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Jailhouse conversions
Should a jury consider a criminal defendant's conversion to
Christianity in determining Whether he should be sentenced to
death for murder? This question is presented in a case the United
States Supreme Court agreed to hear recently out of California.
The defendant, William Payton, was found guilty in the rape
and murder of a woman in her bedroom. Payton had admitted to
another inmate that he raped and stabbed the woman because he
"had this urge to kill".
The jury found Payton guilty in the trial, which took place a
year and nine months from the date of the crime. Under the law in
a capital murder case, once a defendant is found guilty of the
crime itself, the prosecution must submit evidence of aggravating
circumstances, to justify imposition of the death penalty. The
defense is entitled to put on evidence of mitigating circumstances
to justify a lesser penalty. Ultimately, the jury determines the
appropriate sentence.
In Payton's case, the defense put on eight witnesses, including
Payton's pastor, a deputy sheriff, four inmates, his mother, and the
director of a religious organization ministering to prisoners. Their
testimony, taken as a whole, tended to show that Payton had been
"born again", made a sincere commitment to God, and was per-
forming good works in jail.
Payton's pastor testified that in his opinion, Payton's conversion
was credible and that he was "sincere in his statement and com-
mitment to the Lord". The religious director testified to her
numerous conversations with Payton about his spiritual commit-
merit and its manifestation in the Bible study groups he estab-
fished with other inmates. She described his conversion of other
inmates, his admission to a correspondence Bible college and his
writings.
The deputy sheriff supervised Payton's floor at the jail and relat-
ed that Payton led prayer meetings and had a positive influefice on
other inmates. The inmates testified Payton's religious conversion
was sincere and that he had a calming influence on other inmates,
including the prevention of one inmate committing suicide.
Nevertheless, during closing arguments, the prosecutor argued
over the defendant's objections that the jury could not consider
any of this in mitigation of Payton's crimes. He asserted that mit-
igating circumstances only included factors present at the time of
the offense to show somehow that its gravity should be reduced.
The judge told the jury it was up to them whether they wanted to
consider Payton's conversion or not in determining his sentence.
The jury recommended.,Payton ,be,,semenced to death. He
:male6, bu, t, thealifotiiia Supreme Court-affirmedhis' eonvic-
tI-I¢. en applig4, tg,!lae fedet f;ggrtQli, O_qeas copus relief.
A federal judge ruled the prosecutor had improperly misrepre-
sented the law to the jury, and that the judge failed to accurately
correct the impression that was left. The judge stated the prosecu-
tor was guilty of prosecutorial misconduct, by making an improp-
er argument and, therefore, the verdict must be set aside.
The United States Court of Appeals agreed, stating that it should
have been made clear to the jury that it was proper for them to
consider Payton's conversion as a factor in determining his sen-
tence. The Court stated that normally a defendant's character and
background, including good behavior in prison, are factors that
should be considered in a death penalty case.
California appealed and the Supreme Court has now agreed to
consider the case. A decision should be made sometime next year.
Computer viruses can wreak havoc with
your valuable files and send you into
Computer viruses:
• The Al Gore Virus--Causes
your computer to just keep
counting and re-counting.
• The Clinton Virus--Gives
you a 7-inch Hard Drive with
NO memory•
• The Bob Dole (aka Viagra)
Virus--Makes a new hard drive
out of an old floppy.
• The Ronald Reagan Virus--
Saves your data, but forgets
where it is stored.
• The Mike Tyson Virus--
Quits after two bytes.
• The Oprah Winfrey .Virus--
Your 300 Mb hard drive .hri.nks .
to 100 Mb, then slowly xpa, nds
to re-stabihze around ) 'b.
• The Jack Kevorkian Virus--
Deletes all old files.
• The Ellen Degeneres
Virus--Disks can no longer be
inserted.
• The Prozac Virus--Totally
screws up your RAM, but your
processor doesn't care.
• The Joey Buttafuoco
Virus--Only attacks minor
files.
• The Arnold Schwarzenegger
Virus--Terminates some files,
leaves, but will be back.
..... KM .....
This is a true Memorial Day
Tribute which demonstrates
how servicemen are moved and
we too should be rooved, when
it comes to honoring fOlen sol-
diers who gave their lives for
our precious freedoms.
This is a true account written
by Army Captain John
Rasmussen and published by
ARMY LINK NEWS on May
22, 2002.
• It was raining "cats and
dogs" and I was late for physical
training.
Traffic was backed up at Fort
Campbell,. Kentucky, and was
moving way too slowly.
I was probably going to,be
late and I was growing more
and more impatient.
The pace slowed almost to a
standstill as I passed Memorial
Grove, the site built to honor the
soldiers who died in the Gander
airplane crash, the worst rede-
ployment accident in the history
of the 101st Airborne Assault
Division.
Because it was close to
Memorial Day, a small
American flag had been placed
in the ground next to each sol-
dier's memorial plaque.
My concern at the time, how-
ever, was getting past the bottle-
neck, getting out of the rain and
getting to physical training on
time .........
: ....... All of a sudd .emzinfuriatingly,
• .... just as te traffic was getting
started' again, the car in front oI
me stopped. A soldier, a private
of course, jumped out in the
pouting rain and ran over
toward the grove.
