Sidney Sweeting, DDS (http://www.weblogbahamas.com)
At the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of East Nassau several years ago the speaker (a lawyer) was making her case for a request to Government through the sympathy of the public to stop the order for the death penalty of a convicted murderer. A member of the audience questioned why her voice had not be heard in sympathy for the victim and her family. She did not answer the question.
The question of whether the death penalty is a deterrent to crime can be debated ad infinitum but the fact still remains that justice needs to be served.
A lead story in the Tribune this morning stated "Convicted murderer released on two years probation." He had been sentenced to death but the London based Privy Council ruled that the Bahamas' mandatory death penalty was "unconstitutional." Senior Supreme Justice Jon Issacs "took into consideration" that the murderer had been incarcerated for 18 years.
I am wondering if it occurred to the Supreme Court Justice to also "take into consideration" that the victim Sherry Ferguson is still dead.
