Thread: Prayers for Robert due to be executed next week. Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.
To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=028234
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
Please pray for Robert on death row in Texas, due to be executed next week on Thursday 29 January.
I’ve been writing to Robert since 1999. I have been greatly humbled that someone from such a deprived background and in such unthinkable circumstances as he is, should be glad to hear from me and supportive of me. I’ve lit candles for him all over the place.
He met the parents of his victim who forgave him and he realises the seriousness of what he did.
He had no secure family background and little education. As a child he was assessed as of low intelligence. He was due to be executed around ten years ago, but suspended at the last moment waiting a further appeal on the ground of his diminished responsibility. At last a year ago the appeal was turned down.
In 2007 the US Supreme Court declared the execution of mentally retarded people a cruel and unnatural punishment. Nonetheless Texas is going ahead. There is an online petition in my signature line which I hope anyone here will consider signing.
Posted by Spike (# 36) on
:
Please edit the link. It's breaking the scroll!
[ 20. January 2015, 15:35: Message edited by: Spike ]
Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on
:
I found the following link which provides some details. I presume they are mostly accurate.
Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on
:
![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
prayers for Robert, and for the people of Texas, that the cruelty of death row will be seen for the sin it is, and that the love of Christ will prevail.
Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on
:
Amen
Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on
:
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on
:
(and signed)
Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on
:
(and also signed).
Ian J.
Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on
:
(and signed and added to FB)
Posted by Pia (# 17277) on
:
Totally opposed to the death penalty. For anything.
Posted by Mili (# 3254) on
:
The death penalty is barbaric. I pray Robert's life is spared. There are some Australians facing the same in Indonesia soon, but I don't want to railroad the focus on Robert here.
Posted by Pine Marten (# 11068) on
:
(also signed).
Our priest and some members of our congo have also been corresponding with Robert (one person visited him some time back), and we have put up a little display in the church building.
No one is condoning what he has done, but his treatment over the years has been inhumane.
Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on
:
The death penalty is barbaric, but even those who condone it must see that to keep someone on death row as long as Robert has been is cruel and unusual punishment. Prayers for him as he prepares for death.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
Thank you for your prayers.
I have just received a link from Amnesty who are taking up the case.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
Here is the link
http://tinyurl.com/lc2t75q
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
Bump. I'm waiting to hear from Texas. The execution is due today.
Posted by fullgospel (# 18233) on
:
Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on
:
Posted by fullgospel (# 18233) on
:
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on
:
Posted by Nicolemr (# 28) on
:
Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on
:
Any execution is a blot on the state which carries it out, but after Robert has been so long on Death Row, it is hard to understand why there has been no reprieve.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/30/texas-executes-robert-ladd-intellectually-disabled-prisoner
Posted by Rosa Gallica officinalis (# 3886) on
:
Lord have mercy
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
Please pray for him, for his victims, for his victims' family, for those who carried out the execution and for those who campaign for an end to the death penalty.
Posted by Pine Marten (# 11068) on
:
Thank you, venbede, for posting this thread.
Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on
:
Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on
:
for his soul, and for the souls of his victims.
ISTM that there's something very wrong with a system whose yardstick for "mental retardation" is comparison with the perceived level of impairment in a character from a work of fiction.
Posted by Adrienne (# 2334) on
:
Posted by Pia (# 17277) on
:
Just wrong. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Posted by Ags (# 204) on
:
Dear God...
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
Robert's last statement
http://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_info/laddrobertlast.html
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
On Thursday last week, 29 January, the State of Texas executed Robert Ladd by lethal injection. When I returned home today, there was a letter to me from Robert, dated 19 January.
In it he said “For me I am doing well my spirits are high and I have faith in the Lord, and whatever his decision is on the 29, I can live with it it will be his choice and not that of man as they think… in the mean time do take care of yourself and once again thank you for your warm and blessed friendship which I promise to always hold close to my heart and spirit”. The cause for gratitude is mine.
Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on
:
![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
Posted by fullgospel (# 18233) on
:
Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on
:
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
:
I've heard from one of the witnesses at the execution. She writes
We followed the chaplain to a little church to view (and touch) Robert's body afterwards, before it was taken to the Carnes funeral home in Houston for cremation. We sang a song from the hymnbook there, which Robert had said he really liked, and remembered his mom singing around the house: How Great Thou Art.
Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on
:
All so sad, but so tinged with resurrection hope.
![[Tear]](graemlins/tear.gif)
Posted by Twangist (# 16208) on
:
© Ship of Fools 2016
UBB.classicTM
6.5.0