All of us should witness Irick’s execution
The state of Tennessee is preparing to execute Billy Ray Irick on Thursday. Actually, you and I are planning to execute Irick on Thursday.
Why are we not all there to witness it?
Whatever your views on capital punishment, however just or unjust you find Irick’s fate, you and I are legally and morally responsible for Irick’s execution.
Not the long-suffering family of 7year-old Paula Dyer, the child Irick – who was a trusted family friend – raped and murdered 33 years ago in her home in Knox County.
Not the prosecutor or defense attorney or judge or jury that presided over Irick’s trial, conviction and death sentence 32 years ago.
Not the state or federal appeals courts that have reviewed and upheld Irick’s conviction 17 times – including Monday when the state Supreme Court denied his appeal.
Not the governor, who also declined Monday to intervene.
“I took an oath to uphold the law,” Gov. Bill Haslam said. “Capital punishment is the law in Tennessee and was ordered in this case by a jury of Tennesseans and upheld by more than a dozen state and federal courts.”
Irick was tried, convicted and sentenced, and he will be executed, according to laws passed, administered and reviewed by the people we elect and appoint and hire. We might see or hear news reports about it, or talk about it. They bear the burdens.
The burdens of faithfully executing our laws before we execute someone.
Laws that allow executions to be painful, but prohibit executions “deliberately designed to inflict pain,” as Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in 2015.
Laws that allow us to execute the mentally ill but not the insane, convicted killers who are 6,574 days, but not those who are 6,573 days old.
Laws that require a death row inmate to prove that he will win his appeal before a court will grant a stay of execution.
Laws that require us to abide by constitutional principles of due process that protect us all – no matter how many years it takes.
Death penalty laws that apply in 31 states, but not in 19 others.
Death penalty laws the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 1972, then affirmed in 1976.
“The jury convicted Irick of the firstdegree-murder and aggravated rape of a 7-year-old child,” state Attorney General Herbert Slatery said last week. “Now, 32 years later, there is no reason not to permit the State of Tennessee to ‘execute its moral judgment in (this) case’ and to provide justice to the victims of Irick’s crimes.”
Slatery is right. According to our laws in Tennessee, Irick’s execution should proceed as scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maxium Security Institution – unless a court intervenes.
State law determines those who are “eligible“to witness the execution and bear that burden.
They include immediate family members (18 and older) of the victim and the offender; the offender’s spiritual adviser or the prison chaplain; the prison physician; several state and law enforcement officials; and up to seven members of the media.
The rest of us should witness it, too – if not in person then perhaps by live streaming.
Our laws. Our moral judgments. Our responsibility. Our burden.