The Birmingham News took Troy King to the woodshed in today’s edition, saying, “Attorney General Troy King should be ashamed of himself. But that would assume he has any shame. He apparently doesn’t.”
The News editorial staff is not happy with King’s grandstanding in the capital murder case of LaSamuel Gamble, whose death sentence was recently vacated. If you’ve been following the story, you already know that Gamble’s then 16-year-old cousin, Marcus Presley, actually committed the murders in question. After the Supreme Court ruled in a Missouri case that it was unconstitutional to execute juveniles (or those who had been juveniles when they committed their crimes), Presley’s sentence was commuted to life without parole.
Troy, who never met an execution he didn’t like, actually filed papers with the Supreme Court in that case pointing out the absurdity of sentencing an adult accomplice to death when the juvenile killer isn’t subject to the same punishment. Not because he was opposed to executing Presley, mind you — he wanted to kill them both.
“Under that line, Gamble – who was 18 at the time but did not actually kill anyone – would face the death penalty, but Presley – who at 16 executed two people with startling coolness – would get a free pass. Surely the Eighth Amendment does not, as a matter of constitutional principle, mandate such a bizarre result,” King wrote.
Now Troy’s changing his tune, criticizing Judge Michael Joiner’s decision and attacking Shelby County DA Robby Owens for supporting it. The News picks up on the overt scent of political payback:
Ironically, Shelby County Circuit Judge Michael Joiner cited King’s brief in ordering a new sentencing hearing for Gamble. Yet now, King wants to waste the court system’s time to reinstate a sentence he himself called “bizarre.”
It’s a cheap political stand, and it provided King a chance to insult Owens, a Republican who joined other district attorneys in backing King’s Democratic opponent in the 2006 election.
If King weren’t willing to play politics with this issue, the victims’ families might be able to start adjusting to the idea of Gamble being sentenced to life without parole – the only other sentence allowed in a capital murder case. Instead, thanks to King, they will be back on the rollercoaster ride that very well may take them to the same destination.
So far, I haven’t seen a response to a sharply critical letter to the editor published on Friday, but there’s no way King can resist hitting back now. Look for his self-righteous, defensive, and likely long-winded missive to show up in the paper sometime this week.
This is a little bit disingenious on the B’ham news’ part. The News believes that Alabama should release all of the murderers currently on death row; for them to cite the victim’s families as reasons in support of releasing murderers from death row is dishonest. The victim’s support King’s efforts to pursue the death penalty for Gamble.
Speaking of disingenuous…the Birmingham News wants the state to declare a moratorium on the death penalty pending a study on the uniformity and fairness of its application. It does not believe the state should release all murderers on Death Row. The alternative to the death penalty is life in prison without parole, not release.
But I expect you already know that.
Surely you are not suggesting that those convicted of crimes committed as minors should be executed? That position would be monumental in its barbarism.
[...] Took over the death penalty case of Shelby County District Attorney Robbie Owens after Owens suggested a judge re-sentence LaSamuel Gamble. Owens says he thought it was in the interest of justice because the actual shooter in the crime had his death penalty sentence commuted by the Supreme Court’s Roper decision. [...]