Trial by Injection

The Bellend of the Month for March 2014 is Robert L. Henry, who was executed this month for killing two female co-workers this month by beating them with a hammer and setting them on fire during a robbery at their workplace. Henry was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the 20th after a lethal injection at the Florida State Prison. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the November 1987 deaths of Phyllis Harris and Janet Thermidor at a fabric store in Deerfield Beach. Authorities say about US$1,200 was taken in the robbery. Before the execution, Henry read a three-minute statement in which he apologized for his crimes and said he hoped his death would comfort the families of the victims. But he also criticized the death penalty, saying thieves don't get their hands amputated as punishment. "Why would we continue to be murderers to those who have murdered?" he said. Then, as he continued, an unidentified victim family member who was witnessing the execution said, "Die." The comment wasn't audible through the thick glass partition separating witnesses from the chamber. After the execution, Thermidor's sister, Deborah Knights, read a family statement. "We will always cherish the memory of her life that was taken too soon by a demon from hell," she said. "Today should be closure, but how can you forget the brutal way in which two lives were taken without remorse?" Right on, Deborah. In fact, how can anyone forget the brutal way in which those two lives, or any two for that matter, were taken without remorse? Seriously, people, crime doesn't pay. So don't make such a stupid mistake or else it could be you receiving a lethal injection one day.