Poster Boy for the Death Penalty

“Almost makes me an advocate for DP:

"Judge Orders Execution of Md. Killer

By Fred Barbash and Susan Levine
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, April 26, 2004; 3:48 PM


A Maryland judge today signed a June death warrant for Steven Oken, 16 years after he raped and murdered a newlywed in Baltimore County.



The judge acted hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the latest in a series of appeals by Oken, who committed two other murders as well.

Barring further stays, he will be the first person executed in Maryland since 1998.

The warrant -- signed by Baltimore County Judge John Turnbull II -- was the third in three years issued against Oken, who has overcome previous death warrants through successive appeals.

Oken was convicted of the rape and slaying of a young newlywed in Baltimore County in November 1987.

Dawn Marie Garvin, 20, was the first of three victims slain during an alcohol and drug-fueled rampage in Maryland and Maine by the former pharmacy-counter cashier, whom a judge once called a "poster boy" for the death sentence.

According to evidence at Oken's trial in 1991, he talked his way into Garvin's apartment in White Marsh, Md., after her husband, who is in the Navy, had left for a base in Virginia. He assaulted her, shot her twice in the head and left her to die.

Two weeks later, he sexually assaulted and murdered his sister-in-law in Maryland. He then left for Maine, where he murdered a motel clerk.

In the appeal rejected by the Supreme Court today, Oken did not claim innocence. Rather, he challenged the sentencing procedure in his case, saying it was contrary to a 2002 Supreme Court decision called Ring v. Arizona.

Without comment today, the Supreme Court refused to hear the challenge, which had been rejected by lower courts.

Later, the Baltimore County judge signed a death warrant at the request of the county state's attorney's office. Oken is to be executed during a five-day period starting June 14, according to the warrant.

Oken, who is white, has also unsuccessfully sought to stop his execution on the grounds that the implementation of capital punishment in Maryland is racially biased against those charged with killing white people. Garvin was white.

If Oken's sentence is carried out, he will be the fourth person put to death in the state since the mid-1970s."


The "White card" was an interesting tactic though, no?”

“good riddance.”

“I shoulda put HIM in my thesis!”

“What was your thesis?”

“Title: Criminal Profiling Shows Similar Characteristics among Serial Killers”

“Nope, I can't agree.

As the saying goes, "Killing's too good for him". There are other ways to even the score instead of just giving him the needle and watching him take a nap.... but for those pesky constraints against cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment.”

“Instead of the death penalty, I think our government should adopt the idea of chopping off limbs and letting the bastards suffer and mourn.”

“Hmmmmmm.

Just whack off another piece every day or two and cauterize it?”

“A finger here, a toe there, an arm.... you know, simple stuff.”

“I think they already tried that somewhere, maybe Baghdad, I'm not sure....”

“Sucks for the people charged with rape.”

“Mr. Horwinkle, this is not the first time you've come before this court on such a charge.

Bailiff...”

“EEK!”

“And what would they do for women who commit rape, hmm? Clitorectomies?”

“FGM.. female genital mutilation! Ever hear of it?? VERY gross and VERY dangerous in the way the practice is performed.”

“http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm

here's a few key parts that'll really make your blood curl:

"Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the term used to refer to the removal of part, or all, of the female genitalia. The most severe form is infibulation, also known as pharaonic circumcision. An estimated 15% of all mutilations in Africa are infibulations. The procedure consists of clitoridectomy (where all, or part of, the clitoris is removed), excision (removal of all, or part of, the labia minora), and cutting of the labia majora to create raw surfaces, which are then stitched or held together in order to form a cover over the vagina when they heal. A small hole is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to escape. In some less conventional forms of infibulation, less tissue is removed and a larger opening is left....."

"Sometimes a trained midwife will be available to give a local anaesthetic. In some cultures, girls will be told to sit beforehand in cold water, to numb the area and reduce the likelihood of bleeding. More commonly, however, no steps are taken to reduce the pain. The girl is immobilized, held, usually by older women, with her legs open. Mutilation may be carried out using broken glass, a tin lid, scissors, a razor blade or some other cutting instrument. When infibulation takes place, thorns or stitches may be used to hold the two sides of the labia majora together, and the legs may be bound together for up to 40 days. Antiseptic powder may be applied, or, more usually, pastes - containing herbs, milk, eggs, ashes or dung - which are believed to facilitate healing. The girl may be taken to a specially designated place to recover where, if the mutilation has been carried out as part of an initiation ceremony, traditional teaching is imparted. For the very rich, the mutilation procedure may be performed by a qualified doctor in hospital under local or general anaesthetic...."”

“There's an acronym, too?

GEEEEZ.”

“Yea, it's a big practice in certain cultures, especially African and Middle Eastern.”

“hmmm well i have to say that i was a little angry to see the lethal injection started up in GA ....BRING BACK THE CHAIR!!!”

