Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Leroy Nash, Oldest Death Row Inmate

AZCentral.com provides a short bio.

Date of Birth: Sept. 10, 1915.

While serving two consecutive life sentences for murder and robbery in Utah, Nash escaped. Three weeks later, on Nov. 3, 1982, he entered a coin shop in north Phoenix, demanded money from an employee, Gregory West, and then shot West three times with a .357 Colt trooper. Another employee was in the line of fire but was not hit. As Nash fled, the proprietor of a nearby shop pointed a gun at him and told him to stop. Nash grabbed the weapon, and the two men struggled over it. Police officers soon arrived and arrested Nash.

But if you want to read a glorified version, go here to the CCADP site.

This man is a survivor. Born in Utah, in 1915, only a handful of years after Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, he is a living link with a bygone era, growing up at the time of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in the infamous days of prohibition, when the Mob ruled Chicago and Al Capone was King. In the year that Nash entered this world, the Lusitania was sunk, Wyatt Earp was very much alive and American had yet to enter the First World War.

Their glamorizing of his life goes on from there. The American counterparts of this Canadian organization do the same thing. I guess for them, the death penalty is so abhorrent they actually see the condemned men as victims.

I don't go that far myself. I oppose the death penalty, but I see no reason to avoid the fact that most of these guys are extremely violent and dangerous and should never get out of jail.

Being contrary to Capital Punishment, I feel any time a condemned person dies of old age or from natural causes as a victory of sorts. Anything that avoids the Government having to do this is a good thing.

What's your opinion?

10 comments:

  1. He was sentenced to death by execution. For him to die of old age is a miscarriage of justice.

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  2. What should we do when lifers commit further crimes?

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  3. I guess for them, the death penalty is so abhorrent they actually see the condemned men as victims.

    This isn't anything different then what you do. You consistently see violent thugs as victims: of abuse, of neglect, of addiction, of society's failure to insure their self esteem was adequately protected.

    When do they stop being victims?

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  4. I am not a huge fan of the death penalty. Unless I was absolutely convinced of guilt I do not think I could sentence someone to death.

    Frankly the standard for the death penalty should be high. Absolute proof must be had, before that sentence should be handed down.

    Now, watch in amazement as I contradict myself. Among crimes that the death penalty should apply is child molestation. I do not mean the 18 or 19 year old who is having sex with his 16 or 17 year old partner. I mean these people who molest preteens, and teens. Once convicted, with absolute proof, they should be taken out of the courthouse and publicly executed.

    To be honest, the death penalty is not really a good deterrent. It is done behind closed doors, out of the sight of the general public. For it to even register, it should be done in public, shown live on the news.

    For those who are appalled, Like I tell those who get offended by profanity over the cb band, if you don't like what you hear change the channel.

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  5. Oh yeah, I have no pity for those who commit a crime and blame their life for it.

    Many people have been picked on, beat up, not hugged enough by mommy or daddy, hugged to much by daddy, treated like shit by the world. I have been shat on most of my life, yet I haven't picked up my guns, went to the local mall and started killing everyone. I didn't steal my fathers 10mm and go to school, and kill everyone that had wronged me.

    To be sure, I feel sorry for these people, but feeling pity, and justification are two separate issues. I can say we failed them, but in this life we are all dealt cards, and how we play them is all up to us. Believe me I know...

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  6. Sevesteen asks a good question:

    "What should we do when lifers commit further crimes?"

    They lose privileges of which there are many in prison. When that doesn't work they have to be isolated.

    The one thing we can't do is kill them. That's my position.

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  7. I've been a penpal of Mr. Nash's since 1987(ish). He's a career criminal, feels no remorse and contrary to what he says about his upbringing, was raised by good people in utah. He has been participating in "deviant" behavior since he was a child starting with petty theft. He lives in a fantasy world (and I don't think its due to his age, since I 've been writing to him for over 20 years! The states of Arizona and Utah have spent enough tax dollars on this man - execute him already.

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  8. Anonymous, With pen pals like you a guy wouldn't need enemies.

    Seriously, thanks for the personal input, close up and personal, as it were.

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  9. Just stating the facts as I see them - he has been telling me for years he doesn't feel badly about the people he killed in the commission of his multiple armed robberies...just "part of the job"...LOL He's a trip...and I do send him birthday cards each year along with Christmas cards...I'm not a bad person, nor do I wish ill will on the man, but seriously, he's a career criminal and feels no remorse - better to carry out execution than waste taxpayers dollars for his cable - yes, he has a tv in his cell given to him by a University of Arizona bleeding heart...

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  10. Thanks again, Anonymous. Since you are anonymous, can I ask why you send him birthday cards. What is your relationship to him?

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