Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A BIG BOOST FOR THE DEATH PENALTY

This case calls out loud and clear for imposition of the death penalty. Had this double murderer/armed robber been sentenced to death, Sgt. Ruben Thomas would in all likelihood be alive today.

The human rights activists who keep screaming for abolition of the death penalty don’t seem to realize that the vermin they are trying to save do not deserve to walk among the living.

LIFER ACCUSED OF KILLING FLORIDA PRISON GUARD
The accused is serving two life sentences for first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm

By Bill Kaczor

Associated Press
March 19, 2012

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A convicted murderer is accused of killing a guard at a north Florida prison, Department of Corrections officials said Monday.

They said 24-year-old Sgt. Ruben Thomas was fatally stabbed in the neck with a handmade weapon Sunday night at Columbia Correctional Institution near Lake City, about 100 miles east of Tallahassee.

A second guard, William Brewer, was injured. Brewer was treated at a hospital and released.

Richard Franklin, 37, was accused of attacking the guards. The Daytona Beach man is serving two life sentences for first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. Both crimes were committed in Volusia County in 1994.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.

Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement that he was saddened by the death and offered condolences to the victim's family and co-workers.

"It is always troubling when members of our law enforcement community lose their lives in the line of duty," Scott said in a statement. "These brave men and women dedicate themselves each day to ensure Florida is a safe place to live."

Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker said Thomas, who had been with the department for six years, was "a solid and highly respected" employee "and will be remembered in the highest regard."

Thomas is the 42nd state corrections employee to die while on duty. That tally includes natural and accidental deaths.

The previous death was in June 2011. Col. Greg Malloy was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire with a double homicide suspect near the Panhandle hamlet of Gritney. Malloy was helping police as part of a dog tracking team from Holmes Correctional Institution.

Franklin was convicted of murdering 25-year-old Bethune-Cookman University student Gregory Roper. The victim's body was found in woods near Daytona Beach on Nov. 24, 1994. He bled to death from after being shot several times in his legs.

He also received a life sentence for robbery and 30 years for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for shooting a 72-year-old man in the parking lot of an Ormond Beach apartment complex and stealing the victim's car nearly a month after Roper was killed.

Police arrested Franklin, already a suspect in Roper's killing, a short time later after he crashed the stolen car and tried to run away.

Franklin had been arrested on a battery charge in June 1994, but he escaped about two months before Roper was killed.

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