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GA Commutes Death Sentence Three Hours Before Execution

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Thu May 22, 2008 at 07:06:39 PM EST
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The Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole granted clemency to Samuel David Crowe today three hours before his scheduled execution. He had already eaten his last meal.

Crowe, age 47, will now serve life without parole. The board found he expressed sincere and exceptional remorse.

At Thursday's hearing, his lawyers presented a dossier of evidence attesting to his remorse and good behavior in jail, according to local media reports. The lawyers also said he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms from a cocaine addiction at the time of the crime.

109 men remain on Georgia's death row.

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    GA Commutes Death Sentence Three Hours Before Execution | 12 comments (12 topical)

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    This was a freakin' miracle. (none / 0) (#1)
    by Kathy on Thu May 22, 2008 at 07:27:52 PM EST
    Take it as a sign.  We could hear the cheering from our local Innocence Project a mile up the street.

    Thanks for the news Jeralyn nt (none / 0) (#2)
    by digdugboy on Thu May 22, 2008 at 07:35:18 PM EST


    Wonderful news (none / 0) (#3)
    by otherlisa on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:05:57 PM EST
    I hate the death penalty.

    same here (none / 0) (#7)
    by miguelito on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:22:36 PM EST
    it's always great to hear something like this.  There is something so inherently wrong with the state executing its populace.. criminals or not.

    Parent
    wow (none / 0) (#5)
    by DJ on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:20:04 PM EST
    I hope he betters his bit of the world.  

    I wonder why they (none / 0) (#6)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:22:11 PM EST
    wait until the 11th hour to make these decisions.  Are they trying to scare the person beyond belief as a means of punnishment?

    Good that they stopped the execution.  In this day and age of MAXIMUM SECURITY prisons, capital punishment should be obsolete.

    Maximum security prisons (none / 0) (#10)
    by kateNC on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:53:15 PM EST
    Are just a form of torture leading to madness and death.

    Abolish the death penalty and maximum security prisons.

    Parent

    I don't know that I agree. (none / 0) (#11)
    by sickofhypocrisy on Thu May 22, 2008 at 09:19:51 PM EST
    I'm not in favor of the death penalty, but there's something to be said about making prison almost untolerably miserable.  

    Every time I start to feel that prisons are too harsh, I think about Jessica Lunsford.  In case you need a reminder, she was a 9-year old girl who was repeatedly raped over the course of three days, wrapped in trash bags and buried alive.  She died clutching a stuffed animal.  

    Prisons should be horrible.  People like Couey (Jessica's rapist/murderer) do not deserve comfort of any kind.  Food and medical attention is all that people like that animal should get.  Frankly, I don't even know if he deserves that much.  

    Parent

    Civility Wins (none / 0) (#8)
    by txpolitico67 on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:26:46 PM EST
    that is awesome/great news.  

    I am starting to see Americans wake up more and more about the perils of the death penalty.

    Interesting (none / 0) (#9)
    by Steve M on Thu May 22, 2008 at 08:32:17 PM EST
    I wonder how many states give the parole board, as opposed to the governor, the power to commute a sentence?

    I don't know anything about this case, but... (none / 0) (#12)
    by FoxholeAtheist on Thu May 22, 2008 at 10:53:35 PM EST
    The death penalty is abhorrent. Any commutation of any death sentence is always a good thing.

    Unless one subscribes to some quasi-religious notion of good and evil, I don't see how it's possible to think of extreme criminality as anything other than a manifestation of mental/emotional derangement and/or the workings of a systemically diseased brain.

    Any person who advocates anything less than fully humane treatment for violent offenders is a person who is self-evidently inclined toward violence. In that regard, I fail to see much of a distinction between the criminal and the person who sits in judgment.

    God Bless David Crowe (none / 0) (#13)
    by Friendofdavidcrowe on Sat May 24, 2008 at 10:14:31 PM EST
    I wrote David Crowe a few years ago, not knowing the nature of his crime, and we exchanged a few letters over the course of a few months.  I found David Crowe to be a humble man who practiced the Catholic faith - he converted.  He was a very humble person who was upfront about his crime and had genuine remorse.

    I thought about him recently when I knew GA was starting to put to death those who had been on death row longest.  I feared one day that I would turn on the news on tv and find he had been executed.  To my amazement and joy, David Crowe's life was not taken.  This is a true blessing of God.  David has made a difference in his life and I'm glad the system saw fit to commute his sentence.  This is a true work of God.  

    I've got to write David again and express my sheer joy for him and his famiy.

    God Bless David Crowe.

    GA Commutes Death Sentence Three Hours Before Execution | 12 comments (12 topical)

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