I am very "anti death penalty." I think no one should ever be sentenced to death without DNA evidence, and even more. My personal belief is that the death penalty should be an extreme measure meted out in only the most extreme cases, if at all.
Having said that, I was visiting my parents, who were then living in Toledo Bend, right across the border in Louisiana, when this crime occurred. I remember listening to the news as the body was found and identified.... I remember learning that this horrible death was the result of the victim's race....nothing else, just the color of the man's skin! I could not believe that was all there was to it, so I followed the case, and became convinced that those who were convicted were RIGHTLY convicted. There was plenty of evidence to support a guilty verdict, and a death sentence.
The victim in this case was a completely innocent man who suffered an unconscionable death at the hands of ignorant racists........and I think the amount of food "ordered" was in extreme excess of what anyone could eat in one sitting, ESPECIALLY if one was facing lethal injection in an hour or two.
I think I fall in the "give them beanie-weanies" camp. Forget the expense of the elaborate meals that will go uneaten.......give the $ the state would have spent on the "last meal" to the victim's family.
