An open letter to the family of Officer Mark MacPhail family:
I am very sorry for your loss. From what I have read Officer MacPhail was an accomplished Army veteran and an experienced police officer with much to offer to his family, friends, colleagues and community.
I have never lost a family member violently like you. But Bill Petit has. He lost his wife and two daughters to a 2007 Connecticut home invasion. He describes his loss as having left behind "a hole with jagged edges, and over time, the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart, the hole in your soul, is still there, so there is never closure."
Closure. Is that what you were looking for in executing Troy Davis? We already know that the death penalty does not deter crime, but in the past few years, it seems as though capital punishment is being touted as the means by which victims' families find closure. Is that how you feel now that Troy Davis is gone?
Marietta Jaeger Lane has a little different spin and she speaks from experience. Her 7-year-old daughter was murdered and she is quoted as saying, “Our loved ones deserve more beautiful, noble and honorable memorials than premeditated state-sanctioned killings.”
I tend to believe that she is right.
