Below you will find a story about an execution that occurred yesterday… When I read what the man ordered for his last meal, it was the “purple candy” that struck my heart. It is not that I don’t understand he was a murderer… I do, and that is wrong… but it leads me to consider God’s creatures. Why God “lets” horrible things happen? Why good things still happen to bad people… I came to the conclusion that it may be something like the Island of Dr. Moreau… That many creatures were created in the course of creating the human and some of those creatures would look and act like humans but have a different type of mentality. One suited for the times…. This thought process does not mean that God now loves one creature more than another, but that it is a shame that the one creature cannot love it’s brother like God does. You cannot ask a parent to not love the child with a handicap more than the child who is not handicapped.
Yes this man was a murderer… but the fact that he asked for something as naive as purple candy shows that he was not as mentally solid as his fellow man… it reminded me of a child.. a child that is being put to death years upon years later for something it has done… Something it has done that it has seen done over and over on the news since that time.
So is it true that many people kill but only some are brought to “justice”? I don’t believe it is our place to make those decisions anymore. Stop the killing people.
Georgia executes death row inmate, 41, after Supreme Court rejects his last-ditch plea for clemency following a last meal of BBQ sandwich, lemonade and purple candy
Joshua Bishop executed at 9.27pm on Thursday at Jackson state prison
His final meal was a barbecue sandwich, Brunswick stew, potato chips, coleslaw and purple candy washed down with lemonade
Execution was delayed after his lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court
The 41-year-old was convicted in the June 1994 killing of Leverett Morrison
Another man, Mark Braxley, pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence
State Board of Pardons and Paroles held a clemency hearing Wednesday
It is the only entity in Georgia authorized to commute a death sentence
Bishop has become the third Georgia inmate to be executed this year
By HANNAH PARRY and KHALEDA RAHMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 19:00 EST, 31 March 2016 | UPDATED: 21:09 EST, 31 March 2016
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Joshua Bishop (pictured) was executed at 9.27pm on Thursday at the state prison in Jackson by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital
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Joshua Bishop (pictured) was executed at 9.27pm on Thursday at the state prison in Jackson by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital
A Georgia death row inmate has been executed after the Supreme Court rejected his last-ditch plea for clemency.
Joshua Bishop was executed at 9.27pm on Thursday at the state prison in Jackson by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital.
He had been served his final meal, which included a barbecue sandwich, Brunswick stew, potato chips, coleslaw and purple candy – all washed down with lemonade.
The 41-year-old also received 13 visitors which included friends, lawyer and a priest before his death,AJC.com reports.
In his final statement he apologized to the citizens of Baldwin County.
Bishop was convicted in the June 1994 killing of Leverett Morrison, 35, in Milledgeville.
He had been scheduled to die at 7pm on Thursday but his execution was delayed after his lawyers made a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The appeal followed a last-minute clemency hearing at The State Board of Pardons and Paroles. On Thursday morning the board announced it would not spare Bishop’s life.
His lawyers also appealed to a Superior Court judge in Butts County, where Georgia’s death row is located, and the Georgia Supreme Court
They says that the judge’s instructions to the jury in the sentencing were ambiguous and so the jury failed to make the necessary findings of fact.
Both courts rejected the appeal.
On Thursday evening, with Bishop’s execution scheduled for 7pm, his legal team made one last plea to the United States Supreme Court.
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His lawyers argued that Bishop has grown into a quiet man who has a positive effect on others and bears little resemblance to the teenager who helped beat a man to death two decades ago.
‘The story of Joshua Bishop’s life is one of deprivation, abuse, hopelessness, and crime; but it is also one of faith, contrition, redemption, gratitude, and love,’ Bishop’s lawyers wrote in a clemency petition urged the parole board.
A number of demonstrators gathered outside the Georgia State Capitol to protest against Bishop’s execution
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A number of demonstrators gathered outside the Georgia State Capitol to protest against Bishop’s execution
Bishop was convicted in the June 1994 killing of Leverett Morrison (pictured, with his three children)
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Bishop was convicted in the June 1994 killing of Leverett Morrison (pictured, with his three children)
But Morrison’s children, however, are adamant that the death sentence should be carried out, Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee said.
