Tuesday, October 01, 2013

THE BELL TOLLS FOR THEE MARSHALL LEE GORE

UPDATE: AT 6:12 PM the State of Florida took the life of Marshall Lee Gore. 


REAL FORMER JUDGE said...
Rumpole, this is the most insightful post ever.

I was Marshall Gore's trial judge on a number of cases in the early 1990's. I really got to know him -- or at least who he wanted me to know. He is a very intelligent man. He is obviously a sociopath, but on the other hand, a very interesting and personable man to have spoken to over the months of his case.

In later years, I bumped into him on a jail tour that I was leading at the DCJ. He was in a safety isolation cell. His tiny dark cell was stuffed with legal pads and his thoughts and writings on an appeal. He was protesting that the jail was failing to serve him Kosher meals and that he was Jewish. In fact, the jail was serving him ham, bacon and everything that they could get that would piss him off.

One of my best friends is a world renowned psychiatrist who had interviewed Gore and felt that he had genius level IQ. I always thought of what a waste of life. but for genetics, environmental factors and "mommy daddy" issues, Gore could have been a charming successful charismatic human being.

Even though I presided over Death Penalty cases ... I am now adamantly against the Death Penalty. It is medieval, barbaric and not reflective of what our society should be.

Executing Marshall Gore tonight will be a notch in the Governor's belt for reelection, but it will be a sad night for civilized humanity. If the public could see the horrible inhumane conditions that Gore has lived in, mostly in isolation with limited hygiene and much darkness, they would say that life in prison under these conditions is punishment accomplished.

Marshall Gore is most certainly guilty of the charges which will lead to his lethal injection in a few hours. I will be sad for his victims, their families, for our society ... and also for Marshall Lee Gore.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013 4:58:00 PM
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Item: Marshall Lee Gore is scheduled to be executed tonight for crimes for which he was convicted in Miami Dade. 

Callins v. Collins,  510 U.S. 141, 114 S.Ct. 1127, 1130  (1994) (Blackmun, J, dissenting)
From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death. For more than 20 years, I have endeavored - indeed, I have struggled - along with a majority of this Court, to develop procedural and substantive rules that would lend more than the mere appearance of fairness to the death penalty endeavor. 1Rather than continue to coddle the Court's delusion that the desired level of fairness has been achieved and the need for regulation eviscerated, I feel morally and intellectually obligated simply to concede that the death penalty experiment has failed. It is virtually self-evident to me now that no combination of procedural rules or substantive regulations ever can save the death penalty from its inherent constitutional deficiencies. The basic question - does the system accurately and consistently determine which defendants "deserve" to die? - cannot be answered in the affirmative. It is not simply that this Court has allowed vague aggravating circumstances to be employed, see, e.g., Arave v. Creech, ___ U.S. ___ (1993), relevant mitigating evidence to be disregarded, see, e.g., Johnson v. Texas, ___ U.S. ___ (1993), and vital judicial review to be blocked, see, e.g., Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. ___ (1991). The problem is that the inevitability of factual, legal, and moral error gives us a system that we know must wrongly kill some defendants, a system that fails to deliver the fair, consistent, and reliable sentences of death required by the Constitution. 



For Whom the Bell Tolls 
John Donne. 

No man is an island, 
Entire of itself. 
Each is a piece of the continent, 
A part of the main. 
If a clod be washed away by the sea, 
Europe is the less. 
As well as if a promontory were. 
As well as if a manner of thine own 
Or of thine friend's were. 
Each man's death diminishes me, 
For I am involved in mankind. 
Therefore, send not to know 
For whom the bell tolls, 
It tolls for thee. 

28 comments:

  1. I guess Joel LeBron deserves to live.

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  2. This is not the case to stand and say the guy doesn't deserve it.

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  3. A lot of us are unsure if FDC is open and whether we can see clients and sit on PSI's with our clients this week.

    Obviously no one at the federal court house can answer questions.

    Perhaps you or a reader in the know can shed some light on this subject.

    The southern dist site says the judiciary will be open til the 10th for re evaluation. All hearings are a go.

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  4. The issue is not deserving in a retributist point of view. It is whether it serves the public in utilitarian way. Does the death penalty really serve a purpose.

    More over the overwhelming issue is: do we apply the death penalty fairly? Do all that deserve it receive such a sentence or, do those who don't deserve it, also receive a death sentence?

    Blackmun says that as a society, or, even more importantly, as a legal system, do we administer justice fairly? In Arizona v. Mincey, did the defendant "deserve" the death penalty? Did that defendant deserve a reversal of his conviction because the police failed to secure a search warrant or his statement was involuntary?

    It is the worst of our cases that show us the law applies to everyone.

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  5. If you are really against the death penalty, then the "tough" cases provide the best examples to support your position. Check out Clarence Darrow's closing argument in the Leopold and Loeb "thrill killer" case to see what I mean.

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  6. Death should be case by case, just as opposition should be.

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  7. Finally, instead the stupid Shumie comments, you have some excellent and intelligent posts. 12:09 pm, bravo

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  8. Boy and I pissed at congressional republicans right now.

    They are the biggest bunch of crybabies in the world.

    They simply cannot govern.

