Today, the second of two foreign national murderers was punished for his crime.

The state of Arizona executed a German murderer despite multiple requests by his government to grant the killer something he denied his victim, life. Germany no longer has the death penalty (at least not for something as "minor" as stabbing a bank manager to death). The German government wanted to have the World Court in the Hague review our courts' decisions. (How arrogant!)

The German government wanted to impose their laws upon us, something we fought two world wars to prevent! How foolish and insulting that they think we would do so now! The wonderfully-pure nation of Germany that sent millions of innocent Jews to their deaths now is squeamish about allowing a convicted murderer to pay for his crime?

This case did have at least one noteworthy twist. The brothers (Walter and Karl LaGrand) both had a choice of how they would die and both, at the advice of their lawyers, chose the "gas chamber" because they hoped it would be deemed too inhumane and they would be given a lighter sentence. At first, the courts agreed that if the brothers wanted to die by inhaling cyanide gas, that they must be spared. Fortunately, the Supreme Court saw through this odious ploy and granted their wish. Karl was offered the choice of death by injection and took it. Walter went through with the cyanide, probably as a last and futile jab at us, but possibly as a partial penance for the brutal crime that they committed.

At no time during this debate on the method and value of the death penalty did I hear anyone claim the brothers were innocent. Nor was there any concern voiced for the family of Ken Hartsock whom the brothers murdered.

To all you outside the borders of the United States,

You can argue until your tongue drops out that the death penalty is not a deterant, but I say "The Brothers LaGrand will never kill again!"

Daniel Sherer