Susil

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News From Mississippi

Life & Events > An Execution
 

An Execution

Tuesday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Larry Matthew Puckett was put to death by lethal injection for the capital murder conviction of Rhonda Griffis.
Puckett sexually assualted then beat Griffis to death with a club in her home. Griffis' husband and their children and Rhonda's mother all arrived at the same time at the Griffis home. Puckett's truck was parked outside. They entered and literally caught Puckett red handed with the club.

Puckett was a true psychopath. He never admitted guilt or expressed remorse for what he did. A woman who had been writing to him in prison said Puckett was a nice guy and a good writer etc. and so on. (Like Charles Manson's women thought Charlie was a swell guy, they chose to see one side of a monster, not the total picture.)

As Puckett was strapped to the gurney he was asked if he had any last words. He said "no." Rhonda Griffis' family received no apology for the grief he had caused them.

So last night I went to bed early because of the storm outside and woke at 3:30am by the sound of strong wind and hard rain beating against the house. I turned on the radio to see what was the latest news of tornados. I turned the dial and heard someone who sounded like Jimmy Swaggart saying "Man was born of sin and evil deeds will follow him" (something like that) and for a moment I thought he was talking about Puckett.

But no,he was just sermonizing, and after every sentence he paused to breathe hard into the microphone, as if he had just run a mile. Swaggart and storms and thoughts of the perfidity of humankind--that was a moment in time for me in the wee hours of the morning.

susil

posted on Mar 22, 2012 4:07 PM ()

Comments:

I've always been a believer in quality over quantity, and although I don't believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent, I don't give this guy a second though--the first thought being: good for society. It's only March and tornadoes are rampant. I think about that sort of thing when I complain about water in the basement. The hurricanes here last summer flooded houses right off their foundations and I was grateful that I had a basement to hold water. Hoping for the best, but climate change is leading to floods and droughts and unusually high and low temps... not much to do now... should have been doing something since the issue was raised in the 60s.
comment by jjoohhnn on Mar 23, 2012 6:19 AM ()
Hi jj; apropos of your and teal's comments, I thought of the crime reporter for the Hattiesburg American paper who was a witness of the execution and wrote a poignant article about it. It's difficult for someone to see an execution and not feel it's wrong, but I wrote him and said to me, it like if a rabid dog comes along it has to be killed, and people who commit heinous crimes are rabid dogs and society has no recourse but to put the convicted "rabid" to death.
At every execution, pictures of the crime scene should be priminently displayed so the onlookers know why rightly, the prisoner is being executed.
reply by susil on Mar 28, 2012 3:10 PM ()
The analogy is flawed. Not to take up too much space on Sue's blog, but it's not the hand of the death row inmate that's being "put into the flame." That is part of the reason why the death penalty couldn't be a deterrent: A criminal isn't thinking that far ahead during the commission of even a premeditated crime. Most don't expect to be caught in the first place.
reply by jjoohhnn on Mar 25, 2012 8:14 AM ()
The death penalty would be a deterrent if it were applied in a timely fashion. Years of appeals remove the immediacy and, of course, cost taxpayers a lot. If you put your hand in a flame, you don't do it again because the pain is instant. That is what is missing from the way the death penalty is handled. Now that we have DNA testing, the number of innocent men on death row will be less common.
reply by tealstar on Mar 25, 2012 4:24 AM ()
lonely women who write to prisoners have a screw loose.
comment by elderjane on Mar 23, 2012 4:06 AM ()
Hi jeri; I don't understand those women either. These relationships may be long term as long as the guy's in jail, but reality sets in when the "real guy" gets out, the women are ditched.
reply by susil on Mar 28, 2012 3:15 PM ()
These women have no self esteem and are thrilled to be "the only one" in this guy's life and they will show the world that he was misjudged and that he loves her. Yes, the screw is not tight.
reply by tealstar on Mar 25, 2012 4:20 AM ()
Yes!
reply by kristilyn3 on Mar 24, 2012 4:32 AM ()
Last night I was thinking of you, too, wish you safety while seeing the nasty weather forecasted on the national news aiming for deep south Mississippi. Twas a dark day and night in many ways, as you say. One has to wonder what are the deviant roots of psychopathic and sociopathic behavior. What a sorry, misspent life. I don't think the Devil has anything to do with it. Puckett was possessed by a hell of his own making.
comment by marta on Mar 22, 2012 5:19 PM ()
Hi marta; glad that storm front moved out!
Well, our new governor Phil Bryant didn't block the execution of Puckett, and two days later another murderer was executed too.
reply by susil on Mar 28, 2012 3:18 PM ()
Very poignant. There is something lonely and special and a little sad about the dark hour before dawn.
comment by troutbend on Mar 22, 2012 4:47 PM ()
Hi; I thought I'd try sleeping through the storm but it got pretty loud. My cuz says they heard the "freight train" sound of a tornado that luckily went through the woods and didn't touch down on any houses.
PS I like those lonely special moments before dawn!
reply by susil on Mar 28, 2012 3:25 PM ()

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