Yesterday the state supreme court in Arizona commuted to life without parole the death sentence of Frank Roque, the man who killed gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodi after 9/11 because he thought he was Muslim (thanks Atul for the news tip):
The high court unanimously agreed that Frank Silva Roque’s mental illness and low IQ were mitigating factors and should have resulted in the lesser sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole.
“We have such a doubt in this case, and therefore conclude that the death penalty should not be imposed,” Vice Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch wrote. “Because of the serious nature of Roque’s crimes, however, we conclude that he should be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life and never be released.”
A gracious reaction from the victim’s family:
“As long as he is away from society and our family, it’s fine,” said his brother, Rana Singh Sodhi, though he questioned the high court’s assertion that Roque is mentally ill.
“I don’t think mentally ill people can make those (deliberate decisions about) targets,” he said.
Not much to add here, but the news — a victory for justice, since the conviction was upheld, and (in my opinion) for humanity, since another life won’t be unnecessarily taken — seems significant enough to disseminate. Here’s Ennis’s post on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of Balbir Singh Sodhi’s death, last September.
They should have fried him.
Good decision by the court. There are very few cases where I question myself on my opposition to the death penalty. This was one of them. But I am glad that he will suffer for the rest of his life.
This event is what, I believe, prompted filmmaker Valarie Kaur (a friend and fellow kathak dance student), then an undergraduate, to spend four months traveling across the United States to film the footage of what has become a documentary, “Divided We Fall.” Check it out at dwf-film.com. Valarie, if you’re out there, chime in!
Ususally I’m consistently pro-death (abortion, war, assisted-suicide); but while I have no moral qualms w/ capital punishment, I do have epistemological ones. If we are wrong about the defendents guilt, there is no way to reverse the decsion.
So yet another reason to celebrate this decision.
I am glad some kind justice is served.
I used to think that it would be such a waste of money to keep criminals in jail and feeding them for life. Then I learnt that death penalty is also equally expensive, so they might as well keep him alive. They should give him holy book of Sikhs also, so that he would learn what repentence too.
There was little doubt here – not only did he admit what he did, he defended it:
It was also pre-meditated:
The question was about his mental competency. Was he a bigot or was he loco?
While I loathe the man, I don’t have enough information to judge that.
Thanks Anjali for bringing this post to my attention. The murder of Balbir Sodhi was the catalyst for the film Divided We Fall (which will premiere this September). In the film, we spend time with the Sodhi family and cover Roque’s trial. While making the film, I saw upfront how Roque’s actions have damaged a family and community. At the same time, I began to recognize Roque’s death sentence as part of a cycle of violence: on 9/11 the terrorists took life, on 9/15 Roque took life, in response to Roque, the state had decided to take Roque’s life. Although I do not buy the court’s reasons for commuting the sentence (mental illness and low IQ), I believe that life imprisonment will serve the same purpose as the death sentence for the family – that this individual be removed from society – without sustaining the cycle of killing.
I do not believe in the death penalty, but DAMN i must admit a tiny bit of disappointment on this one. This freaking jackoff deserved something more than prison for the rest of his life – hell, he might even enjoy that.
Joking aside, eye for an eye and soon everyone will be blind. Education is key to stopping hate crime.
PS – the guy was an airplane mechanic for Boeing I believe – how’s that jive with the “low IQ” argument? Now THAT’S worrisome.
I am against the death penalty so part of me rejoices that this bozo was not fried. Part of me is pissed of because it supports the death penalty statistics regarding white murderers of non white victims (see http://www.aclu.org/capital/unequal/10389pub20030226.html). I just wonder if that death sentence would have been upheld if the victim were white and the killer brown.
On a lighter note:
“PS – the guy was an airplane mechanic for Boeing I believe – how’s that jive with the “low IQ” argument? Now THAT’S worrisome”
Gosh! That is enough to put one off flying, isn’t it!
Valerie – unless somebody was planning to kill others in revenge for Roque’s execution, Roque’s death would also have brought an end to the “cycle” of killing.
I had a friend (in Phoenix) who knew the dead man’s family from the gurdwara- VERY SAD! That was the time when I was 1st living away from home, and… BOY was I depressed about the state of the world!!!
Death penalities are bad. I saw an innocent blackman gassed once, and then later it was admitted he was innocent.. But I don’t buy that the guy is mentally ill. Low IQ? That would be most Americans no? ( or Brits for that matter)
THE MAN WAS A GOOD MAN FROM WHAT I KNEW OF HIM.HIS BROTHER WAS MY STEPFATHER.FRANK HAD 2 KIDS AND A WIFE.I STILL THINK ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TIMES THAT I SPENT WITH THE MAN AND HOW I JUST CANT IMAGINE HIM DOING THIS. STILL TO THIS DAY I BREAK INTO TEARS FOR THE HIM. I DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPEND. I THINK HE DID GO INSANE BEACUSE I JUST CANT SEE HIM DOING THIS. AND TO HIS FAMILY IM SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS. MAY GOD BLESS YOU