Staff Blog
Dear Death Penalty Opponents (pt. 2),
Hey, it's me again. Just wanted to make sure that in light of your noble work in New Jersey, it's time to rally over on the commonwealth side of thee old Delaware Creek. Why, you ask? Because, I answer:
HARRISBURG – Governor Edward G. Rendell signed his 75th death warrant today, this one for a Luzerne County man who was sentenced to die 15 years ago for the sexual assault and strangulation of 3-year-old Joelle Donovan in Wilkes-Barre.
Michael Bardo, 38, is an inmate today at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. He’s scheduled to die by lethal injection on Feb. 28.
According to court documents, Bardo murdered Donovan in August 1992 after a night out with a friend.
Bardo was convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of indecent aggravated assault on Jan. 27, 1993.
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas formally sentenced Bardo to death on Dec. 15, 1994, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed that judgment on Feb. 27, 1998. Nearly four months later, a warrant was issued scheduling Bardo’s execution for July 16, 1998. On July 1, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stayed the execution pending resolution of Bardo’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. On Oct. 13, 1998, certiorari was denied, thus lifting the stay. A second warrant was issued on Nov. 12, 1998, scheduling the execution for Jan. 6, 1999.
Bardo’s petition for relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act was denied by the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in December 1998. Bardo then filed an appeal in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from the order denying his petition for relief on the grounds he was “seeking only appointment of new counsel and request for stay of execution.” Later that month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower court for a hearing to reconsider Bardo’s request for new counsel and stayed the execution for the purpose of that hearing. However, that hearing was not held until this past November.
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I'd like to thank you in advance for your tireless work in keeping honorable fellas like Michael Bardo alive and kickin' those appeals into the system - on my dime.
XOXO,
Hickey
P.S. In case you're counting, he's now been in prison five times longer than his victim was permitted to live.
Once again, a death penalty supporter tries to play the “horrible crime” card.
Is Bardo a monster? Yes. Does that mean we get to kill him? No.
What death penalty proponents always seem to ignore is that some families, who have actually lost loved ones, have the courage and moral fiber to forgive and NOT ask for the death penalty. Indeed, there was at least one survivor on the New Jersey death penalty commission Mr. Hickey implicitly vilifies.
What death penalty supporters demonstrate is not their own concern for justice; it is their own lack of character.
Sorry, “Expatriate,” I don’t play “cards.” I merely point out that people who want a wholesale moratorium and/or ban are doing nothing but protecting the worthless lives of the evil, on my dime.
And, having met countless people who’ve lost loved ones to senseless violence, I think I have a pretty good idea about their take on justice. And the vast majority I’ve interviewed feel that the perpetrators should pay with their lives for their crimes. It should be their call. Not mine, not yours, and definitely not someone on a Kumbaya drum circle singing about their cause of the moment.
If standing up for what I believe in demonstrates a “lack of character,” what does making baseless claims under an assumed screen name demonstrate? I mean, other than cowardice.
I stand by what I believe, whether you like it or not. I do not owe you explanation, identification, etc.
You know, such a compelling response makes me want to rethink my stance. I’m no longer in favor of the death penalty. Thank you for helping me see the light through your eloquence.
Brian P. Hickey
123 Chestnut St.
215 735 8444 x211
Mr. Hickey,
I have no more expectation of changing your mind than I imagine you have of changing mine. If you want to post your contact info online so any weirdo can contact you, fine and well. You have the patience for dealing with that, I don’t.
It’s not about changing minds on the issue. It’s about you having the gumption to explain how believing in the death penalty exhibits a “lack of character.”
And don’t worry about me: The wackos find me anyhow. One need only look at how this thread started for an example.
It’s a damn good thing no innocent people have ever been executed on your dime (Despite the lack of evidence, I applaud the executions of both Sacco and Vanzetti because future generations would need the vowels in their names in order to play “Wheel of Fortune”), Brian; otherwise your argument might come off sounding somewhat like “There was like this guy who did like this, really, really bad thing, but now he’s like dead, so we can all sleep safely, â€cuz they’ll be like no more murders and stuff.”
I hear what you’re saying Rodney, which is why I concede that capital punishment needs to be examined (but would never concede that it should be banned altogether).
What of those who’ve confessed, or were caught - and excuse the horrible imagery - redhanded?
Am I to think you believe that we shouldn’t have the death penalty at all, and keep the Heidniks of the world alive, even if they’re proven guilty beyond any sort of doubt?
Or would you agree that we should keep it as an option for certain heinous cases, where there’s zero doubt as to who was responsible?
