So, I got offered a chance to see someone get killed....

[Byrd Man]

This is a thread I have in the community, and I know very few of you actually go there, so I want my fellow RPers thoughts.

Anyways, in case some of you don't know, I'm a news reporter for a radio station in rural Georgia.

I got an email today from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and Georgia Department of Corrections to witness an execution in two weeks.

On April 28th, they're putting this guy to death for a murder he committed in 1994 and they need two media witnesses.

While, on one hand I think it would be sick and something horrible to see, a part of me thinks this could be a damn good news story.

So, I throw my mercy on the community, what would you do?

Here's some backstory on the guy they plan on killing...

The state plans to execute an Athens-area man later this month for murdering a follower of his small white supremacist group more than a decade ago.

William Mark Mize will be put to death by lethal injection at 7 p.m. April 28 unless state officials agree to commute his sentence or pardon him. He would be the second person executed this year in Georgia.

The state Department of Corrections scheduled Mize's death Monday, shortly after an Oconee County Superior Court judge ordered that the execution happen between April 28 and May 5.

Mize, 52, has been on Georgia's death row in Jackson since 1995, when an Oconee County jury convicted him in the shooting death of Eddie Tucker of Hull.

A former Ku Klux Klan member, Mize led a small Klan-like group called the National Vastilian Aryan Party.

He shot Tucker with a shotgun, execution-style, in October 1994 after Tucker didn't carry out an order to burn down a crack house in Athens, state prosecutors said.

Before Mize is executed, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles will conduct a clemency hearing.

The board will meet with his Macon attorney, Franklin J. Hogue, on Thursday and with Mize next week, Hogue said.

Hogue, who was appointed to the case by a federal judge in 2001, said Monday he hadn't spoken with his client about the scheduled execution but assumed Mize was aware of the date.

Mize has appealed his conviction several times to state and federal courts, unsuccessfully. Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court refused on March 23 to review the case.

"He's consistently maintained his innocence from the day of his arrest to this minute," Hogue said.

Three other Mize followers were arrested and charged with murdering Tucker in a wooded area of Oconee County in October 1994.

Two of them, Christopher Hattrup and Terry Mark Allen, were convicted and now are serving life sentences in prison. Prosecutors dropped charges against Mize's girlfriend, Samantha Doster, who testified against Mize during his trial.

According to court records, Mize and several NVAP members gathered at Mize's home on Oct. 15, 1994, and they later left to go camping. On the way, Mize told the group there was a crack house in Athens that he wanted "gotten rid of."

Hattrup and Tucker were supposed to set the house on fire but didn't, and Hattrup later told Mize they "didn't need anybody around that couldn't follow orders," referring to Tucker.

The group stayed at a bar until it was dark, then drove to the Oconee County woods and walked in without a flashlight. Tucker, Hattrup and Mize got ahead of the rest of the group, who testified they heard a shot and Tucker say, "My God, what did you do that for?"

After a second shot, Doster heard Hattrup ask Mize if he had the gun and Mize replied, "No, man. I thought you had it."

"No. He took it away from me," Hattrup said, and then Mize said, "If you can't finish it, I can."

Allen then moved up the trail and talked with Mize and Hattrup about muscle spasms and how Tucker was still moving. Then there was a third shot.

Back at the car, Mize came out of the woods holding the shotgun, then asked the others "if they knew why it was done," according to court records. Everyone nodded agreement, and Mize said the same thing could happen to them if they ran their mouths.

Doster testified later that Mize confided in her that he had finished Tucker off by shooting him in the head.

But Doster since has recanted her testimony, and Mize has tried to assert his innocence, claiming Hattrup did all the shooting.

Since his conviction, Hattrup also has made sworn statements that he alone killed Tucker after the two got in a drunken argument and that Mize didn't order the killing.

Last year, however, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found Hattrup's statements "wholly unconvincing," in part because he contradicted himself about who fired which shots at Tucker.

"This internal contradiction on a crucial point suggests that, at best, Hattrup has an incomplete memory of the incident (perhaps because of his admitted drunkenness), and at worst is lying in order to help his friend Mize," the court said.

Shall I RSVP yes or no?

[SenseiofCheese]

I read up until where it said he was a white supremacist. Go for it.

[Venom160]

Go for it dude. Off with his head! Hell ask if you can perform the execution.

[Byrd Man]

The only thing that makes it a maybe is the fact that it is lethal injection, instead of the electric chair or hanging. And also, the guy is a racist turd. I am a bit worried about the fact that he may be innocent of this crime, but I'm sure he has done other awful things to make up for it if he is not guilty.

[Venom160]

Eh guilty or not one less skinhead in the world is always a good thing.

[Byrd Man]

Originally Posted by Venom160

Eh guilty or not one less skinhead in the world is always a good thing.