I couldn't believe it! This
knucklehead was holding up
everyone for who knows what
kind of prank. Horus were
honking. I waited to see the
butt-chewing that I wanted him
to get for making me late.
He was getting soaked to the
skin. His Battle Dress Uniform
was plastered to his frame. I
watched as he ran up to one of
the memorial
the small
fallen to the ground.-
and the rain, and
again.
Then, slowly,
attention saluted,
his car,
forget that
dier, whose name
know, taught me
duty, honor, and
hundred books or
lectures.
That simple
gle act of
brother and his
lated all t
gesture for me. It
"I will never
keep the faith.
mission. I am
dier."
I thank
that.
And on this
will remember all
paid the ultimate
freedom, and
soaked to the skin,
them.
Remember this
Day
honor those who
From the files of "RUSS METZ", 191
Want to put pinch on peddlers? Tell you what I'm gonna
Every summer along with another crop of crabgrass,
cockleburs and sassafras bushes comes a new crop of
door-to-door peddlers, who lean on your doorbell just
about the time you sit down to your first mess of polk
greens.
You'd think as smart as Americans have become, they
would have invented something to cope with those pesky
door-knockers. It seems to be a simple problem. Simple
enough for any genius such as myself to come up with a
solution in five minutes.
First, I like the door meter idea. To ring the doorbell, a
caller would have to insert coins in a slot. Ten cents would
get him one long healthy ring; a nickel would bring forth
a couple of sickly tinkles and a penny or slug slipped into
the slot would open the doghouse, letting a mean bulldog
at the cheapskate's shinbones.
If the bell ringer happens to be a friend, you could
return his money - hold it in escrow, in case he drops a
cigarette on your rug.
Under this plan, there is a good chance a salesman will
invest at least three dimes in your door meter before giv-
ing up. If he is really shot with the old foot-in-door perse-
verance, you cold net a cool half-dollar on him.
A variation of the door meter scheme is the one-finger-
bandit doorbell. Beside the ringer button, install three
windows with rotating wheels - readily available from
your friendly used slot machine.
Every sidewalk peddler is a sporting man. Pitting his
personality and pitch against the resistance of a home-
owner is a game of chance, so why not put a little more
fun in his game? A coin in the slot sets the machine into
motion. Three bells brings jackpot - a long blast on the
door chimes; three lemons, a fast exit with the dog at his
heels.
But before you begin chopping a hole in the front of
your house, there is something you ought to know. You
can bet the tax people are going to look at this idea with
great relish. Likely they would install their own meter on
your doorbell and tax it for 90% of its take, which is about
par for the course these days.
That is exactly the way the parking meter got started in
Oklahoma City and you can see all the revenue that Carl
McGee unwittingly is giving our cities. The primary pur-
pose of parking meters was to "regulate traffic" and it has
worked out that way. Cops are so busy counting the swag,
traffic must automatically control itself.
My handy-dandy doorbell meters would have their
toughest going in the country districts where I grew up. At
that time, anybody who visited a farm, even a pack ped-
dler, who was looked upon as a godsend to be retained as
long as possible. Many a Rawleigh and Watkins man quit
the circuit out" there. When they called on a farmhouse,
they were ceremoniously ushered in and entertained all
afternoon by the family and hired hands. If it was in the
afternoon when he came, his
team was fed and bedded down for the night and the
salesman was given a good supper and a shucktick bed to
sleep in.
Usually, the sale for the afiemoon and night amounted
to a 10-cent can of black pepper and maybe a can of salve.
And that only after he had passed out free chewing gum
to the kiddies and samples to the older folks.
The beauty of my inventions is it might put free enter-
prise back into the hands of consumers. Every housewife
can use a few extra bucks and it could take larceny out of
her normal habits. Instead of pilfering dough out of
hubby's pockets at night, she might be inclined to spruce
up the old house and front yard to place a look of pros-
perity and lure in more salesmen.
Unless there are some restrictions,
strong possibility it could lead to a national
of vice among the patrons of house-to-house
and Congressmen may accuse your wife
ber of the Mafia. The law frowns on the
et, you know.
If you decide to develop one
my usual royalty. Naw, I don't need one of
door. I shoot every fifth salesman. And make
four carry him off.
"The beings of the angehclln--gdom are
text us, but to make sure humanity does not
planet. For that would disrupt the solar system
ardize their home planet."
This little-noticed news item was the
Los Angeles school teacher, speaking on physic
ena to the Portland Flying Saucers Club. NoW
who s minding the steering wheels of those
crafts sailing around the country scaring
everyone.
I, for one, am relieved to learn this. p until
the opinion they were federal
toward Florida vacations.
Unidentified Flying Objects seem to be
tain areas. There have been
of contacts made with them and even
them in the air over Louisville just prior to
and recently on a Brazil mountain.
Flying saucers are not new. I had an uncle
ing them 40 years ago. His sightings came after
was sharpened by a little ruckus juice.
of his time. Nobody then believed
Auburn Cord could make a flying turn
rd like to start a Flying Saucers Club
Maybe then some of those strange
feel obligated to show up. Nearest thing to a
parts is the day the welfare checks arrive at the
Up, up and away.
