve mercy? I find that my Buddhist beliefs are being sorely tested by this article.
Reply
- Read More
  Lex_DiscipulusElliecoo
  11/12/14 4:35pm
  I personally would be ok with solitary confinement for this kind of thing, but then again I am quite unforgiving of someone who has killed 4 women and children and has expressed no remorse. But solitary confinement is a form of psychological torture.
  
  So in theory capital punishment is an act of mercy.
  Reply
- Read More
  twinsmommyElliecoo
  11/12/14 4:46pm
  I always find these articles fascinating because of the moral, emotional and legal issues they bring up for me. I read what the criminal has done, what happened to his victims and I always find myself in a bloodthirsty, KILL HIM NOW rage. But then I always come back around to being anti-death penalty. It is such a complex issue that I can't get myself permanently on one side.
  Reply
Read More
bingggHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:00pm
On Aug. 16, 1974, Ladd pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and received a four-year sentence, which was probated. On April 8, 1975, Ladd's probation was revoked and his sentence was reduced to two years in prison. On Sept. 8, 1980, Ladd pleaded guilty to two charges of murder, one charge of arson, and one charge of theft. Ladd received a 40-year prison sentence for each charge of murder, a 20-year prison sentence for the arson charge, and a 10-year sentence for the theft charge. On Jan. 13, 1984, Ladd pleaded guilty to another charge of murder and received a 40-year prison sentence.

Except for additional victims, the murder and arson offenses were virtually identical to the murder of Gardner in 1996. On Oct. 25, 1978, a fire was discovered in the Dallas, Texas, apartment of Vivian Thompson. The bodies of Thompson and her infant children, Latoya and Maurice, were found inside.

On Sept. 25, 1996, firemen responding to a fire in Vickie Ann Gardner's apartment found her on the floor with her wrists bound together. The fire had been set on or near her body, probably on bedding that had been placed between her legs. She had been severely burned and suffered head wounds. Gardner died of strangulation. DNA tests later showed that spermatozoa found in Gardner's body was consistent with Ladd's.
Reply
- Read More
  bingggbinggg
  11/12/14 4:01pm
  Since his letter—as with all of the previous letters—focused on his life and not those that he removed from this world, I figured I would include them here.
  Reply
- Read More
  bloostbinggg
  11/12/14 4:27pm
  This series would be a lot more compelling if they could get a letter from somebody who wasn't complete filth. I imagine the idea was to make readers feel guilty about the death penalty, but every letter is from someone who is guilty as shit and has no remorse about their rapes and murders (almost always both).
  Reply
Read More
AmehHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:12pm
I don't understand the trolls on this thread, they're always assholes with no sense of sympathy or empathy. Just apathy. I wonder given this man's color if that plays into it as well.

I'm not excusing the crimes, they're quite heinous, however I also see that he is mentally disabled (If I remember majority of the most recent mass shorters had mental disabilities as well.) Could it be that he too was a product of the system and therefore wasn't given the tools to make it from the jump and therefor never learned how to control his feelings (including anger, frustration, rejection, and yes even lust). I'm not excusing him but goddamnit Americans need to stop thinking in black and white. It's that type of thinking that has given us this third rate-third world governing system we have now. Nobody said let this guy out but goddamn, let's not endorse state-sponsored murder.

Aren't you trolls tired of living in a country like this? We claim were' the most Christian but everything we hold dear goes against the Christian principles, including state-sponsored murder. Maybe if we had-had the economic, educational, and social tools in place to identify this man as being deficient from the jump, we wouldn't have four murders on our hand, and a scheduled date to murder him.

I'm just saying, wake the fuck up America. God damn
Reply
Read More
twomittensHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 3:55pm

We keep good company.
Reply
Read More
Jennifer C. MartinHamilton Nolan
11/12/14 4:06pm
The fact that he got only 17 years in jail for a double murder - including infants - and arson and robbery kind of gets me. It was a pretty similar crime. Not touching the mental retardation issue, but Texas should have kept this guy locked up.
Reply