The other day I wrote about Tommy Lynn Sells' execution..

…and I was not too forgiving of the killer—I suspended by disagreement with the death penalty because of Sells’ crimes and didn’t introduce the notion to my mind to feel bad for him,

But I found this article really interesting: A Chaplain has created a house in Canada where ex-offenders can go to die with dignity..

It brings up the bigger question: What should we do with people on death row or any criminal who has exhausted the forgiveness of society?

In America, we seem to become agitated any time we hear that prisoners get basic rights such as food, water, and books.. We get infuriated when we think about how they drain the tax dollars of money.. (of course we seldom care that pot offenders get hard time and that death row inmates often languish for years even though DNA evidence now may prove them innocent of the crimes).. 

How should a dignified nation treat its criminals? With dignity.. I am good with that.

Maybe except with Sells…

I am glad you support Texas using horrible means to put someone to death. WHat they did to Tommy Sells was brutal, and no nation that calls itself God fearing should do it

I am completely aware of the questionable methods of death that Texas used in this matter.. and I know The state refused to say where it obtained the deadly dose of pentobarbital

And I am completely aware of the moral problems that come with capital punishment—a reason I really don’t support it.

But when I heard enough and read enough about Sells and his crimes, it led me down a road where the last thing I’d show him was compassion.

His murders disturbed me like no other.. Maybe it’s due to the fact I listened to a radio show about them while it was raining and foggy out my window.. or maybe because the potential murder of an entire family just tugs at my heart and disturbs my soul.

Tommy Lynn Sells is dead.

I am very deeply troubled about the death penalty.. I so often think it’s something we should not do, so often think it’s wrong for a nation to still perform ritualistic executions of murderers or criminals..But we do. 

Today, though, I am not weeping for Tommy Lynn Sells.

Sells was put to death in Texas despite last minute attempts to delay..

Sells was one of the more brutal serial killers—and someone that until very recently I really knew nothing of. I am actually a little surprised that our media didn’t tout this man’s horrid crimes as much as they did other serial killers throughout history. Sells ranks up there with the most insane of evildoers to grace our society.. he murdered men, women, and children. He did it without regard or concern.. 

I actually learned the most about Sells from Dave Schrader’s DARKNESS RADIO.. Schrader interviewed author Diane Fanning about Sells.. The horrific nature of his crimes disturbed me to my core. There is a laundry list of murders committed and also some he is suspected of.

Sells is suspected of killing the Dardeen family in 1987--the story of these murders is beyond comparison.. if Sells did it, that means he killed a father, a 3-year-old, a mother—who gave birth during her death. The premature baby girl was then savagely beaten and killed, too.. 

This is one case that made me question the death penalty—but in the other way. It made me wonder if my opposition to it was just a fanciful dream that people are ‘decent’ … indecent people like Sells maybe don’t deserve oxygen.. 

Regardless of that, Sells is dead now.