But personally, would you want to go see it? Even if he's not a member of your family or friend, just some murderer you have no feelings toward?

[Venom160]

Personally yeah I would. Way I see it if you've takin another life than you deserve to be put down like an animal.

[Spike_x1]

I'd bring popcorn if they'd let me.

[Byrd Man]

Originally Posted by Spike_x1

I'd bring popcorn if they'd let me.

Now if they were giving him the chair, I could just bring an upopped bag and let him hold it for me.

[SenseiofCheese]

You know, the more I think about it, I don't think I would go.

I think the guy SHOULD be executed, if only because I have a special hatred towards racists, but I'd be content in my knowledge that the guy was put down like the animal he is. I most likely wouldn't go see it for myself.

[Optikal]

It's a heavy story to have under your belt. If nothing else, it'll be good experience for your career.

[Cunning Stunts]

Do it. I don't believe in the death penalty, but seeing someone actually die is a life-altering experience, and puts a new spin on a lot of things for you.

[SuperFerret]

I can't answer for you, but I wouldn't go to watch. It's just morbid.

[Spike_x1]

Just go and watch it, you sissy!

[twylight]

I already told you; it's something you'll have to decide for yourself and I think the only real question is: can you handle the psychological effect it might have on you?

[Byrd Man]

FINE! I'll email the dude from GAB and the lady from the Department of Corrections. I probably won't be picked to be a witness, but I'll do it!

[Matt Murdock]

I wouldn't watch. While I'm not against the death penalty, I'm a proponent of 'out of sight, out of mind.' I've seen one person die in my lifetime already. That's enough. Though, the decision is yours, of course.

[Venom160]

Originally Posted by Byrd Man

FINE! I'll email the dude from GAB and the lady from the Department of Corrections. I probably won't be picked to be a witness, but I'll do it!

atta byrd!

[Ol'Canucklehead]

There is nothing wrong with watching justice. Alot of people lose sight of that, we constantly say how we wish they would "kill" some evil individual for something they've done, but forget that its a whole different thing to pull the switch or watch. If anything I think it will be an enlightening experience for you to see the real life punishment for something like murder, its an eye opening experience.....well as long as you don't close your eyes.

[SuperFerret]

Death isn't an easy thing to watch. I only recommend that it's done only if necessary.

[Spike_x1]

Perhaps it's because I'm specifically medicated to be apathetic to a great deal of things, but I honestly can't even picture myself having second thoughts about watching the execution of a White supremacist cult leading murderer, if I were ever given the chance.

[SenseiofCheese]

Originally Posted by Ol'Canucklehead

There is nothing wrong with watching justice.

That's a bit of a shaky statement. I mean, watching someone get arrested for stealing a purse and watching someone else get executed aren't really on the same level.

I agree with SF when he says going to watch would be morbid. Some have to, because it's their jobs. Some, victim's families and such, have to, to get closure. But to want to go and see another human being get killed, regardless of what that human being has done, is, like SF said, a little morbid.

But that said, I still think the guy SHOULD be executed. Like MM said, 'out of sight, out of mind'.

[Matt Murdock]

And, here I was thinking our Bromance was dead.

[SuperFerret]

Originally Posted by Matt Murdock

And, here I was thinking our Bromance was dead.

Use that word again and not only will I watch your death, I'll cause it.

[Ol'Canucklehead]

Originally Posted by SenseiofCheese

That's a bit of a shaky statement. I mean, watching someone get arrested for stealing a purse and watching someone else get executed aren't really on the same level.

I agree with SF when he says going to watch would be morbid. Some have to, because it's their jobs. Some, victim's families and such, have to, to get closure. But to want to go and see another human being get killed, regardless of what that human being has done, is, like SF said, a little morbid.

But that said, I still think the guy SHOULD be executed. Like MM said, 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Shaky.....maybe, but thats the world. Do I think that those two are the same thing, no way. I do believe that seeing someone who deserves to die being put to death is a profound experience. Lethal punishment for the right reasons is a natural thing. We see enough unwarented deaths in the world as it is, family, strangers, children, all on the news, in movies, or in person and our natural response is "why them?" "why did they have to die?" So in turn I think its important for there to be a balance, to bear witness to justified death. It changes you, makes you realize that the bad guys don't always get away or get off easy, it reminds you that there is still justice in the world and not every murderer gets free or gets a comfy cell with HBO.

In my time I've seen enough on both sides, I've lost those close to me and thought that the world was cruel and unjust, and then I have seen the evil scum of this earth put down before my very eyes and was reminded that not everyone gets away. I think that if you live 'out of sight out of mind' than you blind yourself to the real world. Its that real world that soilders see every day, that isn't shown to you on the news because only the terrible stories sell. If you live only with what you've heard, and make no atempt to experience, than you are cheating yourself and will regret it later.

Thats just my two cents.