We all learned this in high school, perhaps in junior high school: if you commit a felony and someone dies, you go down for felony murder regardless of intent. It’s a simple but rock-solid legal doctrine. For example, if you rob a bank and the little old granny standing in line collapses and dies of a heart attack while you commit said felony, you will do life without parole. It is right and just.
Over thirty years ago, Charles “Sonny” Burton, 75, participated in a robbery. He will be put to death in Alabama on Thursday and the media is trying to paint a sympathetic picture. To hear them tell it, Burton is a lamb who is about to die without actually killing anyone. Yeah, well, someone died while he committed a felony, so of course he should be executed like the monster he is.
Burton was one of a mob who robbed a store. An innocent customer died. That’s all there is to it. Robbery is a felony, Burton participated in it and someone died because of his actions. Sure, he likely didn’t mean to kill anyone, but that doesn’t matter. Felony murder is the law of the land and now he’s being asked to finally be held accountable. A prison sentence isn’t accountability. The death penalty is.
Yes, it’s true that Burton entered the store with a gun but fled to the car and was not actually participating when the customer died. But that doesn’t matter and the law is the law. Burton was convicted and now he must die. There is no other way for justice to be satisfied. He must atone for his crime and the only way to do that at this point is for him to die like the dog he is.
To me, it doesn’t matter that he didn’t actually fire the fatal shot. It doesn’t even matter that he was not inside at the time but in a waiting car outside. What matters is that he committed a felony and someone died. Therefore, the death penalty is, again, right and just.
It’s really quite simple: if you don’t want to spend life in prison without parole or if you don’t want to die in a chamber, don’t go around committing felonies, especially felonies that could kill someone. Burton has no one to blame but himself and he should absolutely not be shown mercy in any way, shape or form. He’s been living the high life on the taxpayer dime and now it’s time for lights out.
Hopefully, the Supreme Court won’t cave. Hopefully, Burton will actually and finally die. Justice demands nothing less.