A Just, Humane Society Does Not Punish Murder With Murder

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Published on Tuesday, June 27, 2000 in the St Louis Post-Dispatch

A Just, Humane Society Does Not Punish Murder With Murder

Editorial

BERT LEROY HUNTER is not a sympathetic symbol for capital punishment reform. Murderers seldom are. The former state computer programmer murdered 75-year-old Mildred Hodges and her son, Richard, 49, during a robbery at their Jefferson City home in December of 1988. Hunter confessed to the killings in July of 1989.

Clinically depressed and suicidal, Hunter waived his right to an attorney and a jury trial, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and asked to be executed. The courts granted him his wish -- a death sentence.

Hunter has since changed his mind. He wants to recant a confession his attorneys say he made while mentally incompetent. He does not want to be the first inmate in Missouri history to be executed without an opportunity to confront his accusers and defend himself before a jury of his peers.

But Hunter's original plan -- for a state-sanctioned suicide that would allow him to escape life in prison -- appears unstoppable. His court appeals have failed. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at the Potosi Correctional Center at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Bert Hunter asked to die to escape the pain of living, and the state is at this moment preparing to grant his wish. Hunter was convicted of murder, a horrendous, inhumane act. But a just, humane society does not punish murder with murder.

The execution of Hunter, and other criminals like him, debases us as a state and as individuals.

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