In The News - May

Two cases in the news over the past month have caught my eye and both of them are related in so far as they represent two polar issues surrounding the death penalty.

It's strange that both of these cases took place in Victoria, a state that hasn't utilised the death penalty in over 30 years.

I'll start with the first story, which occurred on 28 April 2007 when Leigh Robinson, 60, chased down Tracey Greenbury and shot her to death on her neighbours doorstep while she screamed for help. It sounds like something straight out of a horror film. There were many witnesses who observed the murder, and watched the man flee into a car and speed off. A statewide manhunt was conducted by police, and it wasn't until 30 April that he was finally apprehended.

What makes this relevant to the death penalty is Leigh Robinson's past. He was sentenced to hang after stabbing his 17 year old girlfriend to death with a carving knife in 1968. His sentence was commuted around the time when Victoria abolished the death penalty and so he was spared the noose. Newspapers claimed that Robinson had "escaped the gallows" and murdered again, painting a very clear picture that the government had failed in protecting us.

I don't need to emphasise the challenge this creates for anyone who doesn't believe in the death penalty. A man who does his time in prison, is released and then kills again. If he had been executed then Tracey Greenbury would still be alive and I can't dispute that. It's challenging to justify why this doesn't shake my opposition to capital punishment. I don't believe that the taking of a life creating the vague possibility that another life might be saved in the future is a justfication for an execution. It is akin to someone justifying a murder by saying that they've saved the life of an unknown person who could have been killed in the future by the person they murdered. Slightly rediculous and far fetched? I understand that Leigh Robinson had murdered before and therefore some would suggest that he was more likely to murder again, but there is simply no evidence that this was a probability. You can't kill people based on hunches.

The other side of the issue relates to the exoneration of Colin Campbell Ross after 86 years. Ross was executed in 1922 for allegedly murdering Alma Tirtschke. He was charged with luring the 12 year old girl into his bottle shop, raping her and killing her. Attorney-General Rob Hulls signed his exoneration on 27 May based on fresh DNA evidence, almost a century too late. The two families, that of the victim and the accused have suffered a great deal from both the cruel murder of Alma, and the unjust murder of Colin. An execution cannot be undone, and just like the murder which it seeks to avenge, has consequences that echo for lifetimes. The niece of Colin Ross described a shadow that had lifted from over her, and the stigma attached to be the descendant of a convicted child rapist and murderer.

Both of these stories, that of Leigh Robinson and Alma Tirtschke are undeniably tragic, and the consequences are irrevocable. However, no matter which way you look at it, no matter what your opinions are, one is a story of the government failing to protect its citizens, the other is a story of a government that murdered one of its citizens.