Sunday, October 12, 2008 Lim: Abomination By Melanie T. Lim Wide Awake
CLAUDIO Teehankee Jr.’s pardon is an abomination to say the least.
The man shot three teen-agers in cold blood. There was no provocation, no cause for violence. This was no accident either. This was plain, senseless murder.
Two teen-agers died on July 13, 1991. Sixteen-year old Maureen Hultman was coming home from a party with 21-year old Roland John Chapman and 24-year old Jussi Olavi Leino when they were shot by Teehankee for no apparent reason. Chapman died on the spot. Hultman survived but after 97 days in the hospital also succumbed to her injuries. Leino survived.
Fourteen years is all Teehankee served for three crimes and two murders. If the laws were complied with then the laws should be changed. Minimum jail time for murder should be raised before executive clemency can be considered. Or better yet, there should be no pardon for murderers.
Does it matter that Teehankee is 62? Did it matter to Teehankee that Maureen was 16, that Roland John was 21 and that Jussi Olavi was 24? Teehankee shot them anyway even as a hysterical Maureen and Jussi Olavi begged for their lives and Roland John lay dying.
If Teehankee begged for his life, I wouldn’t spare him. After all, the punishment should be commensurate to the crime. But our justice system seems to be working for the criminals rather than for the victims. Teehankee’s life was spared. Better yet, he’s now scot-free.
I remain a staunch supporter of capital punishment. Critics say the death penalty does not deter crime. But how many criminals have we actually executed for us to intelligently conclude that the death penalty is not effective? If we cut people’s tongues when they lie, do you think they would lie again? If we executed murderers, do you think they could kill again?
I don’t believe in commuting sentences for perpetrators of heinous crimes. What chilling message does this send to criminals? You can’t convince criminals that crime doesn’t pay if you don’t make them pay. If these convicts have truly sought God’s forgiveness, then let us praise them but let us keep them behind bars if we don’t have the balls to execute them. If they have truly reformed then they will consider it a privilege to spend the rest of their lives reforming fellow inmates in the service of the Lord.
It is bad enough that the lives of murderers cannot bring back the lives of those they have murdered. The least society could do is to keep these criminals behind bars for the rest of their lives so they can no longer commit any more crimes.
It is bad enough that we do not execute murderers in this country; we have to pardon them because we believe they have served enough years behind bars. How long is enough anyway? To me, it should be the rest of a murderer’s life because that’s how long a time he’s taken away from his victim’s life—-the rest of her life.
Mercy is not for us to give but for God to grant in the afterlife. In the world of mortals, our mandate is to protect the innocent and to deliver justice.
