Still a Mann

Hotep,

It was my fifth year of living on death row.  I can remember looking into the mirror and asking my reflection:  “Damn! Am I really here?”  You see, up to that point, I was expecting the state to recognize the grave injustice of my sentence.  For some odd reason, I believed a legal finagler would grow a conscience and admit that my trial was a sham of justice; enabling me to leave these walls of gloom behind like a distant memory.  Needless to say, my fifth year was the realization that going to sleep as a prisoner and waking up a free Mann wasn’t in my immediate future.  Na mean?

Early on in this bid, I had a very hard time accepting the ghastly decisions of Ricky Lee Sanderson (D.O.E. 1/30/98) and James David Rich (D.O.E. 3/26/99).  Both exhausted their capital appeals, a pass to the front of the express line – leading to the death chamber.  Ricky Sanderson was convinced that his state-assisted suicide was the “Christian” thing to do.  SMH.

Ricky Sanderson’s choice to die by gas would make him the last death row inmate to die by the use of this method.  The gas chamber was deemed as cruel and unusual punishment shortly after his solicited demise.  Hindering the final act of James David Rich, who yearned to inhale the state’s poisonous gas as well.  SMH.

Fifteen people were executed within my first five years on the row.  Initially, I had major issues with the exit strategies of Sanderson and Rich, but eventually, looking into the eyes of dying men will help you see the human need to end the suffering.  Na mean?  With that said; I still have issues with the state’s efforts to facilitate a request to die.

Capital punishment is supposed to be the finality of a balanced legal process.  Not an option for a person with suicidal tendencies.  Feel me?  Think about it: A voluntary execution is perceived as justice being served.  Right?  It’s been proven that a majority of suicides are grim reactions to mental instability.  So why would “Lady Justice” allow the state to execute a mentally unstable individual who chooses to abandon the official legal protocol?  The many years of serving what was believed to be inevitable justice was portent to the rubble of our legal system today.

A decade and 20 executions later, I’m still looking into the mirror.  I’ve grown immensely since my five year mark.  My literary anvils will continue to drop on your mental, because I recognize the mentality of the people who want to keep me in this box.  I know where I am, but most importantly – I know who I am.  The ugly face of capitulation doesn’t exist in my mirror.  At the beginning, the middle and end of the day, I’m still a Mann.  Your Mannofstat.  Ya heard?

Be Easy,

MannofStat

Copyright © 2012 by Leroy Elwood Mann