JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

The situation surrounding application of the death penalty in Missouri is a total mess.

At least two guys on Death Row really deserve to die, but, at the same time, state officials have couriers running around with briefcases full of cash, apparently buying drugs secretly in Oklahoma to use in scheduled executions.

But state corrections department officials won’t talk about the drugs or where they are compounded, asserting that the compounding pharmacy could be in line for retaliation for assisting the state in carrying out the death sentences.

And, as state Sen. Rob Schaaf, a St. Joseph Republican, told The Star recently, “The secrecy means we can’t know whether we’re violating the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.”

As much as some of these guys deserve to die — and I’ll get to that in a minute — we are a civilized society, and we shouldn’t be killing people. As long as we continue to kill people, we at least shouldn’t be leaving them twisting and grimacing in pain before they give up their souls.

I know. A lot of people will say, “The sons of bitches are getting what they deserved; they didn’t show any mercy to the people they killed, so why should they get to die peacefully?”

But we know — deep down, we know — that that’s not right. We operate by the rule of law, and the state constitution obliges us not to subject even the most despicable offenders to cruel and unusual punishment. And there’s no arguing that inflicting an agonizing death is cruel and unusual punishment.

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The two guys who are Nos. 1 and 2 on Kansas City’s “most despicable” list are Michael Taylor and Roderick Nunley. They are the guys who, in 1989, abducted 15-year-old Ann Harrison outside her Raytown home as she waited for her school bus. The only sign of her that remained after these two animals snatched her were a small stack of her school books, with her flute case sitting on top of the books.

Taylor (left) and Nunley

That photograph, which appeared in The Star (I couldn’t find it online), is seared in the memories of those of us who saw it. It stood as a powerful argument in favor of the death penalty. Nunley, now 48, and Taylor, now 47, took Ann to a home, raped her, then put her in the trunk of a car, stabbed her (each of them) and left her to bleed to death, alone, while her parents — Bob and Janelle Harrison — frantically awaited word of her whereabouts and what might have befallen her.

I’ve said before that I’m philosophically against the death penalty. The Fifth Commandment makes no exceptions, and a civilized society should not be in the business of taking a life for a life.

But there are cases like Ann Harrison’s — as well as that of Pamela Butler, the KCK girl who was abducted, raped and murdered in October 1999 — that make me throw aside my idealism and say, “Kill the bastards.”

In fact, Michael Taylor is set to be executed Feb. 26 at Potosi Correctional Center southwest of St. Louis.

Ann Harrison

As much as I’d like to see it take place, emotionally, it probably won’t. The Star’s story about the pharmacy issue said Taylor’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a hearing on “the constitutionality of Missouri’s lethal injection protocol.”

The story went on to say: “The Supreme Court has instructed the state to respond to that petition by March 5.”

What does that sound like? Not like we’re going to be having a send-off party for Mr. Taylor this month, that’s for sure. And, as a matter of fact, both men faced earlier execution dates, but judges stayed the executions for one reason or another.

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The situation is such a mess that the Missouri Department of Corrections looks worse than a crooked politician.

Today, corrections department director George Lombardi is scheduled to testify before the Missouri House of Representatives’ Committee on Government and Accountability. He would be asked about the pharmacy and the “killer cocktail” being prepared for Taylor.

Lombardi was scheduled to appear last month, though, and he canceled at the last minute. So, some representatives aren’t expecting much cooperation this time around.

One of those, state Rep. John Rizzo, a Kansas City Democrat, put the situation in context when he told The Star that litigation regarding the death penalty will continue “as long as the state keeps executing people.”

Nelson

With the increasing questions being raised about the death penalty, as well as its underlying immorality, I think it’s time to abandon the eye-for-an-eye mindset and let these assholes like Taylor, Nunley and Keith Nelson Jr. (Pamela Butler’s killer) rot in prison.

If it’s aggravating to the public that these executions keep getting put off — years and even decades after the crimes — imagine how maddening it is for the parents and other close relatives of the victims.

I’m talking specifically about Bob and Janelle Harrison and Cherri West and Paul Butler, Pamela’s parents.

I think they’d be better able to get on with their lives if Nunley, Taylor and Nelson — and others like them — were just consigned to deep, dark holes behind thick walls and never heard from again, until they died.