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Thread: Thomas Bartlett "Bart" Whitaker - Texas

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Part II

    Bart Whitaker talks about eventual execution

    His unbelievable crime shocked Sugar Land and the country nine years ago. Bart Whitaker, 23, orchestrated the brutal ambush murder of his entire family. Now, in his first Houston interview from death row, he talked about his eventual execution day.

    "Obviously, everyone back here (on death row) has plenty of time to think about their lives," said Whitaker.

    When Whitaker went to dinner with his family on Dec. 10, 2003, he knew in just minutes that his entire family would be walking into a bullet-filled nightmare. When they got back to their Sugar Land home, a masked shooter gunned down Bart Whitaker's brother, Kevin, his mom, Tricia, and wounded his father, Kent. Bart Whitaker was shot in the arm, but detectives soon figured out he'd orchestrated the murders because of hate.

    Now on death row for the crime, Whitaker said he does not spend much time thinking about his execution day, but he's not ignoring it.

    "I don't worry about it because I don't expect it to happen, I do expect it to happen," said Whitaker. "It's just not something I concern myself with on a daily basis. I'm comfortable with all of that."

    What Whitaker said he's not comfortable with is the situation left for his father. Kent Whitaker has forgiven his son. He pleaded for jurors to spare Bart Whitaker's life. However, one day Kent Whitaker will likely see his only surviving son be put to death because of the heinous act of the crime.

    "Yes, we've talked about it," Bart Whitaker said. "I'm not sure what the state of Texas thinks it's getting out of all of this. It's sort of like, I feel like I'm going to revictimize (sic) my father again. I don't know what to do about that. I understand there is a time when victims want an execution for closure, but this wasn't the case."

    http://www.click2houston.com/news/Ba...6/-/index.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  2. #22
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    This also reminds me of the Menendez brothers case who should've gotten death!

  3. #23
    CharsBigSis
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    I agree totally...The father should have the last word here. But I also wonder the same thing I always do when there is to be an execution or someone is given the death penalty. In my eyes, we are doing the same thing to the person that they did to put themselves in their position. I am not a bible thumper at all, but shouldn't God be the only one who makes the final decisions? Some people will bring up "an eye for an eye", but I still believe we have no right to make a decision in this case, especially when the father doesn't want it done.
    Hugs,
    CBS

  4. #24
    m!<god
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    I think CBS is strugling with what's justice in a case where the punishment, admttedly semi-deserved by Bart, will further victimize Bart's dad; doesn't justice have contrary oblogations?

    As far as I'm concerned those were matters for the jury's considerations and they were directly requested by bart's dad to consider life not death. The jury disagreed and in the US, if you perfidiously kill your entire family then jury = god.

  5. #25
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    Read his blog.... its worth checking out - gives you a real sense of life on death row.

  6. #26
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    Death-Row Challenge Is Premature, Judge Rules

    Thomas Whitaker,et al., versus Brad Livingston, et al.,

    Two death-row inmates cannot challenge the use of compounded drugs for lethal injection, a federal judge ruled, because they "do not know the means that Texas will select for their execution."

    Thomas Whitaker and Perry Williams sued two Texas Department of Criminal Justice directors, a senior warden at the TDCJ's Huntsville prison and unknown executioners in Federal Court.

    Their co-plaintiff, Michael Yowell, was executed on Oct. 9.

    Texas adopted lethal injection as a method of executing death-row inmates in 1977, according to the state department's website. The current protocol uses the drug pentobarbital.

    Whitaker, Williams and Yowell expressed concern with the state's acquisition of the drug from a compounding pharmacy when it ran out of the name-brand version. They argued that the compounded drug might cause them to suffer a cruel amount of pain, resulting in a violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution.

    Whitaker was sentenced to death in March 2007 after his conviction for arranging the murder of his mother and brother so he could collect a $1 million inheritance. His father survived the shooting.

    Williams received a death sentence in June 2002 for shooting a man in the head during a robbery in Houston.

    A jury sentenced Yowell to death in 1999. Unlike Whitaker and Williams, he was the only plaintiff with a scheduled execution date.

    Yowell shot his father and strangled his mother before setting their house on fire in Lubbock, Texas, on May 19, 1998. His disabled grandmother later died from injuries sustained in the same fire.

    U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes denied Yowell a preliminary injunction shortly before the state carried out his sentence on Oct. 9.

    A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit in New Orleans unanimously affirmed the ruling.

    "If the state were using a drug never before used or unheard of, whose efficacy or science was completely unknown, the case might be different," the panel wrote. "The state, however, will use a standard amount of pentobarbital for Yowell's execution. Plaintiffs argue that because the state has transitioned to using compounding pharmacies, there are known unknowns because of the possibility of contamination. That may be true, but plaintiffs must point to some hypothetical situation, based on science and fact, showing a likelihood of severe pain." (Emphasis in original.)

    "None of the examples in their brief shows any such possibility based on the known unknowns stemming from obtaining drugs from a compounding pharmacy," the panel noted.

    Last week, Hughes issued a one-page final dismissal of the remaining inmates' claims.

    "Because Thomas Whitaker and Perry Williams do not know the means that Texas will select for their execution, their claim of an injury from that unknown means is hypothetical," Hughes wrote. "Courts do not address issues that are not yet ripe."

    As of Dec. 9, neither Whitaker nor Williams has been added to the TDCJ's list of scheduled executions.

    http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/12/09/63578.htm
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #27
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cali View Post
    Read his blog.... its worth checking out - gives you a real sense of life on death row.
    Yeah, I've seen it. The sick part is his dad forgives him even though he killed the entire family!
    Last edited by TheKindExecutioner; 12-10-2013 at 06:31 PM.

  8. #28
    Senior Member CnCP Addict johncocacola's Avatar
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    Ironic how this ruling came down almost 10 years to the day he commited this heinous crime, Which is today.

  9. #29
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    Here's the episode of "Forensic Files: Family Interrupted", featuring the Thomas 'Bart' Whitaker case:


  10. #30
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    Remanded yesterday by the 5th Circuit.

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...13-20750.0.pdf

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