Prem Kumar Walekar was a cab driver from India who had been living in the United States since he was 18 years old.
He was 54 years old, getting ready to start his retirement and move back to India. He sent money to his father while remaining a “quiet man with a good sense of humor” his relatives said of him.
Yet Walekar on Oct. 3 stood before a judge and a jury when a sniper gunned him down at a gas station in Rockville, Md.
The issue of the death penalty is again coming up over the horizon. Of course the issue does not come around until some useless, petty act of violence is committed.
The sniper or snipers have not been charged as of today, but here is the overwhelming case for the death penalty for the suspects.
Sarah Ramos made her living as a babysitter and worked hard to build a good life in the United States.
She like Walekar was an immigrant, except Ramos was from El Salvador. Ramos was married with a 7-year-old boy.
Let’s tell that child that we could not possibly give the sniper the death penalty. Then the child might ask, why?
Well, a, a, a, um, they grew up and had rough childhoods. He might say, so did I, because my mother was not around to raise me.
Some may be saying, well the pro-death penalty group is run by racist, tyrannical, white southern men who want to eliminate all people of color and creed.
Really?
The snipers killed three hard-working immigrants from India, El Salvador and Haiti and a successful black businessman from Philadelphia.
Who’s being the bad guy?
It does not appear to me that the sniper cared about being “politically correct” on their road to perdition.
Linda Franklin served our country through her duties as a FBI intelligence specialist. Franklin triumphed over another killer known as breast cancer.
She had raised her niece with her own two children. Her first grandchild was due in four months.
James Martin did have a rough childhood. His father died when he was eight.
Martin put himself through college. He worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, served as a Boy Scout leader, church trustee and raised an 11-year-old son.
Let’s talk about cruel and unusual punishment.
A portion cries out that the death penalty is cruel and unusual.
Let’s all have Christmas dinner at the Franklin’s and truly witness the cruel act of punishment handed down by the snipers. Or we could witness the birth of Franklin’s first grandchild and observe the pain of her daughter’s face wishing that her mother was there.
The “no mercy” argument is thrown on the table by the anti-death penalty segment.
This argument basically suggests that only people filled with hate would take everything from someone else.
It argues that only a rogue could hand down death on another’s life.
I agree with this argument. Since the sniper showed no mercy to their victims then they should expect the same.
No need for lawyers and jury’s – the sniper already picked his fate.

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