[speaker001:] I guess I don't don't really have a problem with capital punishment I'm not really sure what the exact uh specifications are for Texas I know that they uh have capital punishment for certain crimes and that's probably the way I feel about it is is uh it kind of depends on the crime that's committed my belief all my life I guess has been that that if you take someone else's life then you automatically are giving up uh yours in place of it but I don't seems to be a lot of controversy about that
[speaker002:] yeah uh uh I tend to agree with you uh you know probably pretty similar views on it but that's that's one of the things I don't don't understand is is so much of the controversy because uh you know I I do also myself believe in capital punishment uh uh you know it it really irks me to see so much effort put into preventing someone being put to death by the State when they so callously and usually so you know without even thinking or without any concern uh you know end somebody else's life and in a lot of cases several people's lives
[speaker001:] that's true I guess well there's there's probably two or three different types of of views as far as the controversy goes I can see where if a life was taken by accident or uh I don't know what you'd call it not premeditated or I guess primarily by accident uh there may be cases where the death penalty is not called for but I lean towards if it's premeditated or if it's uh
[speaker002:] oh is that
[speaker001:] kind of a habitual or or a habit that uh a tendency that people uh may get into then I guess I don't really have a problem with it
[speaker002:] yeah that's that's kind of the way I feel if if you've got a guy who's who's been to trial and has been in and out of jail you know basically a a three time loser for the twelfth time you know and he goes out and kills somebody he's not going to be reformed he's not going to get any better you know it's it's not going a it's just not going to get any better and and the only thing you know a lot of people have the opinion that you know don't don't have capital punishment but give them life in jail and you know I could go along with that if if I could be assured that it would be their natural life in jail and not parole after ten or twelve years
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I think that's what aggravates a lot of people is somebody does get a life sentence in place of the death penalty and they wind up back on the streets after five years or six years or like the kid on the news tonight out in Mesquite who was out in six months
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah it's it's just our criminal system is just so I guess overloaded but the you know the the problem is not so much with the prison system you know I mean because the the cops are out there doing their job enforcing the laws and the prison system are just you know they're trying to cope with them but you know the thing about capital punishment I I you know a lot of people don't think it would be a deterrent uh to to future crime and the way it is now it's not because you know you
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] if the like the State of Texas for example may uh you know may execute somebody twice a year you know that's that's no kind of deterrent because we we've got literally hundreds of people on death row and and many of them who have been there for literally for ten or fifteen years on death row and that's
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] that's certainly no kind of deterrent and I would tend to agree with anybody who says right now that it it's not a deterrent uh a deterrent because it's not
[speaker001:] no it's not you think of your chances of getting the death penalty after cre uh committing a crime are really pretty slim right now and you can probably spend uh a lot of time
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] uh or maybe eventually uh just waiting it out and that's where a lot of aggravation comes I think is is uh these guys spend so much time in the appeal process or just in the waiting process they may spend years
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] and you know the last I heard it was costing ten twenty thirty thousand dollars a year uh to keep these guys waiting
[speaker002:] yeah it it's amazing there's uh there's a girl I work with our secretary as a matter of fact her her father was murdered her father and three other guys up here in Sherman and the uh the guy that they tried and convicted and sentenced him to death you know he's been on death row for like eight years
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and you know this this was her father uh you know that that got killed you know just cold-blooded murder him and three other people and but still for some reason you know this this guy's sentence has not been carried out you know he's sitting on death row for eight years after having killed four people and the State still can't bring itself to to execute execute this guy
[speaker001:] to yeah to carry it out it sort of takes the justice out of the justice system
[speaker002:] it does it really does you know she and they have to go back uh occasionally you know she has to write letters to the parole board and you know lawyers and just just ever so often she mentions well she's got to do something else you know write another letter or do something it's just
[speaker001:] yeah it should be over and done with
[speaker002:] yeah yeah you know she should be getting on with her life you know getting getting that part behind her but yet it's it's kind of tied to her the way it is now
[speaker001:] yeah it is and she winds up being a a victim day after day after day
[speaker002:] yeah yeah right a victim not only of indirectly of the crime but also indirectly by that indirect involvement it's just it's it's ridiculous
[speaker001:] right she she is she is an emotional victim
[speaker002:] yeah yeah it it's terrible you know and
[speaker001:] and you know the like you say the cops that are out doing the work day by day have got to have a lot of frustration when they see all their work basically go out the window
[speaker002:] yeah oh that oh man I I couldn't be a cop for that for that very reason you know because they do the the criminal gets right back out and you know the cop's just got to go back and and do his thing all over again because so many of the crimes are are done by repeat offenders it's
[speaker001:] yes they are well that's about five minutes so unless you've got something else well
[speaker002:] yeah no
[speaker001:] it's a pleasure talking with you
[speaker002:] all right Ron we'll see you later all right bye-bye
[speaker001:] okeydoke good-bye