Last Words For Killer On Death Row: 'Go Raiders'

Dumpy Dooby · 07-09-2007, 02:23 PM

Last Words For Killer On Death Row: 'Go Raiders'

PHOENIX - A condemned killer who fought to drop his appeals, saying he owed it to his victims, was executed Tuesday by injection.

Robert Charles Comer, 50, was the first inmate put to death in Arizona since 2000. He had been convicted for a 1987 crime spree in which he killed a camper east of Phoenix and raped a woman in front of her boyfriend.

Comer was mostly quiet as he lay strapped to a gurney before his execution. He looked around at the more than 20 witnesses. When the warden asked whether he had any last words, the California native replied: "Yes, go Raiders."

He was pronounced dead about five minutes after the lethal drugs were administered.

At a 2002 competency hearing, Comer admitted killing Larry Pritchard after eating a campfire dinner with the man. He said then that it was about time he paid for the crime.

"I killed Larry Pritchard. Stuck a gun in his ear and pulled the trigger, he's dead," Comer said, according to transcripts from the hearing. "An eye for an eye. I mean, I ended a whole bunch of innocent people's lives and changed their lives forever. Even though they're still alive, their lives are destroyed. I owe that to them. I owe it to myself, man. I was totally wrong."

"I don't know what everybody's so scared about," he added then. "Death is not that damn bad."

Comer fought for seven years to be executed. He spent much of that time just proving he was competent to make the decision.

At his sentencing, he had been brought into a courtroom strapped to a wheelchair, bloodied, barely conscious and naked except for a towel on his lap after struggling with guards.

In prison, he was cited 43 times between 1988 and 2001 for infractions including making knives and shanks, fighting with prisoners and guards and setting fires in his cell.

About a dozen people demonstrated against the death penalty about a mile away from the prison entrance Tuesday. A lone death penalty proponent stood in another area, carrying a sign that read: "Comer will never murder or rape again!"

With Comer's execution, Arizona has executed 87 people, 23 of them since resuming the death penalty in 1992. More than 110 inmates, including two women, are awaiting their executions in Arizona prisons.

Source: http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_145142816.html

Dumpy Dooby · 07-09-2007, 02:24 PM

He seemed to be a right competent guy, despite his flaws, but of all the things this man could have said as his last words .... "Go Raiders"?

I guess it just goes to show that Raiders fans are the craziest of all football fans.

SpicyMcVoodoo · 07-09-2007, 06:19 PM

This guy's attitude is partially why I'm against the death penalty-- it strikes me as a better fate than life in prison, and unless the inmate is afraid of death, then it's not a punishment. It's a release, and a quite pleasant one at that.

DosEquis · 07-09-2007, 06:34 PM

The hard part is determining whether it was an act or he was geniune in his desire to be executed. If it was genuine that he wanted to be executed, I think he should have spent life in prison.

The main problem with switching it up on him is if you do not go through with the death penalty it creates a precedence. If you act like you want to be put to death, you can avoid it. Those who do not want to die via dealth penalty could use that to escape their sentence.

Or I guess an alternative would be to allow the inmate to choose between death penalty and life in prison at the time they are being sentenced.

Dumpy Dooby · 07-09-2007, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo

This guy's attitude is partially why I'm against the death penalty-- it strikes me as a better fate than life in prison, and unless the inmate is afraid of death, then it's not a punishment. It's a release, and a quite pleasant one at that.

Personally, I don't think the death penalty should be treated as a form of punishment. It should treated as a construct of social sanitation. It's just like when we put a rabid dog to sleep because we don't want it killing everyone. I think when a person is incapable of correction and rehabilitation, they should be put down. Of course this only extends to crimes that threaten the lives of other humans (i.e., rape, mayhem, murder, etc.).

That's my take anyway.

RMNIXON · 07-09-2007, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

He seemed to be a right competent guy, despite his flaws, but of all the things this man could have said as his last words .... "Go Raiders"?

I guess it just goes to show that Raiders fans are the craziest of all football fans.

The Raiders still have a huge fan base in La County!

Probably the most criminal fans also!

SpicyMcVoodoo · 07-09-2007, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

Personally, I don't think the death penalty should be treated as a form of punishment. It should treated as a construct of social sanitation. It's just like when we put a rabid dog to sleep because we don't want it killing everyone. I think when a person is incapable of correction and rehabilitation, they should be put down. Of course this only extends to crimes that threaten the lives of other humans (i.e., rape, mayhem, murder, etc.).

That's my take anyway.

I agree, but my only concern would be that it would encourage violent behavior among suicidal people in prison, a sort of suicide by executioner.

Dumpy Dooby · 07-09-2007, 07:55 PM

That's a good point. I don't really have a retort for that.