Politicians who advocate the death penalty rarely bother any more to pretend that executing one murderer will deter others. They still talk of bringing closure to those who mourn the victims. The longer it takes to an execution, the louder that argument.
Florida is poised to execute a man whose victims’ children are pleading for his life, and have for years. His death is not the closure they seek.
To the state of Florida, it doesn’t matter. Its indifference is wrapped in technical legal arguments about what a jury would not have been allowed to hear.
In this case, the state will have revenge even though the victims don’t want it.
The man scheduled to be fatally poisoned on Thursday is Curtis Windom, on death row for 32 of his 59 years. His death would tie the all-time Florida record se