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Could He Really Of Changed?

Consider the following case if you were Governor... would you have given him a second chance?

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Indiana executes man who wanted to donate liver

(Reuters) - Indiana on Wednesday executed a convicted murderer who had sought a reprieve so he could donate part of his liver to an ailing sister.

Gregory Johnson, 40, was pronounced dead at 12:28 a.m. CDT (0528 GMT) after an injection of lethal chemicals, officials at the Indiana State Prison said.

A signed, hand-written statement by Johnson released after his execution accused authorities of failing to recognize that he had changed while in prison and was capable of a humane act such as donating an organ.
Ref. https://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25329387.htm

His Crime:

He was sentenced to death for killing an 82-year-old woman during a home break-in in 1985.

Changed Really Could

He wasn't really asking for a second chance the way I understand it. He simply wanted to be given time to donate part of his liver to his sister. I think there would have been no harm in granting this. They said he wouldn't have recovered from the surgery in time to be safely transported back to the prison for execution. How stupid is that? If he died on the way back, so what! He was sentenced to die anyway.

Now, I think the judge was right not to grant this stay because the doctors said he wasn't a good candidate to donate. They said his sister needed more than just a partial liver transport. Still, if he had been a good candidate, then I think he should have been allowed to do this. Organs are so hard to find for donation, why not allow it?

Edited: funbikerchick on 26th May, 2005 - 11:06am

Could He Really Of Changed? History & Civil Business Politics

It is unfortunate, but not knowing the case fully they may have seen this as a plot for him to get out of the way he should die: as a criminal and not as a charitable giver.

Changed Really Could

People of this board, there are such things as "moral crimminals". People who would commit a crime and pretend to be a good person by doing something good. Personally, I don't think he should have been exceuted but given a life sentence.

Changed Really Could

How does "pretending to be a good person" make a criminal moral? I understand the concept of "honor among thieves," and perhaps this man did have good intentions to gift his sister with a donated organ. However, "pretending to be good" isn't proof of morals or ethics, and being "capable of a humane act" by donating an organ to a family member is not proof of true reformation.

If the doctors claim that he wasn't a good candidate for the transplant, then there was no point in staying the execution.