“Firing squad is more dramatic.”

“nah ive always liked fried chicken...im sure the bugs like a little cooked meat every now and then....although a bullet is cheaper than all of the other ways but hanging....only that is kinda sorta not worth the trouble...i mean first of all who the hell knows how to tie a noose still...”

“Actually firing squad is much less painful than the electric chair, since death is pretty much instantaneous. While reading Krakauer's newest book I noticed that in Utah that four shots to the heart was an approved method of execution at one point.”

“Insanity.

What about a slow poison?”

“How about pure torture?

Papercuts all over the body.. soak them in a tub full of lemon juice mixed with rubbing alcohol. That'll teach em a lesson.”

“Tied to a chair with your eyelids forced open, watching a richard simmons tape on continous loop.”

“"Mr. Horwinkle, this is not the first time you've come before this court on such a charge.

Bailiff..."
Tilt
08:50:36 PM

Thanks for the memories, Tilt!”

“SMW,... that's def the epitome of torture.”

“How about pure torture?

Papercuts all over the body.. soak them in a tub full of lemon juice mixed with rubbing alcohol. That'll teach em a lesson."
ScorchFire
12:21:56 AM
04/27/04

Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“I'd say hang him upside-down by his toes and then light a small fire under his head.”

“Help them understand how their victim felt.

Put them in the polar bear cage.
Let them try and talk reason to a predator that will not listen and has no feeling for them.”

“I like manuka's idea!... or a shark cage under water”

“Y'all have been watchin' too much TV!

Its no wonder our society produces sickos like this with all the creative cruelty that you people come up with.”

“But hey, we're creative!”

“Come up with it is one thing, who here could actually do it to another human?

Be Honest!”

“"Come up with it is one thing, who here could actually do it to another human?"

Beats the $h!t outta me?

I suppose that "cruel is as cruel does", but this really is unseemly talk.

Kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“I would not do anything to another human being.

If their pure spirit shone through, I am sure the polar bear would do them no harm.”

“what would you think a suitable treatment for someone who tortured and murdered one of your children ?

No, not psychotic or raving, just a sociopath who had no feeling for your childs terror and suffering, who killed them for amusement.

If you have no children, try wife, mother, sister, brother, someone to whom you feel very close.”

“I'd want to kill them myself.

Doesn't make my murderous, vengeful thoughts any more just than his, though.”

“I'd want to $h!t down YOUR neck manuka if YOU did something like that to one of my kin.

There, feel better now?”

“Phaedrus, usual problem with killing is how can you be sure you got the correct person, caught in the act is one thing, but later there will always be questions.

There was even a case in Ca. where a incarcerated rapist DNA'ded into a condom and had a pal commit a rape outside to support an appeal.

Very hard to be absolutely sure.”

“That's my problem with the death penalty.

If they EX the wrong guy you can't do a replay.”

“Only me MarkO, such hostility. No punishment at all for any other perpertrator other than me.

So, if I were to take your irrational response literally, you think that just defecating on the person was sufficient punishment, and then you would release this monster to prey on the families of others.

I feel a little more responsible than that. I do not think such a person should be kept alive as there is always a chance of escape and we(society) have a responsibility to prevent future victims.

Problem is absolute surety of guilt.”

“"Problem is absolute surety of guilt."

No $h!t professor.

You being a "foreigner", I'll forgive your ignorance.

I should have included the entire hackneyed phrase.

"I'll tear his head off and $h!t down his neck!!!"

Hence, the monster would be unable to carry on with his heinous ways.”

“So it is OK when it is YOUR family but it is unseemly to even talk of such matters when it is someone else?

Wake up MarkO, there is ALWAYS a father, mother, brother, sister of the victim.”

“Wake up yourself, ding-a-ling, I can't speak for others.

If someone were to have abused one of my sisters I would have taken that someone apart.

Had it been someone else's sister,......well its not really MY feud.

War is hell....”

“That's the beauty of the idea, though. You, uh... mess with them a bit, but you keep them alive if it turns out that they are innocent.

It is quite sobering that at least 100 people have been freed from death row due to DNA evidence. Kinda make you wonder how many others didn't live long enough to see the day when testing became available.”

“Yeah Marko -- I can hardly believe I remembered that line. I thought those would be the very first braincells to bite the dust, LOL”

“It is always interesting in any debate to see which side abandons reasonable discussion and resorts instead to name calling, shouting, and/or violence to try and prove themselves right.

It is a concession of defeat when the only tools you have left are to try and discredit the other person with petty name calling, or to shout so loud as to drown out their turn at speech.”

“yeah, dumb liberals.”

“Death is not the only means to ensure a murderer is never able to commit such a crime again, it's just the most expedient.

IMO, a just government does not hold power of life and death over those who fall under its protection.”