I’m pretty sure that the folks who arranged Ethel Rosenberg’s ride in the electric Lazy-Boy (I always thought that was kind of a negative brand name to give a product – sort of like a “Couch Potato” brand sofa or a “Welfare Queen” refrigerator) were 100% percent certain that she was guilty of treason. By the way, while I’m convinced that Ethel was innocent, I think Julius Rosenberg was probably guilty. I also think that Ronald Reagan was guilty of treason for selling weapons to Iran (which was officially designated as an “Enemy State”). Now there’s a case in which I might have supported the Death Penalty, but I digress. Now please step back while I go all Ike Turner on your argument:
Let’s say that Abdul “’Roid Rage” Golberg bludgeons a bunch of blind orphans to death with a puppy. We know he did it because he filmed himself doing it, confessed on his MySpace page (REAL killers use MySpace. Posers use FaceBook), and then wrote a book called “If I Di…Ah, Hell; Who Am I Trying To Fool? I Killed Them Orphans!”
How many cases a year do you expect to get like that? No, my Magic Eight Ball tells me that in most cases you’ll be roughly 90% certain the person did it. I hope you packed your skis because you’re about to try out the Slippery Slope. We’ll fry folks that we’re 90% sure are murders. Then 80% sure. Then 70%. Oh, this also applies to torture and helps to explain why “24” sucks bronto.
But back to “’Roid Rage” Golberg. He’s in jail, so we know he’s not going to do it again; and killing him won’t prevent another psycho orphan-killer from running amok. But if it just so happens that we find out that it was actually his twin brother, Juan “Somewhat Unstable” Goldberg who killed those orphans, we can let him out the pen, write him a check to cover the inconvenience, and heartily apologize for what the Nation of Islam did to him in the showers.
I wouldn’t expect to get many cases like that, but when I do, it’s time to fire up the LazyBoy. But only after he explains how it’s possible to take out an orphan with a puppy. You can’t go to the grave with that kind of knowledge, especially when you consider the biggest American failure of our generation (letting Reagan die without telling us how he did so.)
And if I may digress: It’s shameful how Ike didn’t make many of the end-of-year dead-celeb montages. In fact, it’s beyond shameful. It’s almost as bad as letting kiddie killers live.
Brian, you ignorant slut. There are at least two problems with applying the Death Penalty (directly to the forehead) to only the most “heinous” crimes such as wholesale toddler slaughter (WTS). The first is that anyone who has ever a had a kid kick the back of their seat for the duration of a flight is likely to see WTS as a victimless crime (In the words of Philly’s own Valerie Solanas Players, “I’d never hurt an animal, but that paperboy…”). The second is that handing out the Death Penalty on the basis of which crimes are perceived to be the most reprehensible violates the Constitution’s restriction on UNUSUALL punishment. In the same sense that getting struck by lightning or a presidential candidate sharing the stage with Chuck Norris are unusual, so is applying the Death Penalty to only certain types of murder. I’d actually be more inclined to support the Death Penalty if it were applied to ALL convicted murders (and if it were carried out not by lethal injection, but with a fuzzy, pink slipper).
Norris is bad-ass. We both know this. I just wish somebody would dust off Fat Segal and get him on stage with, oh, I don’t know, Hillary? Or Kucinich, which might be even cooler.
Long story short: I’m just playing the placate/compromise game here. As I want just about every murderer executed, I will get to work on the lethal pink slippers to secure your support. I only hope I can trust that my success in doing so will bring you into the fold.
You should let me have the last word. And that word should be “Boobs”.
Your exchanges….in a sick way….were pretty darn good! Thank you for the entertainment….and thoughts.
Thanks, Deb. Rodney always brings out the entertaining-sick in me. (Though now we have to make sure he has an opportunity to get the last word again.)
Jeez, most people want those who cut them off while drivin’ to suffer some extreme fate. Now imagine yer anger at some fool who is tryin’ to kill ya? I want VENGEANCE!!! Burn the Punk who kills me!
Now thats how a debate should be done. You mangaged to condense the death penalty into something fun and witty. So the internet does, in fact, provide more than just porn and music. interesting
i knew this family and all i can say is that he killed more then one person that night. he tore his entire family apart when he decided to steal that little girls life. i may not be a death penalty supporter, but he needs to die. not even looking at this from the personal perspective that i have, the economy doesnt need to waste taxpayer money on scumbags like him.
I’m glad someone said they knew Mike. I knew him too and I knew him better than anyone. I was married to him. For those who say he needs to die, remember he has 2 kids of his own. There is also new evidence that he didn’t do it but there is also a suspect who did and his lawyers are trying to get papers filed to prove this. Please keep this in mind when you are hoping that they put the needle in his arm. So Amy, some police should be made to do their job and investigate before they arrest someone. Not just arrest to look like heroes.
(Please excuse last post, spell checker did not work.)