Incredibly, the jury gave the boy life without parole, because they felt he wasn't mature enough to understand the true impact of what he had done.
I am willing to bet their wasn't a gun owner on the jury panel.
That wasn't good enough for the Judge, who threw the sentence out, and sentenced him to death. He appealed, and recently lost his appeal. The Judge is quite likely the most popular man in the County now, with the possible exception of our Sheriff (they apprehended the thug in under 4 hours, and beat the ever-loving shit out of him when they got him to the jail, at least 3 times over the next week. You don't **** around in our county, and we don't either).
That makes me smile.
After the trial, the story came out. The jury was comprised of 3 blacks, 8 whites, and one hispanic. I would be shocked if there weren't 9 or more gun owners on the Jury. The foreman requested a meeting with the Judge, where he informed the Judge that the 3 blacks, upon entering the deliberation room, informed the other Jurors that they would not consider the death penalty (the criminal was black). The Judge sent the foreman back with proper instructions to assign whatever sentence they could agree on. They could not agree on death (which has to be unanimous in Alabama) so they returned with life without parole.
MacMillan had two primary arguments in his appeal:
1. That the Judge had over-stepped his authority in ignoring the Jury's sentence and assigning his own. The Supreme Court did not agree, and has reaffirmed the Judge's sentence. The process of setting his execution date is happening now, and will likely conclude in the next month or two. And,
2. That the Jury did not have a satisfactory racial composition (there being only 3 blacks, and 3 other blacks had been stricken during selection). The Supreme Court, in a particularly sarcastic (to me, at least) reply, said basically that had he committed the crime in Montgomery County, where the racial demographic is almost 60% black) he would have a valid argument. But the County in which he committed his crime has only a 20% black residency, so the Jury was more than appropriate in reflecting the racial composition of his peers, and the 3 stricken Jurors were appropriately stricken with cause. But they didn't stop there. They summarized their decision by stating that race was not an issue in the arrest, investigation, trial, jury selection, nor sentencing.
To me, it sounded as if the Supreme Court was saying "don't bring us your racial bullshit when we have video showing the thug shooting the man in the head. Color doesn't matter here, and we're not going to listen to any argument based on race."
They pretty much removed every avenue he might have for any other appeal in Alabama, and I doubt seriously that the SCOTUS is going to entertain taking up his case, so he has a date with Big Yellow Mama on his calendar (we switched to lethal injection a while back, but the phrase "has a date with Big Yellow Mama" will forever mean "we're going to execute him" in Alabama). Here she is, still waiting and ready to serve if called upon:
I think lethal injection is too good for this piece of shit. I think Big Yellow Mama should be allowed to wrap her arms around him, and carry him to his maker.
