WHAT THE HECK DEPT.
Death penalty in Puerto Rico?
SAN JUAN, PR --Carlos is a Puerto Rican man convicted of killing a hospital guard. He could have been be the first death sentence handed down in PR in nearly 80 years. He was found guilty of killing Jose Rodriguez Reyes, a guard at the Veteran's Medical Center in Rio Piedras 2 years ago. They pondered if he should have fried for the killing.

He did NOT fry.

"Justice would have been to give him the punishment that he deserves ... and to sentence Carlos Ayala Lopez to death," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacabed Rodriguez told the jury of six men and six women. BUT no, he lives comfortably in a cell paid by you.

Most Boricuas oppose the death penalty, that's why there's so much crime in the Island. 60% of murders are linked to illegal drugs. More murders occur in Puerto Rico than anywhere in the mainland U.S. Puerto Rico–with a population of 4 million–ended the year with an alarming homicide rate, higher than the three-largest cities in the mainland U.S. With 790 murders reported during 2004, the island had a higher murder rate than New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

For the third-consecutive year, the number of murders in New York City (total population 8 million) has been under 600, ending 2004 with 571 murders, 25 less than in 2003. Los Angeles (total population 4 million) reported 511 murders and, for the first time in four decades, Chicago’s (total population 3 million) homicide rate fell below 500 to 445, a 25% decrease compared to 2003.

Puerto Rico abolished capital punishment in 1929, but federal prosecutors can still seek the death penalty in some cases because the territory is subject to U.S. federal law. The island's last execution was in 1927, when a man was hanged for murder. The island's legislature approved a resolution reaffirming the anti-death penalty stance in May.

The only other case in which a federal jury in Puerto Rico had to decide whether to impose a death sentence was in 2005. The jury opted to give two men charged with murder a life sentence.

Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila has urged the U.S. Justice Department not to seek the death penalty in cases in Puerto Rico. Anti-death penalty protests are held often in the territory, and local activists have accused the United States of trying to impose federal capital punishment in colonialist fashion.

Back to Carlos...

One of the jurors cried as Rodriguez displayed photos of the crime scene at the hospital just outside San Juan. You know, I'm tired and sick of the Boricua bleeding heart liberals taking shots at me... Ayala shot Rodriguez while trying to steal his gun for a planned drug trafficking operation...

Federal prosecutors claimed jurisdiction in Ayala's case because the killing took place at a federally run institution, ergo... the Veteran's Medical Center Rio Piedras.. STILL, a jury sentenced him to life instead of giving him the death sentence. Was he lucky? You bet your sweet sugarless bubble gum!!! JUSTICE had NOTHING to do with it!

Now dig this... he wept and hugged his attorney after hearing the verdict. He wept not for the family of the victim, (the victim was already dead, no use crying for him) BUT because he was spared his life. He got emotional. Never mind his demeanor while he was shooting the guard.

He sits now in a cell reading the racing form, eating three meals a day, watching TV and doing aerobics in his spare time. Who's more callous... him or you?

DID HE FRY? NO! SHOULD HE HAVE FRIED?

GIVE YOUR REGARDED OPINION  HERE

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