The only certainty in our lives is death. We will all die one day.
No one knows when death will take hold of our souls or how much longer we have on this Earth.
Texas, yet again, is forcing people to ask themselves who decides who dies and on what grounds the death penalty should apply.
James Colburn is a mentally ill man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. He was diagnosed at the age of 14.
The New York Times reports that Colburn has been in and out of the judicial system and hospitals for the mentally ill since he was diagnosed.
Interestingly enough he has reportedly attempted suicide on numerous occasions. It has even been reported that he has committed crimes just so he has “the comfort and structure of a cell.”
Colburn was convicted of stabbing to death a 55 year-old-woman. Texas condemned him to death by lethal injection.
This case is not without controversy and brings me to ask myself a few questions.
First, how should we decide who dies at the hands of our legal system?
Normally it is the violent criminals who are considered for execution.
I agree crimes like murder and rape should not go unpunished, but am I any more worthy of life than another person no matter what crimes he commits?
Are we so vain to even ask ourselves if we have the right to decide who can change their ways or repent for their sins? Everyone says the old philosophy of an eye for an eye has been dismissed, but is that not what we are doing? We seem to say “Ok you killed him, now we are going to kill you.”
My next point is Colburn is mentally ill. He cannot function in the society as an everyday citizen.
The defense in the case has appealed, claiming that Colburn was heavily sedated with antipsychotic drugs and could not have coherently defended himself. Which may have been true, however, this argument should have never even come up in the court room.
Why would physicians sedate a person before a trial which is deciding whether or not he lives? Shouldn’t they have let Colburn appear as himself?
If they had not sedated him, the court would have seen a glimpse of the true human instead of a walking zombie. It was also reported that Colburn slept and even snored throughout his hearing.
Furthermore, Colburn has committed crimes during the span of his life that he admitted to. He admitted to the stabbing murder of Peggy Humphrey and also admitted to trying to rob convenience stores. He has even confessed to rape.
Throughout his life, Colburn has tried to commit himself to hospitals only to be discharged with bottles of pills, according to The New York Times.
Does he want to die? Obviously he does because he has tried to end his life on several occasions.
Is he even competent enough to decide if his life should go on? Is it because of his illness that he wants to die or does he honestly believe death will bring peace?
The Houston Chronicle interviewed Colburn and he said his biggest fear is that when he is placed in the ground the agents of the devil who have spoken to him over his life will try to dig him up.
Clearly this man is suffering from a serious illness and is a threat to our society.
So I say let’s look at what he wants. With his suicide attempts, we must agree that he wants to die.
By the crimes he has committed in the past he wants to go to jail. SO, how do we punish someone who is looking forward to our punishments? Would it then be considered punishment if we give him what he longs for?
I suggest we consider an alternative punishment other than those we have used in the past. I’m not sure what that might be, but we cannot let a person walk around hurting our law-abiding citizens even if the patient is mentally ill. I do not believe we should kill the man because that is what he wants and who are we to decide who lives and dies?
The system in this country is far from perfect.
If a certain crime is committed then we remove perpetrators from our society, which in turn produces overcrowded prisons. If the person has committed a violent crime we remove them from life altogether which costs the taxpayers even more. Well what do we do?
Colburn is only one of the cases that has been highlighted. What is the correct punishment for Colburn? At this point, it doesn’t matter because the Supreme Court didn’t step up, and he died Wednesday. Maybe when the devil digs him back up we will be able to reevaluate the treatment of cases like this.

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