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  9. Rumpole, this is the most insightful post ever.

    I was Marshall Gore's trial judge on a number of cases in the early 1990's. I really got to know him -- or at least who he wanted me to know. He is a very intelligent man. He is obviously a sociopath, but on the other hand, a very interesting and personable man to have spoken to over the months of his case.

    In later years, I bumped into him on a jail tour that I was leading at the DCJ. He was in a safety isolation cell. His tiny dark cell was stuffed with legal pads and his thoughts and writings on an appeal. He was protesting that the jail was failing to serve him Kosher meals and that he was Jewish. In fact, the jail was serving him ham, bacon and everything that they could get that would piss him off.

    One of my best friends is a world renowned psychiatrist who had interviewed Gore and felt that he had genius level IQ. I always thought of what a waste of life. but for genetics, environmental factors and "mommy daddy" issues, Gore could have been a charming successful charismatic human being.

    Even though I presided over Death Penalty cases ... I am now adamantly against the Death Penalty. It is medieval, barbaric and not reflective of what our society should be.

    Executing Marshall Gore tonight will be a notch in the Governor's belt for reelection, but it will be a sad night for civilized humanity. If the public could see the horrible inhumane conditions that Gore has lived in, mostly in isolation with limited hygiene and much darkness, they would say that life in prison under these conditions is punishment accomplished.

    Marshall Gore is most certainly guilty of the charges which will lead to his lethal injection in a few hours. I will be sad for his victims, their families, for our society ... and also for Marshall Lee Gore.

    ReplyDelete
  10. We do handle death cases on a case by case basis. But that doesn't solve the problems posed here.
    Only by doing away with it can we make sure that there is the accuracy and consistency Blackmun refers to.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Uh, where do I file my cop out? The ac doesn't seem to be working down here.

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  12. Hey, I ran into Dhamer...that guy is a pretty good artist, but I really don't like his buddy Ted.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Uh, wait a minute....just met some guy named santan? something tells me that isn't his real name.

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  14. How do I reach the aclu around here? There has to be some eighth amendment issue...

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  15. KOSHER meal for Marshall Gore? He refused to eat a SAUSAGE pizza they made him as his last meal. HE only ordered it with Pepperoni. No Joke. Up to the end, he was tormented!

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  16. For those of you who may be wondering if FDC will remain open for lawyer visitation during the shut down the answer is yes. In fact your clients, as we speak, are in the process of buying cooperation for their Rule 35 hearings. That's what we do at the Federal Department of Cooperation -- flip em like flapjacks.

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  17. Someone tell me who the judge was that sentenced Gore to death and wrote the note above.

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  18. Thanks Judge for taking the time to let me know that you oppose the death penalty. Could've used that information a bit earlier....thanks a lot. Fuck its hot down here.

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  19. Who do you blame for calling the Shumie at the federal government? The Republican-controlled House? The Democratic-controlled Senate? President Obama? Sen. Ted Cruz? All of the above? None of the above? Some of the above? Others?

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  20. The comments of 'real former judge'(RFJ)are, to me, confusing. Apparently, our RFJ did not make a conversion on state-sanction killing of human beings until after he/she left the Bench. Question: Was his/her support of state sanction killing simply a career necessity? Now, our RFJ is not only against state sanction killing but is 'adamantly'so. That's nice! Although one must wonder how many human beings he/she sentenced to death while on the bench. One is left to wonder why so many of these judges make the converstion when there is no possibility of negative political consequences. Just wondering----.

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  21. Very insightful comment by the shrink.......NOT. Every screw up in the world arguable would be better but for his or genetics. I'd like to know where your genius of a shrink thinks that choice fits into the equation?

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  22. Oh, thank the GOP, when the government subsidies stopped on 10/1, they had to shut down the inferno....starting to cool down a bit.

    Boy, I gotta tell you, the guys down here are so happy to be playing on the same team as the GOP, Boehner and Cruz.

    The boss said he has been working on it for years, but couldn't get through until finally, he got some relief from the speaker. He is really grateful.

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  23. The internet docket printout says that the closing judge in Gore's case was Leonard Glick. Maybe there was a previous judge in the case or another judge covered the calendars sometimes, but to know for sure who REAL FORMER JUDGE is, you'd have to pull the file and see the actual docket sheet.

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  24. I have my doubts about the existence of the "real judge." But in any case Death Ron inmates live neither in darkness nor in squalor nor in isolation. I have been to death row. To cite just one fact, the inmates all have TVs, donated mostly by Europeans and others who oppose the death penalty. Justice was served in Mr. Gore's case. And even if conditions for the inmates were poor - and they are not - that would not logically be an argument against the death penalty, but rather one in favor of better prison conditions.

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  25. I add also that the fact that Gore was a genius (assuming he was) has zero relevance to the death penalty issue. It's hard to understand why the real judge even brought it up, much less why he/she dwells upon it in the comment.

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  26. The judges for Gore were Harold Solomon in the attempted murder case. Judge Glick handled a post conviction motion. The judges in the murder case were Tom Carney, followed by Ellen Leesfield and sentenced to death by Leslie Rothenberg. David Miller handled all post conviction matters. So, is there a "real former judge?"

    ReplyDelete