Political Quotes

“Let me point out what Judge Barkett has said about criminals. In 1991, in the Wickam versus State case, Wickam shot a man in the back, chest, and head and stole $4.05 from the corpse. Can you believe that--kill a man for $4? The Florida Supreme Court voted to affirm the death sentence, but Judge Barkett dissented, blaming the ``milieu of violence'' that the killer grew up in. He had a rough life, therefore there were mitigating circumstances. Judge Barkett said the killer was ``mentally deficient'' and ``socially maladjusted''--thus, he should be spared. In the Dougan versus State case, 1992, the judge voted to overturn the death sentence of Jacob Dougan, who brutally murdered a teenager, and sent a tape describing the killing to the victim's mother. Now that is pretty heinous; worse than just about anything I ever heard of. You kill someone and then you send a tape of the killing to the victim's mother. Judge Barkett called the case a ``social awareness case'' and blamed the killing on ``discordant racial relations which have permeated our society.'' I wonder what the victim's mother would have called it. In the Hall versus State case in 1993, Hall and an accomplice raped, beat, and shot to death a woman who was 7 months pregnant. The Florida Supreme Court again affirmed the death penalty, but Judge Barkett dissented. She said the killer had had ``emotional deprivation'' in his life.…”