The Supreme Court sided with the victim’s family and at shortly before 9.30pm, Bishop was executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Butts County.
Family and friends of Bishop had gathered to protest and pray for the death row inmate, while another demonstration was held outside the Georgia State Capitol to protest the execution.
Bishop had an extremely rough childhood with a mother who constantly drank and used drugs and had a weakness for abusive men who beat her and her two sons, the petition said.
He bounced between foster families and group homes, eventually returning to his mother, who was frequently in trouble with the law for drug and alcohol offenses or prostitution.
His lawyers say many who knew Bishop as he grew up shared a common feeling: that he ‘never had a chance.’
On the night of June 24, 1994, Bishop spent the night drinking and smoking crack with Morrison and a third man, Mark Braxley.
Prosecutors say Bishop tried to steal car keys from Morrison, who was sleeping, and he and Braxley beat Morrison to death when he woke up.
Bishop and Braxley dumped Morrison’s body between two trash bins and burned his Jeep.
Bishop is scheduled to die by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at 7pm on Thursday. Pictured, Georgia Diagnostic Prison’s death chamber
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Bishop is scheduled to die by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at 7pm on Thursday. Pictured, Georgia Diagnostic Prison’s death chamber
Bishop is the third Georgia inmate executed this year (pictured is the entrance to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia)
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Bishop is the third Georgia inmate executed this year (pictured is the entrance to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia)
According to the clemency petition, the three spent drank at a bar that evening and then went Braxley’s trailer, where they continued to drink and use drugs.
Morrison fell asleep and Braxley decided he wanted to take Morrison’s Jeep to visit his girlfriend and instructed Bishop to ‘get them keys.’
But Morrison woke up as Bishop was trying to take his keys from his pocket, and Bishop hit him over the head with a piece of a closet rod to knock him out, the petition says.
Bishop told investigators he and Braxley both beat Morrison and, once they realized he was dead, they dumped his body between two trash bins and burned his Jeep.
Bishop and Braxley were arrested within 24 hours of Morrison’s death. Bishop quickly confessed and immediately showed remorse, while Braxley lied about the crime, the petition adds.
While in police custody, Bishop told investigators he and Braxley had also killed another man, Ricky Willis, about two weeks earlier, also at the trailer.
Mark Braxley (pictured) pleaded guilty to armed robbery and muder and is serving a life sentence
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Mark Braxley (pictured) pleaded guilty to armed robbery and muder and is serving a life sentence
Bishop told police he repeatedly punched Willis after Willis bragged he had sexually assaulted Bishop’s mother and then Braxley cut Willis’ throat, killing him.
Bishop and Braxley were both charged with murder and armed robbery in Morrison’s death.
After a trial, a jury convicted Bishop and sentenced him to die in 1996. Braxley pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence. He’s been denied parole twice and will next be eligible for consideration next year.
Bishop has admitted involvement in the deaths of both men but his lawyers argue that Braxley, who is about 17 years older than Bishop, was the instigator and influenced Bishop in both cases.
Two decades in prison had given Bishop stability that has led him to become a positive influence on fellow inmates and others, and he still has good to do in the world, his lawyers argue.
They gave the board statements from two of Morrison’s sisters and his niece, as well as others who were close to Morrison and Willis, who wrote that they don’t want to see Bishop executed.
But Sheriff Massee said he met on Monday with three of Morrison’s family members, two daughters and a son, who said it is important that Bishop be executed for their father’s death.
Also on Wednesday, a Butts County Superior Court judge rejected a challenge filed by Bishop’s lawyers that claimed his sentence was disproportionate, that the jury instructions at his trial were flawed and that the evidence used to convict him was insufficient.
Bishop is the third Georgia inmate to be executed this year. Another inmate, Kenneth Fults, is scheduled to die on April 12.
Read more:
Bishop waits on Supreme Court to decide if he will be executed | www.ajc.com
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3518238/Death-row-inmate-41-scheduled-die-tonight-execution-delayed-lawyers-appeal-Supreme-Court-ditch-appeal-clemency-not-having-meal-BBQ-sandwich-purple-candy-lemonade.html#ixzz44ZtYlfrs
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