Remembering those Executed in August of 2010

The death penalty debate can become incredibly technical at times. Both sides tend to argue from legalistic, criminal justice, or moral terms, but in the process the actual executed are too often forgotten. In this space, each month, I want to recount those people who the citizens of the United States deemed too dangerous to be allowed to live.

At the beginning of August nine men were scheduled to be executed. By the end of the month, two of those men were dead.  The other seven executions were stayed.

Roderick Davie, 38, was executed in Lucasville, Ohio on August 10. On June 27, 1991 Davie went to the Veterinary Companies of America offices in Warren, Ohio, where he shot and killed two people, John Coleman, 38, and Tracey Jeffrey, 21. During the incident, Davie also shot and injured William John Everett. Davie had been fired from the VCA a month before the shooting.   When asked why he had done it, Davies told detectives, "I just flipped out this morning. I went down to the VCA and shot 'em up."

With his last breath, Davie expressed his remorse to the families of the people that he killed saying that he was sorry and hoping that this would allow them to move on. He was pronounced dead at 10:31 am. He is survived by his parents, his daughter, Paris and his niece, Brittany. Davie was the seventh person killed by the state of Ohio since the beginning of the year and the 1222nd since the death penalty was reintroduced to the United States in 1976.

Peter Cantu, 35, was executed in Houston, Texas on August 17th. Cantu was convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña. On June 23, 1993 Ertman and Peña were taking a shortcut home from a pool party at a friend's apartment when six gang members abducted and raped them. Cantu, who was barely 18 at the time of this crime, was the third man executed in connection to this crime. Two of the other men had their death sentences had their executions commuted because they were minors at the time of the crime and the third is serving a 40-year prison term.

Cantu at no statement at the time of his execution. Lethal chemicals entered his body at 6:09 pm.  He was pronounced dead at 6:17. Cantu was the sixteenth person executed by the state of Texas since the beginning of the year and the 1223rd since the death penalty was reintroduced to the United States in 1976.

I hope that you will join me in placing the families of those who mourn in your thoughts and prayers.

Photo Credit: Simon Cocks