Soccer Dad

Lessons from the jane tyson case

1) According to the attractive brochure published by Maryland's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services blacks make up 76.3 percent of Maryland's prison population; whites make up 23.5 percent.
However according to the census bureau blacks make up 27.9 percent of Maryland's general population; whites 64 percent.
Using the logic of Wesley Baker's defenders, then, perhaps we should refuse to enforce criminal laws. As the Washington Post reported on the study of Maryland's death penalty:

Paternoster completed his work within months. In announcing his findings, Paternoster said the explanation for the disparities rested with state's attorneys, not juries, but he was careful not to impugn the prosecutors' motives. He said that his analysis didn't mean "there is racial animus" by prosecutors, but rather that "the product of their action does result in racial disparity."

Criminal law, as applied in Maryland, results in a terrible racial disparity of those incarcerated. Clearly we must review the results of incarceration more closely before committing anyone else to this punishment. It may not be the fault of juries, but of prosecutors, who surely don't realize the terribly unfair toll that their actions take.
2) The seven inmates currently on death row in Maryland are all --- men. Given that men make up only about 48.7 percent of Maryland's population there are grounds to abolish the death penalty in Maryland on account gender disparity. If we note further that five of those cases took place in Baltimore County where the State's Attorney is a woman, that sharpens the question of bias further.
For more on the man who killed a grandmother, Jane Tyson, in front of her two grandchildren read Pillage Idiot. But let's remember the victim not the thug.

The Baltimore Sun reports that Jane Tyson's family and friends find the concern for Wesley Baker to be misplaced:

Next week's scheduled execution of Wesley Eugene Baker, the man convicted of first-degree murder in Tyson's death, has renewed the debate about the morality and the legality of Maryland's system for capital punishment. Those who knew Jane Tyson say her life and death should not be left out of the discussion.

"All the talk is about the man who did it," said Betty Ireland, Tyson's neighbor and friend. "But he didn't give her any appeal. He snuffed her out without a second thought."

Tyson's brother, Martin E. Andree, shared the sentiment. "My question is, who speaks for Jane?" he asked. "Who speaks for a woman who left three children? A woman with a husband and grandchildren she loved? A teacher, a woman who was taking care of our parents?"

What kind of person was killed?

Tyson's husband, John N. Tyson, and one of her daughters declined to be interviewed for this article, and two other daughters did not return calls. But her brother, her next-door neighbor and the family priest, along with news accounts from when she was killed, provide a look at a woman who was highly regarded in the schoolhouse, her church and her neighborhood.

For instance, Tyson routinely visited neighbors if she knew they were sick, said Ireland, the neighbor: "She went out of her way to be kind to people, not only her husband, her kids and her grandchildren, but everyone."

And how was she killed?

Tyson was about to leave the mall parking lot when a man approached the driver's side of her car. Witnesses said they heard a gunshot and saw the man run across the parking lot and jump into a Chevrolet Blazer.

"I saw the woman lying on the ground; her head was all bloody. The truck took off like a bat out of hell. Then I saw the little girl, about 4, run around the car yelling, 'Mommy, Mommy,' or 'Mom-Mom,' and I took off after them," one bystander who drove after the robbers said later.

Another bystander ran to Tyson's car and shepherded the grandchildren to security officers in the mall.

Police trapped Baker in the Blazer. The shoes that Tyson had just purchased were lying on the front seat of her car, police said. The other suspect was caught, with Tyson's purse - which contained, police said, $10.

Those unnamed bystanders were heroes. We do not know their names. There is no one praising them. Few are eulogizing Jane Tyson. But plenty are extending pity to the man who killed her. If one of Jane Tyson's grandchildren who watched her get killed gets in trouble, will those same people come forward to defend them because of the terrible trauma the grandchildren endured?

Posted by SoccerDad at December 5, 2005 6:15 AM | TrackBack